World champion from 2014
Lukas Podolski announces end of career
Updated on May 22, 2026 – 7:34 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
He played for the German national team for many years and was part of their biggest success in 2014 in Rio de Janeiro. Now the goalscorer has made an important decision official.
Lukas Podolski is ending his active football career after this season with the Polish club Górnik Zabrze. The 40-year-old 2014 world champion announced this via Instagram.
“A chapter ends, a new era begins,” Podolski and his club said in a video.
We need your consent to be included by our editorial team Instagram-View content. You can use this one (and all others as well). Instagram-Content on t-online.de) can be displayed and deactivated again with one click.
In the clip, the offensive player packs his things and reflects on his career. “Okay, closing time,” he says at the end. Then he closes a door that says “Thank you football” in six languages. Górnik Zabrze’s last league game against Radomiak Radom is on Saturday, and Podolski should be honored.
49 goals in 130 international matches
After many years in the Bundesliga, the English Premier League, the Italian Serie A, the Japanese J-League and the Turkish Süper Lig, Podolski had played in Zabrze since 2021 and had recently been flirting with the end of his career. Now it’s certain.
The attacker can look back on a great career: he made his debut at 1. FC Köln in 2003 at the age of 18, where he quickly became a star with his straightforward game and his carefree attitude and became a nationwide fan favorite. With FC Bayern he celebrated the double of championship and DFB Cup victory in 2008. A return to Cologne was followed by stints at FC Arsenal, Inter Milan, Galatasaray Istanbul, Vissel Kobe in Japan, Antalyaspor and finally Zabrze.
“Poldi” was equally successful with the German national team: he wore the DFB jersey from 2004 to 2017, scored 49 goals in 130 international matches, making him currently the national player with the fourth most appearances and the third most goals for Germany. The crowning achievement: the World Cup title at the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
Embed
With the late move to Zabrze, Podolski returned to his native country. And he probably still has a lot planned for the club: In December last year, the footballer, who was born in nearby Gliwice, Poland, acquired shares in the club and became the second largest shareholder.
