Robert Lewandowski born 21 August 1988 is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and is the captain of the Poland national team. He is renowned for his positioning, technique and finishing, and is widely regarded as one of the best strikers in the world, and one of the best players in Bundesliga history. He has scored over 500 senior career goals for club and country.

Robert Lewandowski

Lewandowski playing for Poland at the 2018 FIFA World Cup

Personal information

Full name

Robert Lewandowski[1]

Date of birth

21 August 1988 (age 32)[2]

Place of birth

Warsaw, Poland

Height

1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)

Position(s)

Striker

Club information

Current team

Bayern Munich

Number

9

Youth career

1996–1997

Partyzant Leszno

1997–2004

MKS Varsovia Warsaw

Senior career*

Years

Team

Apps

(Gls)

2005

Delta Warsaw

17

(4)

2005–2006

Legia Warsaw II

12

(2)

2006–2008

Znicz Pruszków

59

(36)

2008–2010

Lech Poznań

58

(32)

2010–2014

Borussia Dortmund

131

(74)

2014–

Bayern Munich

209

(186)

National team‡

2007

Poland U19

1

(0)

2008

Poland U21

3

(0)

2008–

Poland

116

(63)

After being the top scorer in the third and second tiers of Polish football with Znicz Pruszków, Lewandowski moved to top-flight Lech Poznań, helping the team win the 2009–10 Ekstraklasa. In 2010, he transferred to Borussia Dortmund, where he won honours including two consecutive Bundesliga titles and the league's top goalscorer award. In 2013, he also featured with Dortmund in the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final. Prior to the start of the 2014–15 season, Lewandowski agreed to join Dortmund's domestic rivals, Bayern Munich, on a free transfer. In Munich, he has won the Bundesliga title in each of his first six seasons. Lewandowski was integral in Bayern's UEFA Champions League win in 2019–20 as part of a treble. He is one of only two players, alongside Johan Cruyff, to achieve the European treble, while being the top scorer in all three competitions.

A full international for Poland since 2008, Lewandowski has earned over 110 caps and was a member of their team at UEFA Euro 2012, Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. With 63 international goals, Lewandowski is the all-time top scorer for Poland. He won IFFHS World's Best International Goal Scorer Award in 2015 and IFFHS World's Best Top Goal Scorer Award in 2020. He has been named the Polish Player of the Year a record eight times.

In 2020, Lewandowski won the Best FIFA Men's Player Award and the UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award.[8] He has been named to the UEFA Team of the Year twice and the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season three times, and is the joint third-highest goalscorer in the history of the competition.[9] Lewandowski has been named the VDV Bundesliga Player of the Season a record four times. He has scored over 250 goals in the Bundesliga, having reached the century mark quicker than any other foreign player, and is the league's all-time leading foreign goalscorer.Moreover, he has won the Bundesliga top goalscorer award in five seasons. Lewandowski was awarded four Guinness World Records for the fastest five-goal haul in any major European football league since records have been kept, after scoring five times in nine minutes against Wolfsburg in 2015.

Personal life

Lewandowski's father gave him the name Robert to make it easier for him when moving abroad as a professional footballer.[184] Lewandowski's father, Krzysztof (died in 2005) was a Polish judo champion, and also played football for Hutnik Warsaw in the second division.His mother, Iwona, is a former volleyball player for AZS Warszawa and later vice-president of Partyzant Leszno.[186] His sister, Milena, also plays volleyball and has represented the U21 national team.[186] He shares a surname with Gina Lewandowski, an American defender for Bayern's women's team from 2012 to 2019, but is not known to be related to her.

His wife, Anna Lewandowska, won the bronze medal at the 2009 Karate World Cup.They married on 22 June 2013 in the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Serock.[188] They have two daughters: Klara (born 4 May 2017)and Laura (born 6 May 2020).

Lewandowski is a practising Catholic.[191] He met Pope Francis in October 2014, when Bayern Munich visited Vatican City following a 7–1 win over A.S. Roma in the UEFA Champions League.

In October 2017, the day after scoring to help Poland qualify for the 2018 World Cup, Lewandowski finished Bachelor of Physical Education (BPhEd) with coaching and management at the Academy of Sport Education in Warsaw, concluding a decade of studies.

In addition to his native Polish, Lewandowski also speaks English and German.

Philanthropy and business

Lewandowski and his wife, Anna, have supported, donated and raised money for various charitable organisations and for children throughout their career, including Children's Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw, for which they've raised more than 150,000 PLN during Anna's birthday party on 25 August 2018.Lewandowski also donated 100,000 PLN for the treatment of Cyprian Gaweł, a three-year-old boy from Hel;[199] and helps raising funds for the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity each year, donating his personal items or private meetings that are sold at online auctions.

In March 2014, he was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

In March 2020, Lewandowski and his wife, Anna, donated €1 million during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.

Beside philanthropy, Lewandowski also invests primarily in startups, e-commerce and websites, mainly through Protos Venture Capital, a company of which he is a shareholder.He also owns "Stor9_", an agency specialising in marketing communications.

Sponsorship and media appearances

In 2013, Lewandowski signed a sponsorship deal with Nike. Lewandowski plays in Nike Hypervenom boots.

Lewandowski featured on the cover of the Polish edition of EA Sports' FIFA 15 video game, alongside Lionel Messi.Lewandowski's "X" goal celebration – arms crossed and index fingers pointing up – appears in FIFA 18.

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