Personal Life
Podolski was born to Waldemar Podolski and Krystyna Podolska, a former member of the Poland national handball team in the Silesian industrial town of Gliwice (near Katowice), Poland.
In 1987, when Podolski was two years old, his family emigrated from Poland to West Germany and were given Aussiedler status as a result of his paternal grandparents having German citizenship prior to World War II (Gliwice had until 1945 been a part of Germany as Gleiwitz). Podolski grew up in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, and later in Pulheim, both near Cologne.
Podolski holds both German and Polish nationality, but has stated that he does not have a Polish passport. In an interview Podolski said that the Polish Football Association never cared about him until he started playing for the German under-21 team and received coverage in the media. At that point, Podolski arrived at the decision, but nevertheless "there are two hearts beating" in his chest. In an interview in the Polish Przegląd Sportowy from 2011, Podolski stated that he always wanted to play in Poland as he is a Pole but plays for the German team.
Podolski's longtime girlfriend Monika Puchalski gave birth to their first child, Louis Gabriel Podolski, on 14 April 2008. In April 2011, the couple married in a civil ceremony in Cologne, Germany. In June 2011, they had a church wedding in Kamionna, Węgrów County, Poland. Podolski is a fan of Górnik Zabrze.
During the Euro 2012, Podolski teamed up with Cologne band Brings to provide backing vocals on a Europop track called 'Halleluja'.
Read more about this topic: Lukas Podolski
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