“Haven’t been together for a few weeks”
Podolski talks about marital problems in the documentary
May 29, 2026 – 11:11 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
A few days after retiring, the world champion presented his own documentary. In it, Podolski also reports on a major crisis with his wife Monika.
Twelve days after his last professional game, Lukas Podolski is once again the focus. This time not on the pitch, but on the screen: the Netflix documentary “POLDI” will be released on June 4th. In it, the 2014 world champion provides more personal insights than ever before.
At the premiere in Cologne’s RheinEnergie Stadium, Podolski said: “If you’re going to let your pants down, you have to keep them down too.” His parents, aunts, friends and his son Louis have their say. Podolski dedicated the documentation to his grandmother Helene, who died in December 2025.
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For the first time, his wife Monika speaks publicly about their life together. After Podolski’s return to 1. FC Köln in 2009, the marriage fell into crisis. Monika says: “A time for me when I had a hard time dealing with the fact that I had to share it with millions of people – day after day.” And further: “Maybe I had a phase where I needed him more.”
Podolski: “We haven’t been together for a few weeks”
Podolski also looks back on this time. “There were moments in Cologne where we didn’t speak to each other for a few weeks, we argued and weren’t together for a few weeks,” he says. In the end they both found each other again. Podolski explains: “Somehow the path brought us together again.”
Podolski says about his time as a national player and the frequent separation from his son Louis, who was born in 2008: “I cried a lot back then.”
Now the 40-year-old’s career is over. The documentary shows how difficult it was for him to say goodbye to professional football. Ms. Monika says: “He’s in a phase where he has to learn to let go.”
