Volkshochschule für den Landkreis Regen A very famous imigrant from POLAND to GERMANY LUKAS PODOLSKI He is a German football player who plays as a striker for Köln and is a member of the German national team.

Volkshochschule für den Landkreis Regen Personal background Podolski was born as Lukasz Podolski on 4 June 1985 to Krystyna Podolska, a former member of the Polish national handball team and Waldemar Podolski, former Polish football professional, in the Silesian industrial town of Gliwice (near Katowice), Poland. In 1987, when Lukasz Podolski was two years old, his family emigrated from Poland to West Germany and got the status as Aussiedler, but Podolski said in 2008 that he has Polish blood in him. Podolski grew up in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westfalia, and later in Pulheim, both near Cologne. He still has Polish citizenship, but he travels with a German passport.

Volkshochschule für den Landkreis Regen Career as a football star Podolski began playing football at the age of six in the youth team of FC Bergheim, where he played until he joined Köln in It was there where Podolski's talents were first noticed Even though Köln failed to avoid a drop to the 2nd division, Podolski had shown what he could do, scoring 10 goals in his first 19 senior appearances. This was the best tally by an 18-year-old in the history of the Bundesliga

Volkshochschule für den Landkreis Regen Career as a football star In 2006, clubs such as Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen and even Real Madrid manifested their interest in Podolski, even though he had a contract with FC Köln through On 1 June 2006, Podolski announced that a transfer agreement had been reached with Bayern Munich, allowing him to join the Bavarian side for the 2006–07 season. Financial details of the deal were not immediately available, but the transfer fee was speculated to be around €10 million. When Bayern brought in Italian striker Luca Toni, "Poldi" was moved down the pecking order and received less playing time due to the coach's preference to partner Klose and Toni together instead. After a rather unhappy season at Bayern, he returned to former club Köln on 1 July 2009

Volkshochschule für den Landkreis Regen Clubs 1. FC Cologne 2003 – 2006 Bayern Munich FC Cologne since the beginning of 2009

Volkshochschule für den Landkreis Regen International Career In late 2003, after several impressive performances in his first few Bundesliga games, Polish media suggested then-Polish national team coach Pawel Janas to check Podolski out, as he was still eligible to play for Poland. Janas ignored the request stating in one of the press interviews that “As for today we have much better strikers in Poland and I don't see a reason to call up a player just because he played one or two good matches in the Bundesliga." But as the season progressed more and more German media started to suggest to call up the striker to their national team.

Volkshochschule für den Landkreis Regen International Career At the end of the season Köln were relegated, but Podolski impressed so much, that he celebrated his debut for Rudi Völler’s Germany on 6 June 2004 in Kaiserslautern against Hungary with a late substitute appearance. He had become the first second-division player since 1975 to break into the national team Podolski was selected in the Germany squad for the 2006 World Cup, where he partnered Miroslav Klose in attack His three goals in the tournament tied him for second in the Golden Boot competition, which was won by his teammate Miroslav Klose with five goals. Podolski was tied with Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Fernando Torres, David Villa, and FIFA World Cup MVP (winner of the Golden Ball) Zinedine Zidane. Podolski was named the World Cup's Best Young Player before Messi and Christiano Ronaldo.