Just stayed in Italy without a title
©IMAGO
Lukas Podolski capped his career by winning the cup with Górnik Zabrze. The 40-year-old 2014 world champion celebrated his first title in Poland five years after moving to his youth club. This was his fifth time celebrating a national trophy – in five different countries. A search in the TM database showed that no other professional had achieved this before.
A total of 30 players had titles in four different countries by the weekend. These include big names like Rivaldo (in Spain, Italy, Greece and Uzbekistan), Ricardo Quaresma (Portugal, England, Italy and Turkey), Freddie Ljungberg (Sweden, England, USA and Scotland) or Lucas Barrios (Germany, China, Brazil and Argentina). Podolski is now the first player to win the national cup in five countries.
Podolski was successful in Germany for the first time in 2008 when he won the double with FC Bayern and assisted Luca Toni’s 2-1 winning goal in extra time in the final against Borussia Dortmund. Six years later, the attacker won the FA Cup with Arsenal FC, two more years after that the Turkish Cup with Galatasaray and in 2019 the Emperor’s Cup in Japan with Vissel Kobe.
“It’s always a great experience, a great thing and today it’s just wonderful that we managed to win this trophy for Górnik after so many years. I still remember what Górnik was like back then and where the club was when I came here five years ago. That’s why I’m very happy that we’ve achieved so much in that time,” said Podolski after winning the title in Poland.
In almost every country where Podolski played during his career, he won the national cup. He only came away empty-handed at Inter Milan in Italy. When he played on loan for the Nerazzurri in the 2014/15 season, the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia against SSC Napoli were over – but title collector Podolski was on the bench for 90 minutes in the 0-1 defeat.
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