Robert Lewandowski is one of the most renowned football players in the world, known for his exceptional skill on the pitch. Born in Poland in 1988, he began his professional career with Znicz Pruszków, before rising to prominence at Lech Poznań, where he caught the attention of bigger clubs in Europe.
His real rise came at Borussia Dortmund, where he became one of the best strikers in the world. Lewandowski was instrumental in winning domestic titles and reaching the Champions League final in 2013.
In 2014, he made a controversial move to Bayern Munich, where he continued to impress. With Bayern, he won numerous Bundesliga titles, as well as the Champions League in 2020, being an essential part of the team.
Individually, Lewandowski has consistently been one of the world's most prolific goalscorers, winning multiple best player awards, including the 2021 FIFA Ballon d'Or. His ability to score goals in a variety of ways, combined with his tactical intelligence and hard work, the ranks among the best players of his generation. Off the field, he is known for his work ethic and professionalism.
Professional career of Robert Lewandowski
Start
His first club was Varsovia Warszawa. He played for fourth division side Delta Warsaw before joining Légia Warsaw . However, he was released after recovering from injury. Already at the modest Znicz Pruszków, he scored 15 times in 30 matches, finishing as the championship's top scorer and his team gaining access to the Second Division . In his second and final season at the club, he again finished as the league's top scorer, but this time scoring 21 goals in 32 matches. He was also voted Polish revelation of the year.
Lech Poznan
He was signed by Polish First Division side Lech Poznań , who paid 1.5 million złoty . He would score 20 goals in his first season at the club, 14 of which came in the league. This season, he also played his first matches in European competitions, in addition to being the scorer of the most beautiful goal of the season. His numbers improved in his second season, having scored 21 goals (18 in the league) with 14 fewer appearances. In the latter, he would also finish as the championship's top scorer and national champion.
Borussia Dortmund
2010–11
In June 2010, he was signed by Borussia Dortmund and signed for four seasons. On 19 September, he scored his first Bundesliga goal to make it 3–0 in the Revierderby against Schalke 04 ; the game ended 3–1. He played 43 games and scored nine goals in his first season at the German club, being a backup to Paraguayan Lucas Barrios .
2011–12
In the 2011–12 Bundesliga campaign , Lewandowski benefited from an injury to Lucas Barrios and took over the starting line-up. The striker responded by finding the net twice in Dortmund's 3–0 victory over Sandhausen in the first round of the German Cup . Lewandowski opened his league account in a 2–0 win over Nuremberg on 20 August 2011, providing the finishing touch from a Mario Götze cross .
On 21 April, Lewandowski assisted Shinji Kagawa 's 59th-minute goal as Dortmund beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2–0 to secure their second successive title. In the final game of the Bundesliga campaign, Lewandowski scored two first-half goals as Dortmund beat Freiburg 4–0 to celebrate winning the title.
Lewandowski finished the year as the league's third-highest scorer with 22 goals, none from penalties and six assists.
2012–13
Lewandowski scored his first goal of the season in a 3–0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen on 15 September 2012, extending Dortmund's run to 31 games without defeat and taking the club to third place in the Bundesliga . He set the new club record for the longest scoring run, having scored in 12 consecutive league games, surpassing Friedhelm Konietzka's record from the 1964–65 season. He finished the season with 24 Bundesliga goals, one goal below Bayer Leverkusen's top scorer Stefan Kießling .
According to Michael Zorc, director of Borussia Dortmund, Lewandowski would not renew his contract with the club and would leave the team in the summer of 2013 or after the 2013–14 season.
On 24 April, in the 4–1 victory against Real Madrid at Signal Iduna Park, Lewandowski became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League semi-final.
2013–14
On July 27, 2013, Lewandowski won the German Super Cup with Dortmund after beating Bayern Munich 4–2. Lewa scored his first goal of the season on 10 August in a 4–0 victory over Augsburg in the opening game of the Bundesliga.
On 25 February 2014, Lewandowski scored twice in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Zenit Saint Petersburg, becoming BVB's top overall scorer in European competition, surpassing the record of 16 goals. by Stéphane Chapuisat. On 16 April he scored his 100th goal for the club in his 182nd appearance as Dortmund defeated Wolfsburg in the semi-finals of the German Cup.
Lewandowski ended the 2013–14 season as the Bundesliga's top scorer with 20 goals.
On May 17, Lewandowski played his last game for Dortmund, in the 2014 German Cup final against Bayern Munich. He finished the season with 28 goals in 48 matches.
He left Borussia for free, after signing a pre-contract with rival Bayern Munich.
Bayern Munchen
2014–15
On January 4, 2014, Bayern Munich announced the signing of Lewandowski from July 1, 2014, on a five-year contract. He makes his debut in an away victory against Hoffenheim in a match valid for the 22nd round of the Bundesliga . His first goal for the club came in the following match, in a 5–0 defeat of Mainz , where he also provided an assist and was one of the best on the field.
Lewa ended the season with 25 goals scored.
2015-16
In a match valid for the sixth round of the Bundesliga , which took place on September 22, 2015 against Wolfsburg, Lewandowski entered the field at half-time, replacing Thiago Alcântara , and scored five goals in just nine minutes. The feat became the fastest in the history of the Bundesliga. Guinness World Records certified him for four marks in the Bundesliga: fastest scorer of three goals, fastest scorer of four goals, fastest scorer of five goals and greatest scorer of goals from the bench. In the group stage of the Champions League he scored six goals, including one in the rout of Arsenal , also 5–1. At the end of this season, he became the Bundesliga's top scorer with 30 goals. In total he scored 42 goals in the season, being Bayern's top scorer and the third highest scorer in the European season, behind only Luis Suárez and Cristiano Ronaldo , respectively.
2016–17
The season began with Bayern winning the German Super Cup on August 14, 2016. On August 19, in the first round of the German Cup , Bayern defeated Carl Zeiss Jena 5–0 with a hat-trick by Lewandowski. The Pole opened the Bundesliga season with another hat-trick, this time in a 6-0 victory over Werder Bremen .
Lewandowski renewed his contract with Bayern on December 13, signing a new contract valid until 2021.
On 11 March 2017, Lewandowski reached 100 goals for Bayern in his 137th appearance for the club, scoring twice in a 3–0 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.
Due to injury, he did not play in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, and saw his team defeated 2–1 by Real Madrid in Munich. Already recovered in the return game in Madrid, Lewandowski started the game as a starter and put his team ahead in the first half. The match ended 2–1 in regulation time for Bayern. However, due to the expulsion of Arturo Vidal for a foul on Marco Asensio , coach Carlo Ancelotti was forced to remove the Polish striker, placing Joshua Kimmich to replace the Chilean's departure. In extra time, Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals from an irregular position and Asensio closed the scoring, finishing 4–2 for the Madrid team, eliminating the Germans from the tournament.
2017–18
The season began with Bayern winning the German Super Cup against rivals Borussia Dortmund, in a one-game match in which Lewandowski scored a goal in a 2–2 draw; he even converted the first penalty in the decision that ended in a 5–4 victory for the Munich team.
On December 13, 2017, Lewa reached the top 10 of players with the most goals in Bundesliga history when he scored the winning goal for his team in a game against Cologne , which ended 1–0. A few months later, in the 22nd round of the Bundesliga , Lewandowski scored again in a 2–1 victory against Schalke 04 , thus equaling the Bundesliga record of 11 goals scored in succession at home. Interestingly, he went on to share this record with his coach at the time, Jupp Heynckes - who scored 11 consecutive home goals in the 1972–73 season, playing for Borussia Mönchengladbach . Despite his good form, he was unable to make a difference against Real Madrid in the Champions League , having seen his team eliminated after a 2–1 defeat in Germany and a 2–2 draw in the second leg in a game marked by a huge failure by goalkeeper Sven Ulreich and a supposed unmarked penalty by Marcelo . At the end of the season, Bayern became German champions
Lewandowski ended the season with 41 goals scored in 48 games, 29 of which were in the Bundesliga, becoming the German Championship's top scorer for the third time.
In August 2018, after great speculation about a supposed transfer to Real Madrid, which no longer had Cristiano Ronaldo and was looking for a new attacking reference, Bayern president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said that Lewandowski was not for sale as it would not be possible to find a replacement worthy of the polish.
2018–19
The 2018–19 season began with a rematch against Frankfurt in the German Super Cup , with Bayern emerging victorious after a 5–0 thrashing of the tormentors. Lewandowski was fundamental in the match by scoring a hat trick, becoming the first player to achieve such a feat in the tournament.
On 27 November 2018, by scoring two goals in a 5–1 victory over Benfica , Lewandowski became the third fastest player to reach 50 goals in the UEFA Champions League. The Pole needed 77 games to reach the milestone. Lewandowski finished as the top scorer in the Champions League group stage , with eight goals in six games.
On 9 February 2019, he scored in a 3–1 win over Schalke and thus became the first player to score 100 goals in official games at the Allianz Arena . In the same season, he also scored his 119th league goal for Bayern Munich, which took him level with Roland Wohlfarth as the club's third all-time top scorer. A month later, he surpassed Wohlfartj after scoring a goal in a 5–1 victory over Gladbach, with his second goal also equaling him with Claudio Pizarro 's record of 195 goals (most Bundesliga goals by a foreign player). In his very next game of the tournament, Lewa broke Pizarro's record by scoring twice in a 6–0 victory over Wolfsburg. On 6 April, in the 100th Bundesliga meeting between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, Lewandowski scored twice in a 5–0 victory, with his first goal taking him to 200 league goals. Lewandowski finished the Bundesliga with 22 goals, reaching the tournament's top scorer for the fourth time.
2019–20
The 2019–20 season started with Bayern being defeated by Borussia Dortmund in the Super Cup 2–0. In the very next game in the German Cup , Lewandowski scored his first goal of the season as Bayern defeated Energie Cottbus 3–1 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. With his good start, Lewandowski set a Bundesliga record for scoring a season-opening goal for the fifth consecutive year. On 18 September, Lewandowski scored his 200th goal for Bayern in a 3–0 win against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League . He later reached an impressive 27 goals in his first 20 games of the season. Lewandowski became the first player in Bundesliga history to score in each of the opening nine, ten and eleven games of a season, surpassing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 's record of eight . On 26 November, in the 6–0 thrashing of Red Star Belgrade, Lewandowski scored four goals in less than 15 minutes, setting a new record for the fastest four goals at Campions. He also became the second player to score four goals in more than one Champions League game.
On 25 February 2020, Lewandowski provided two assists for Serge Gnabry and scored a goal in Bayern's 3–0 victory over Chelsea in a Champions League round of 16 match at Stamford Bridge Stadium . In that same game, he equaled Cristiano Ronaldo's record of nine away goals in a European competition.
Since the return of German football, and Bayern's first game following the football shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic on July 17, Lewandowski has enjoyed an astonishing season in the Bundesliga and German Cup, scoring a goal or more in the most games and achieving an impressive average of 1.10 goals per game in the Bundesliga, finishing as top scorer, winning the league and the German Cup.
He ended the season with 55 goals in 47 games, an average of more than one goal per game. Furthermore, he was top scorer in the three competitions his team won: Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League.
Thanks to these achievements, he was named FIFA's best player in the world in 2020.
2020–21
Lewa started the season by scoring a penalty goal in Bayern's 8–0 defeat of Schalke 04, and became champion of the UEFA Super Cup by beating Sevilla 2–1 and the German Super Cup after defeating rivals Borussia Dortmund by 3–2. On 24 October, he scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt , thus becoming the first player in Bundesliga history to score 10 goals in five games.
In his Club World Cup debut , he scored two goals in the 2–0 victory over Al-Ahly , taking Bayern to the final. He was champion by defeating Tigres 1–0 in the final, in addition to being voted the best player in the world, winning the Golden Ball of the competition's Cup.
The season was also marked by his historic achievement in the German championship, scoring 41 goals in just 29 games, breaking Gerd Muller's old record, Lewandowski becoming the highest scorer in an edition of the Bundesliga. Furthermore, he won his first golden boot and was German champion.
Lewandowski was crowned the world's best men's football player of the 2020–21 season by FIFA's " The Best " award.
2021–22
At the end of the season, Lewandowski transferred from Bayern leaving the club as the Bavarians' second highest scorer with 344 goals, behind only Gerd Müller . Furthermore, he won eight Bundesliga titles and was top scorer in seven editions. The center forward scored 41 goals in the 2020–21 season, a record in one edition.
Barcelona
2022–23
On July 16, 2022, Lewandowski was announced as Barcelona 's new reinforcement . The values of the figures involved in the agreement were not revealed, however, the German press states that the Catalan club paid 45 million euros (around R$245 million) for the contract.
He made his debut for the team on July 24, in a friendly against Real Madrid held in Las Vegas , at the Allegiant Stadium . However, the one who ended up shining was the Brazilian Raphinha , who scored the goal that defined the victory by 1–0. Lewandowski then played against Pumas , from Mexico , in a match valid for the Joan Gamper Trophy . The striker scored a goal, made two assists and had a great performance in the 6-0 victory
He scored his first official goals for the club on August 21, in the 4–1 victory against Real Sociedad , valid for La Liga . He performed well again on 28 August, against Valladolid , scoring twice in the 4–0 rout, including a backheel goal. He was featured on 12 October, against Internazionale , in a dramatic game at the Camp Nou. Lewandowski shone by scoring twice late, securing a 3–3 draw and preventing Barcelona's elimination in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League .
He won the Spanish Super Cup on January 15, 2023, his first title with Barça . In a game held at the King Fahd International Stadium , in Riyadh , Lewandowski scored the second goal in a 3–1 victory over Real Madrid. On 14 May, he scored two goals in a 4–2 derby win against Espanyol away from home to win the La Liga title for Barcelona. Lewandowski would end the season not only with the two achievements, but also with another top scorer in his career, being the winner of the Pichichi Trophy with 23 goals.
2023–24
On 3 September, Lewandowski reached the milestone of 50 competitive appearances for Barcelona in a 2–1 victory against Osasuna . The Polish striker had scored 35 goals for Barça so far. In the Champions League , he scored his first goal in that edition on September 19, in a 5–0 victory over Royal Antwerp , from Belgium , in a game valid for the group stage . With the goal, he reached the milestone of 100 goals in European competitions, behind only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo .
Individual achievements and awards
Znicz Pruszków
- III Liga : 2006–07
- Lech Poznan
- Polish Cup : 2008–09
- Polish Super Cup : 2009
- Polish Championship : 2009–10
- Borussia Dortmund
- Bundesliga : 2010–11 and 2011–12
- German Cup : 2011–12
- German Super Cup : 2013
Bayern Munchen
- Bundesliga : 2014–15 , 2015–16 , 2016–17 , 2017–18 , 2018–19 , 2019–20 , 2020–21 and 2021–22
- German Cup : 2015–16 , 2018–19 , 2019–20
- German Super Cup : 2016 , 2017 , 2018 , 2020 and 2021
- UEFA Champions League : 2019–20
- UEFA Super Cup : 2020
- FIFA Club World Cup : 2020
Barcelona
- Spanish Super Cup : 2022–23
- La Liga : 2022–23
Individual awards
- Polish Newcomer of the Year: 2008
- Polish Championship Player of the Year : 2009
- Polish Footballer of the Year: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 202
- 70th best player of the year 2012 ( The Guardian )
- Polish Sports Personality of the Year: 2015, 2020, 2021
- 7th best player of the year 2016 ( The Guardian )
- 15th best player of the year 2016 ( Marca )
- Goalkeeper of the Year 2015 ( IFFHS )
- UEFA Champions League squad : 2015–16, 2016–17, 2019–20 and 2020–21
- 2016–17 Bundesliga Player of the Year
- UEFA Team of the Year : 2019 and 2020
- German Footballer of the Year : 2020 and 2021
- Best player by Tuttosport newspaper : 2020
- Best Player in the World by The Guardian : 2020
- Best player in the world by FourFourTwo magazine : 2020
- Best player in the world by World Soccer magazine : 2020
- UEFA Champions League Best Player : 2019—20
- UEFA Best Player in Europe : 2019–20
- FIFA Team of the Year: 2020
- The Best FIFA: 2020 e 2021
- Globe Soccer Awards Player of the Year: 2020
- Team of the decade (2011–2020) by IFFHS
- FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball : 2020
- UEFA Best Striker : 2019–20
- UEFA Golden Boot : 2021 and 2022
- Ballon d'Or 2022 : Gerd Müller Award
- Pichichi Trophy : 2022–23
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