It is evident: Lukas Podolski simply cannot stand doing nothing. After opening a chain of kebab shops that is going great, after closing his career at his parents’ beloved team, Gornik Zabrze (with whom this year he also won the Polish Cup), he has decided to become a sporting entrepreneur. And so he started precisely with the purchase of Gornik, of which he has become the majority shareholder. As anticipated by the German press, in fact, the former striker of Inter and of the German national team is said to have acquired 86% of the club’s shares for a figure equal to around 940 thousand euros. A step that marks the beginning of a new phase for the former striker, already very involved in the management of the team in recent years.
In reality Podolski has seen himself in this role for years. During an interview on a German podcast, the host asked him how he would have reacted, as a boy, if someone had predicted to him that one day he would become the owner of a football team. The reply of the former German international recounted how this destiny was in some way written into his story, into the fact that he played the football management simulation games that marked an entire generation: «When we were young we always played football management games», recounted Podolski. «We would switch on the computer before or after school. It was fun to build the stadium, create the team, improve the sports centre and the locker rooms. It always fascinated me». Even without citing a precise title, and indeed it does not matter whether it is PC Calcio or Championship Manager, the progenitor of Football Manager, Podolski explained that from a young age he had developed an interest not only in the pitch, but also in the organisational and managerial aspects of a club. An aptitude that today seems to have found full realisation. The privatisation agreement of Górnik Zabrze in fact provides that the new owner invest almost three million euros over the coming years to support the club economically. A clause that is said to have contributed to reducing the final price of the operation.
Podolski, in reality, was already actively involved in the growth of the club before the acquisition. «I brought in sponsors, sold VIP boxes, worked on the players’ transfers and brought the club back onto the map of international football» he declared. A historic club of Polish football, Górnik Zabrze boasts 14 national titles and a Cup Winners’ Cup final reached in 1970. In the last season with Podolski on the pitch, the club won the Polish Cup and obtained qualification for the Champions League preliminaries. The former striker finally recalled the difficulties the team went through only a few years ago: «Five years ago we did not receive our salary for months, in the locker rooms there was only cold water because the municipality did not pay the bills and the pitch was in terrible condition». Today, instead, the situation appears profoundly changed. «This shows me that I have qualities off the pitch too», concluded Podolski. It is hard not to agree.