Robert Lewandowski

Early career

Lewandowski started his career at MKS Varsovia Warsaw where as a teen he played for seven years. The following year he moved to Delta Warsaw where he finally managed to play in the first team, scoring four goals.

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

Lech Poznań

In June 2008, Lech Poznań signed Lewandowski from Znicz for 1.5 million złotys. Earlier that month, Lewandowski's agent Cezary Kucharski offered him to his former team Sporting Gijón, which had been promoted to the Spanish top league after ten years in the second tier. However, Sporting rejected him.

He made his debut for Lech in July 2008 as a substitute 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.

2010–11 season

Following press speculation that Lewandowski might move to one of a number of clubs he joined Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund in June 2010, signing a four-year contract with the German club for a fee reported to be worth around €4.5 million. 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 season

In the 2011–12 Bundesliga campaign, Lewandowski profited from an injury of Lucas Barrios and he was elevated to an ever-present position in the starting XI until the winter break. The striker responded by finding the net two times in Dortmund's 3–0 DFB-Pokal first round victory over SV Sandhausen. Lewandowski opened his league account in a 2–0 win over 1. FC Nürnberg on 20 August 2011 by providing the finishing touch from a Mario Götze cross. On 1 October, Lewandowski provided an assist and netted a hat-trick in the club's 4–0 victory over FC Augsburg, following a disappointing 3–0 loss to Olympique de Marseille in the Champions League group stage. Dortmund climbed into second place in the Bundesliga with a comfortable 5–0 victory over 1. FC Köln on 22 October, with Lewandowski finding the net either side of half-time. 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. Due to his strong performance, he was named Best Player of the Year in Poland.

Following the winter break, on 22 January 2012, Dortmund thrashed Hamburger SV 5–1 to move level on points with leaders Bayern Munich; Lewandowski netted twice and added an assist for Jakub Błaszczykowski in the rout. He scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 home win over Bayern Munich on 11 April. The result gave Dortmund a six-point cushion over their title rivals with only four games left to play. On 21 April, Lewandowski provided the assist for Shinji Kagawa's 59th-minute goal as Dortmund won 2–0 over Borussia Mönchengladbach to seal their second straight title. 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.

Lewandowski finished the year as the third top goal scorer with 22 goals, none from the penalty spot, and six assists.

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. Lewandowski finished as the DFB-Pokal's top goalscorer, with seven goals from six games.

2012–13 season

Lewandowski made his first appearance of the Bundesliga campaign in Dortmund's 2–1 victory over Werder Bremen on the opening day of the season. He netted his first goal in the 3–0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen on 15 September 2012, extending Dortmund's run to 31 games unbeaten and moved the club into third in the Bundesliga. Three days later, in the club's first Champions League game of the season, Lewandowski netted an emphatic 87th-minute winner to defeat Ajax by a score of 1–0. He set club's new record of the longest scoring streak, having scored in 12 consecutive league games, surpassing Friedhelm Konietzka's record from 1964–65 season. On 9 February 2013, Lewandowski opened the scoring in a home match against Hamburg, but was sent off in the 31st minute for a foul on Per Ciljan Skjelbred and Dortmund lost 1–4. He finished season with 24 league goals, one goal short of the Bundesliga's topscorer, Bayer Leverkusen's Stefan Kießling.

According to Borussia Dortmund director Michael Zorc, speaking in February 2013, Lewandowski would not be renewing his contract with the club, and would leave either in the summer of 2013 or after the 2013–14 season.

On 24 April 2013, Lewandowski became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League semi-final as Borussia Dortmund defeated Spanish champions Real Madrid 4–1 in the first leg at BVB's Westfalenstadion. On 25 May, he played in the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final in which Borussia were defeated 2–1 by Bayern Munich.

2013–14 season

On 27 July 2013, Lewandowski won the 2013 DFL-Supercup with Dortmund 4–2 against Bayern Munich. He scored his first goal of the season in Dortmund's 4–0 win over Augsburg in the club's opening Bundesliga match on 10 August. On 1 November, he scored his only hat-trick of the season in a 6–1 Bundesliga win against VfB Stuttgart.

On 25 February 2014, Lewandowski scored twice in Champions League round-of-16 first-leg against Zenit Saint Petersburg, becoming BVB's overall top scorer in European competition, surpassing Stéphane Chapuisat's 16 goals record. He scored his 100th goal for the club on his 182nd appearance, as Dortmund defeated VfL Wolfsburg in the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal on 16 April 2014, and revealed a shirt with the number 100 in celebration.

Lewandowski ended the 2013–14 season as the top goalscorer in the Bundesliga with 20 goals. He also scored six goals in the Champions League, as Borussia reached the quarter-finals. During the second leg of the Round-of-16 match between Borussia Dortmund and Zenit St. Petersburg, Lewandowski received a second yellow card which resulted in him being suspended for the first leg of the quarter-final against Real Madrid.

Lewandowski played his final match for Dortmund in the 2014 DFB-Pokal Final against Bayern Munich on 17 May. Manager Jürgen Klopp had excused him from some training ahead of the final due to injury concerns; although Lewandowski played all 120 minutes of the final, Dortmund lost 2–0.

2014–15 season

In November 2013, Lewandowski confirmed he would sign a pre-contractual agreement for Borussia Dortmund's rivals Bayern Munich which officially happened on 3 January 2014; signing a five-year contract, joining the team at the start of the 2014–15 season. Lewandowski was officially presented as a Bayern Munich player on 9 July 2014.

Pre-season started on 9 July 2014 at which time he was presented. He made his pre–season debut on 21 July 2014, scoring a goal in the process. On 6 August, he opened the scoring as Bayern contested the 2014 MLS All-Star Game in Portland, Oregon, eventually losing 1–2.

He made his competitive debut for his new club in a 2–0 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the DFL-Supercup on 13 August 2014, and scored his first goal in a 1–1 draw against Schalke 04 in his second league match on 30 August. On 1 November, in his first league match against Dortmund, Lewandowski scored in a 2–1 win which put Bayern four points clear at the top of the table while leaving his former club in a relegation play-off place. In his third match of the season against Dortmund on 4 April 2015, Lewandowski scored in the 36th minute in a 1–0 win. He had scored after Roman Weidenfeller "parried" Thomas Müller's shot.

On 21 February 2015, Lewandowski scored twice in Bayern's 6–0 win away at SC Paderborn 07, his second goal of the game was his 10th of the league season. He scored twice in the first half on 21 April as Bayern overturned a deficit from the first leg to defeat FC Porto 7–4 on aggregate and advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Five days later, after VfL Wolfsburg lost to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bayern won the Bundesliga title. On 28 April, he scored again in a DFB-Pokal semi-final against Dortmund, opening a 1–1 draw which ended in Bayern's elimination via a penalty shootout. With 17 goals in 31 games, Lewandowski was joint-second top scorer of the Bundesliga season alongside teammate Arjen Robben, behind Eintracht Frankfurt's Alexander Meier.

2015–16 season

Lewandowski's second season began with the German Super Cup on 1 August, with Bayern losing in a penalty shootout away to VfL Wolfsburg; he had been substituted in the 72nd minute for Rafinha. Eight days later in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, he scored the last goal in a 3–1 win at Oberliga Baden-Württemberg club FC Nöttingen. On 14 August, in the opening match of the new Bundesliga season, he scored the second goal of a 5–0 win over Hamburg.

On 22 September 2015, Lewandowski set a Bundesliga record by coming on as a substitute with Bayern trailing 0–1 to Wolfsburg and scoring five goals in 8 minutes and 59 seconds, the fastest by any player in Bundesliga history, to take a 5–1 lead. He also set Bundesliga records for the fastest hat-trick (three goals in four minutes), and most goals scored by a substitute (five). Lewandowski's five goals in nine minutes was also the fastest in any major European football league since Opta began keeping records, and it ended Wolfsburg's 14-match unbeaten run. He was awarded four certificates by Guinness World Records for this feat.

Four days later, he scored twice in a 3–0 win at 1. FSV Mainz 05, the first goal being his 100th Bundesliga goal on his 168th appearance, a league record for a foreign player. He also reached 10 goals in the opening 7 matches with this brace, a feat only done before by Gerd Müller. On 29 September, he scored a Champions League hat-trick in a 5–0 win over Dinamo Zagreb, putting him on ten goals in three games in a week. He added two in a 5–1 rout of Dortmund five days later, to total 12 goals in his last four appearances. On 24 October, Lewandowski scored in a 4–0 home win over 1. FC Köln, a result which made Bayern the first Bundesliga team ever to win all 10 of their opening games of a season. The victory in Cologne was also Bayern's 1,000th win in the Bundesliga. On 11 January 2016, he achieved fourth place at the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or awards.

On 19 March 2016, Lewandowski scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Köln to bring his league total up to 25 goals; a new personal best. He had scored 24 goals for Borussia Dortmund during the 2012–13 season. His goal against Atlético de Madrid on 3 May in the second leg of Bayern's Champions League semi-final exit saw him end the season's competition with nine goals.

On 7 May 2016, Lewandowski scored both goals for Bayern in a 2–1 win at FC Ingolstadt to confirm the Bavarian club as champions of Germany for the fourth consecutive season. A week later, he scored his thirtieth goal of the season in Bayern's final league match of the season at home to Hannover 96. This made him the first foreign player to score 30 goals in the Bundesliga, the first player since Dieter Müller in 1976–77, and secured him the Torjägerkanone for the second time in three seasons.

2016–17 season

The 2016–17 season started with Bayern winning the German Super Cup on 14 August 2016. On 19 August, in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, Bayern defeated Carl Zeiss Jena 5–0 with the help of Lewandowski's hat trick during the first half. He also assisted Arturo Vidal's goal in the seventy-second minute. Lewandowski opened the 2016–17 Bundesliga season with a hat trick in a 6–0 victory against Werder Bremen.

On 13 December, Lewandowski signed a new contract with Bayern, keeping him at the club until 2021.

On 11 March 2017, Lewandowski reached 100 goals for Bayern in his 137th appearance for the club, scoring twice in a 3–0 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.

International career

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 substitute and scored a goal in a 2–0 away win in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification. Only Włodzimierz Lubański scored a goal on his debut for the national team at a younger age than Lewandowski, having been 16 at the time. Lewandowski scored another qualifying goal against the same team on 1 April 2009, in a 10–0 victory.

Playing in Warsaw in the opening match of the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament against Greece, Lewandowski scored the first goal of the competition after an assist from then Dortmund teammate Jakub Błaszczykowski and was named Man of the Match. He played in all three games for Poland in the tournament, as the co-hosts crashed out of the group stage with two points earned.

Lewandowski scored two penalties in the 5–0 win against San Marino on 26 March 2013 during the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, his first match as captain. Later on in the campaign, on 6 September, he scored the equaliser against Montenegro in a 1–1 home draw.

On 7 September 2014, in Poland's first UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier, away against Gibraltar, Lewandowski scored his first international hat-trick, netting four goals in a 7–0 win. On 13 June 2015, he scored another hat-trick in Poland's 4–0 defeat of Georgia, with the three goals scored within the space of four minutes. On 8 October, he scored twice in a 2–2 draw away to Scotland, opening and equalising with the last kick of the game to eliminate the hosts. Three days later he headed the winner in a 2–1 victory against the Republic of Ireland, qualifying Poland for the tournament finals in France. Lewandowski ended the campaign with 13 goals, a joint European Championships qualifying record with David Healy's tally for Northern Ireland in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying.

At UEFA Euro 2016 in France, Lewandowski did not have a shot on target until the last-16 match against Switzerland in Saint-Étienne. Following the 1–1 draw, he scored his team's first attempt in the penalty shootout victory that sent them to the quarter-finals for the first time. In the 100th second of the quarter-final against Portugal at the Stade Vélodrome, he finished Kamil Grosicki's cross to open another 1–1 draw, and again scored in the shootout although the Poles lost. At the time of Poland's exit, Lewandowski had suffered more fouls than any other player in the tournament.

Style of play

An accurate and efficient finisher with his head and both feet, Lewandowski is a prolific goalscorer who is regarded by pundits as one of the best strikers in the modern game; a well-rounded forward, he is said to possess almost all the necessary qualities of a traditional number nine: height, strength, balance, pace, intelligent movement and proficiency with both feet. Although he primarily operates as a goal-poacher in the penalty area, due to his positional sense, ability to shoot first time, and strength in the air, his excellent technical skills, quick feet, vision, and physique also enable him to hold up the ball with his back to goal and either bring his teammates into play, or win fouls for his team in useful positions; despite often functioning as a lone-centre-forward or as an out-and-out striker, he has also stood out for his work-rate and defensive contribution off the ball, and is capable of dropping into deeper roles on the pitch, in order to create space for teammates with his movement, or surprise defenders by making late and sudden attacking runs into the area. In addition to his playing ability, Lewandowski has also been praised for his outstanding work-ethic, fitness, mentality, and discipline, both on the pitch and in training, by pundits, players and managers.

Personal life

Lewandowski was given a name that would make it easier for him when moving abroad as a professional footballer. Lewandowski's father, Krzysztof (died in 1995), was a Polish judo champion, and also played football for Hutnik Warszawa in the second division. His mother, Iwona, is a former volleyball player for AZS Warszawa and later vice-president of Partyzant Leszno. His sister, Milena, also plays volleyball and has represented the U21 national team. His wife, Anna Lewandowska, won the bronze medal at the 2009 Karate World Cup. They married on 22 June 2013 in Warsaw.

Lewandowski is a practising Catholic. He met Pope Francis in October 2014 when Bayern Munich visited Vatican City following a 7–1 win over A.S. Roma.

In early December 2016, Lewandowski announced that his wife was expecting their first child being in the fifth month of pregnancy. On 4 May 2017, he announced that earlier that day his wife gave birth to their daughter Klara.

Media

Lewandowski featured on the cover of the Polish edition of the FIFA 15 video game, alongside Lionel Messi.

Club

International

International goals

Club

Individual

Records