Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski

Personal information
Full name	Robert Lewandowski
Date of birth	(1988-08-21) 21 August 1988 (age 23)
Place of birth	Warsaw, Poland
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Borussia Dortmund
Number	9
Youth career
0000–2004	Varsovia Warsaw
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2005	Delta Warsaw		(4[1])
2005–2006	Legia Warsaw II		(2[2])
2006–2008	Znicz Pruszków	63	(36)
2008–2010	Lech Poznań	58	(32)
2010–	Borussia Dortmund	67	(30)
National team‡
2008	Poland U21	3	(0)
2008–	Poland	40	(13)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:45, 28 April 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:14, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Robert Lewandowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈrɔbɛrt lɛvanˈdɔfskʲi]; born 21 August 1988) is a Polish footballer who plays for German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund as a striker, having previously played for Delta Warsaw, Legia Warsaw, Znicz Pruszków and Lech Poznań. He has been capped by Poland at international level.

Club career

Early career

In 2006–07, Lewandowski was the Polish third division's top goal scorer with 15 goals, helping Znicz Pruszków win promotion.^[3] The next season he was the top scorer in the Polish second division with 21 goals.^[3]

Lech Poznań

In June 2008, Lech Poznań signed Lewandowski from Znicz for 1.5 million zlotys.^[4][5]

He made his debut for Lech in July 2008 as a sub in a first round UEFA Cup qualifier versus Khazar Lenkoran from Azerbaijan. In that match he scored the only goal of the match. During his Ekstraklasa debut in the first game of the season in a match against GKS Bełchatów he scored a heel flick goal just four minutes after coming into the game late second half. In his first season in the Polish top division, he was second in the goal-scoring charts. The next season, he became the top scorer with 18 goals and helped his team win the 2009–10 championship.

Borussia Dortmund

In 2010, rumors emerged linking Lewandowski with various clubs, particularly Borussia Dortmund, Genoa C.F.C. and Blackburn Rovers.^[6][7] On 5 May Borussia Dortmund's general manager Michael Zorc stated that Lewandowski had agreed verbally to join the Bundesliga club.^[8] However, negotiations between the clubs went on for several weeks. On 19 May, it was reported that he had undergone medical exams at Borussia^[9] and on 11 June 2010, he signed a four-year contract with the German club^[10] in a transfer thought to be worth around €4.5 million.^[11] On 19 September, he scored his first goal in the Bundesliga to make it 3–0 in the Revierderby against Schalke 04, the game ended 3–1.

2011–12

The 2011–12 Bundesliga campaign saw Lewandowski elevated to an ever-present in the starting eleven. The striker responded by finding the net two times in Dortmund's 3–0 DFB-Pokal first round victory over SV Sandhausen.^[12] Lewandowski opened his league account in a 2–0 win over Nürnberg on 20 August 2011, by providing the finishing touch from a Mario Gotze cross.^[13] On 1 October, Lewandowski provided an assist and netted a hat-trick in the club's 4–0 victory over FC Augsburg,^[14] following a disappointing 3-0 loss to Marseille in the Champions League group stage.^[15] Dortmund climbed into second place in the Bundesliga with a comfortable 5–0 victory over FC Köln on 22 October, with Lewandowski finding the net either side of half-time.^[16] Dortmund travelled to SC Freiburg on 17 December and Lewandowski struck twice and provided an assist for Kevin Großkreutz, as Dortmund eased to a 4-1 triumph.^[17]

Following the winter break, on 22 January 2012 Dortmund thrashed Hamburg 5–1 to move level on points with leaders Bayern Munich; Lewandowski netted twice and added an assist for Jakub Błaszczykowski in the rout.^[18] He scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 home win over Bayern Munich on 11 April.^[19] The result gave Dortmund a six point cushion over their title rivals with only four games left to play.^[20] On 21 April, Lewandowski provided the assist for Shinji Kagawa's 59th minute goal as Dortmund won 2-0 over Borussia Monchengladbach to seal their second straight title.^[21] In the final Bundesliga game of the campaign, Lewandowski scored two first-half goals as Dortmund beat Freiburg 4–0 and celebrated lifting the title.^[22]

Lewandowski was named the Bundesliga Player of the Season on 11 May and finished the year as the third top goal scorer with 22 goals, none from the penalty spot, and six assists.^[23]

In the final game of the season for Dortmund, he scored a hat-trick in the DFB-Pokal Final, a 5–2 win over Bayern Munich, to earn the club its first league and cup double.^[24][25] Lewandowski finished as the DFB-Pokal's top goalscorer, with seven goals from six games.^[26]

International career

Lewandowski (right) playing for Poland

Lewandowski made three appearances for Poland's U21 team, in friendly matches against England, Belarus and Finland.

His debut for the senior national team came on 10 September 2008, three weeks after his 20th birthday, against San Marino where he came on as a sub and scored one goal. Only Włodzimierz Lubański, who is widely considered a "legend", scored a goal on his debut for the national team at a younger age than Lewandowski, having been 16 at the time.

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Goal	Final Result	Competition
1.	10 September 2008	Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	0–2	Win 0–2	2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier
2.	19 November 2008	Dublin, Republic of Ireland	Republic of Ireland	1–3	Win 2–3	Friendly
3.	1 April 2009	Kielce, Poland	San Marino	4–0	Win 10–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier
4.	23 January 2010	Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand	Singapore	1–0	Win 6–1	2010 King's Cup
5.	23 January 2010	Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand	Singapore	2–0	Win 6–1	2010 King's Cup
6.	3 March 2010	Warsaw, Poland	Bulgaria	2–0	Win 2–0	Friendly
7.	7 September 2010	Kraków, Poland	Australia	1–1	Loss 1–2	Friendly
8.	17 November 2010	Poznań, Poland	Côte d'Ivoire	1–0	Win 3–1	Friendly
9.	17 November 2010	Poznań, Poland	Côte d'Ivoire	3–1	Win 3–1	Friendly
10.	9 February 2011	Faro, Portugal	Norway	1–0	Win 1–0	Friendly
11.	6 September 2011	Gdańsk, Poland	Germany	1–0	Draw 2–2	Friendly
12.	7 October 2011	Seoul, South Korea	South Korea	1–0	Draw 2–2	Friendly
13.	11 October 2011	Wiesbaden, Germany	Belarus	2–0	Win 2–0	Friendly

Statistics

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2012)

(correct as of 11 May 2012)

(correct as of 11 May 2012)

Honours

Club

Znicz Pruszków

• II Liga: 1

2006–07

Lech Poznań

• Polish Cup: 1

2008–09

• Polish SuperCup: 1

2009

• Ekstraklasa: 1

2009–10

Borussia Dortmund

• Bundesliga: 2

2010–11, 2011–12

• DFB-Pokal 1:

2011–12

Individual

• II Liga top scorer: 2006–07 (15 goals)
• I Liga top scorer: 2007–08 (21 goals)
• Ekstraklasa top scorer: 2009–10 (18 goals)
• DFB-Pokal top scorer: 2011–12 (7 goals)
• Polish Revelation of the Year: 2008
• Ekstraklasa Player of the Year: 2009
• Polish Player of the Year: 2011
• Bundesliga Player of the Season: 2011–12^[27]

Personal life

Lewandowski's father, Krzysztof, was a Polish judo champion, and also played football for Hutnik Warszawa in the second division.^[28] His mother, Iwona, is a former volleyball player for AZS Warszawa and later vice-president of Partyzant Leszno.^[4][28] His sister, Milena, also plays volleyball and has represented the U21 national team.^[28] His fiancee, Anna Stachurska, won the bronze medal at the 2009 Karate World Cup.^[28] They are engaged to marry in 2013 in Warsaw.^[29]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Lewandowski

• ESPN Soccernet Profile
• Robert Lewandowski at transfermarkt.de (English)
• Robert Lewandowski at 90minut.pl (Polish)
• Robert Lewandowski at fussballdaten.de (German)

v t e Poland squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Szczęsny 2 Boenisch 3 Wojtkowiak 4 Perquis 5 Dudka 6 Matuszczyk 7 Polanski 8 Rybus 9 Lewandowski 10 Obraniak 11 Murawski 12 Sandomierski 13 Wasilewski 14 Wawrzyniak 15 Kamiński 16 Błaszczykowski (c) 17 Wolski 18 Mierzejewski 19 Sobiech 20 Piszczek 21 Grosicki 22 Tytoń 23 Brożek Coach: Smuda