Former Arsenal and Germany star Podolski ends playing career to focus on club ownership

At 2014 World Cup winner Lukas Podolski is set to end his playing career this summer after completing a takeover of Gornik Zabrze and building an £180m business.

Retirement after the takeover

Former Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Germany forward Lukas Podolski has announced that he is retiring from football. He will bring down the curtain on his professional career this summer.

His retirement was confirmed in a post on Gornik Zabrze’s Instagram, which said: “One chapter ends. A new era begins...

“World Champion @lukaspodolski will end career full of trophies this weekend. He became owner of his childhood club - Górnik Zabrze. Thank you for all Poldi and good luck in new role!”

Career path and club honours

Podolski began his career with Cologne in 2003 before moving on to Bayern Munich, where he won the Bundesliga title and the DFB Cup in 2008. For Bayern, he scored 15 goals in 71 league appearances.

He later joined FC Koln and then moved to Arsenal in the summer of 2012. While with the Gunners, he was part of the squad that won the 2014 FA Cup.

In total for Arsenal, he scored 21 goals in 82 appearances before leaving on loan to Inter Milan and then permanently to Galatasaray.

Germany record and final appearance

Podolski was part of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning squad and scored 49 goals in 130 games for his country. His final international appearance came against England in 2017.

Most recently, he captained his youth club, Gornik Zabrze, to a long-awaited Polish Cup triumph. He now owns the club after his takeover went through on Friday, the same day he said he planned to retire at the end of the season.

The former forward is also running an £180m business.