Włodzimierz Lubański

Włodzimierz 'Włodek' Leonard Lubański ( Polish pronunciation : ; born 28 February 1947 in Gliwice-Sośnica) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the second-highest all-time goal scorer for the Poland national team, behind Robert Lewandowski, and the youngest-ever player to appear for Poland, making his debut at the age of 16 years and 188 days. For his national team, Lubański amassed 75 caps between 1963 and 1980, scoring 48 goals.

Life and career
Born in Gliwice in 1947, he started his football career at the age of ten in Sośnica Gliwice's junior team. Between 1958 and 1962, he was part of the GKS Gliwice's junior squad and in 1963 he started playing football professionally in Górnik Zabrze. He won the Polish Championship seven times with Górnik Zabrze in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1971 and 1972. Lubański is the youngest scorer in the history of the European Cup (now known as the UEFA Champions League), scoring against Czech side Dukla Prague in the leg of their tie in the first round of the competition on 13 November 1963, aged 16 years and 258 days.

Between 1975 and 1982, he played for Belgian side Lokeren before moving to French outfit Valenciennes FC in 1982, where he remained for a year.

He won the gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in the men's football team competition with Poland.

In 1972, he was awarded the title of Merited Master of Sport of the USSR.

He participated at the 1978 FIFA World Cup, finishing fifth with his national team.

Lubański was vice-chairman of Polonia Warsaw for three months.

In 1997, he received the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his "outstanding contributions to the development of sport in Poland".

In 2015, he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Personal life
In 1968, he married Grażyna (née Loreto) with whom he has two children: a son Michał and a daughter Małgorzata.

Lubański is the subject of a number of books including Ja, Lubański by Krzysztof Wyrzykowski (1990), ''Włodek Lubański. Legenda polskiego futbolu by Włodzimierz Lubański and Przemysław Słowiński (2008) and Życie jak dobry mecz'' by Włodzimierz Lubański and Michał Olszański (2016).

Honours
Górnik Zabrze
 * Ekstraklasa: 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1970–71, 1971–72
 * Polish Cup: 1964–65, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72

Poland
 * Summer Olympics: 1972

Individual
 * Ekstraklasa top scorer: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69
 * European Cup Winners' Cup Top Scorer: 1969–70, 1970–71
 * World XI: 1968, 1969, 1972, 1973
 * Merited Master of Sport of the USSR: 1972
 * Order of Polonia Restituta: 1997
 * UEFA Poland's Golden Player: 2004
 * Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland: 2015