Podolski makes dream move to boyhood club

The 36-year-old former Germany international is set to make his competitive debut for boyhood club Gornik Zabrze in the Polish top flight on Sunday as they kick off their Ekstraklasa campaign against Pogon Szczecin - after making a 'dream' move he had promised for years.

Podolski was born in the Polish town of Gliwice, located next to Zabrze, and despite moving to Germany with his parents aged two has grown up supporting Gornik - widely regarded as the country's second most-successful club.

The former Cologne, Bayern Munich and Arsenal forward may have played 130 times for Germany, scoring 48 goals and featuring in seven major international tournaments, but Podolski has never forgotten his Polish roots.

His wife Monika is Polish, they speak Polish with their children, and his ties to the region of Silesia were especially strong thanks to frequent visits to grandmother Zofia - a Gornik fan like all the Podolski family.

Both are Polish, but Klose never wanted to talk to Polish media, didn't speak Polish and was proud when singing the German anthem," Sportowe Fakty journalist Marek Wawrzynowski told BBC Sport.

Podolski promised Maj to play for Gornik towards the end of his career, and he made the same promise to granny Zofia who waited patiently for the moment to come.

While he made money around the globe, it was easy to understand why Gornik fans became extremely sceptical as to his intentions to play for Zabrze.

'When Podolski signs for Gornik' meant something like 'when pigs fly' in Silesia - that was never going to happen," Wirtualna Polska journalist Piotr Kozminski told BBC Sport.

Podolski had numerous generous offers this summer, including Queretaro who offered him a two-year contract worth three million euros to come to Mexico, but he signed for Gornik for just one season, with an option for another year, stating that would be the last club of his career.

Gornik (the name means "miner" in Polish) are a major historic club and the only Polish team to have reached a European final, losing to Manchester City in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1970.

About 10,000 fans came to greet Poldi, and I can't remember anything like that in Polish football.