Podolski admits retirement plan after winning cup with boyhood club

Podolski admits retirement plan after winning cup with boyhood club

Former Gunner Lukas Podolski has revealed that his current plan is to retire at the end of the season, after winning the Polish Cup with boyhood club Gornik Zabrze.

Photo via PucharPolskiPZPN on Instagram

Former Arsenal striker Lukas Podolski is still playing first-tier football in Poland despite preparing to turn 41 in June, contracted to Gornik Zabrze until the end of the current campaign.

Podolski had previously stated that his final professional ambition was to win a major trophy with Gornik, having supported the team as a child.

That was an ambition he achieved over the weekend, as Gornik defeated Rakow Czestochowa in the Polish Cup final to lift the trophy for the first time in 54 years. It was their first silverware of any kind since 1988, when Podolski was just three years old.

Podolski had a brief but impactful influence on the final, coming off the bench in the 90th minute before getting opposition striker Jonatan Braut Brunes sent off in the 92nd minute. It was a terrible and petulant foul, and a very deserved red.

Now, with his final professional ambition achieved, is now the time for Podolski to call time on his playing career?

“The plan is to end my career,” Podolski confirmed after the game. “But maybe there will still be a sur­prise? I am leav­ing the door open. [In the past], some­times my fam­ily came second, and I want to change course a bit.”