Robert Lewandowski: How the kid from Poland became world's best striker

Robert Lewandowski’s will be a story read, heard and taken inspiration from across the globe especially in his native land of Poland. He did the unthinkable which proofed that sport can break barriers and nothing is quite impossible. The Poland and Bayern Munich talisman pipped the liked of seven times Ballon d’Or holder Lionel Messi and Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah to be named the FIFA Best Men’s player 2021. It was, in fact, his second straight award to etch his name in history books as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all-time. So what is so special about his journey? The man-of-the-moment explained himself. 

“Kids from Poland are not supposed to be the best in the world. It’s just not supposed to happen. So when I received the trophy, I couldn’t believe it,” Lewandowski wrote in The Players’ Tribune after picking up the FIFA award.

“I know that people think it’s a cliché, but my life really began to flash in front of my eyes. I could see my first steps with the ball, my first games on the muddy pitches, and all the people who had helped me get to this point.”

Lewandowski likes to sleep with his trophies which acts as a testament of how much it means to him. There might have been doubts over his current stature in the past but there was hardly any question of him becoming something other than a sportsman. 

He was born in Leszno, a small town in the west of Warsaw, to a Polish judo champion and second division footballer Krzysztof and mother Iwona who is an ex-volleyball player. His sister Milena also represented Poland at youth level in volleyball. 

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“They were both P.E. teachers, and my dad happened to be my P.E. teacher. So after school he would drive me to training, wait two hours for my session to finish and then drive me home,” explained Lewandowski. “Some other parents thought he was crazy. They really did. I’m not kidding. I literally heard other parents ask my parents, “Why are you doing this?'”

The Polish player went on to score 43 goals across competitions in 2021. But as a youth, he was a thin boy, with a paperweight body and the knack of scoring goals. 

“His legs were so thin; I kept urging him to put some weight on and eat more bacon sandwiches,” said Krzysztof Sikorski, Lewandowski’s coach at Varsovia. “It didn’t stop him being a prolific scorer, though. I remember one season we scored 158 goals, and he got half of them.”

“You can’t imagine how small and skinny he was as a child”, ex-Varsovia teammate Kamil Baczek told 51, the official Bayern Munich magazine. “You almost had to worry about something happening to him. But he was an outstanding player – he took on every opponent mercilessly.”

But today, he is, a history in himself and a lesson to youngsters on not-giving-up on their dreams.