Poland have arguably produced some of the greatest footballers in history.
We all know Robert Lewandowski, but what about Grzegorz Lato, Poland's hero at the 1974 World Cup, where they finished third!
Or Zbigniew Boniek, who was selected by Pele as one of his 100 best footballers in 2004.
Or Ernest Wilimowski, who became the first player ever to score four goals in a World Cup game when he achieved the feat against Brazil in 1938.
So, who are Poland's most lethal attackers ever?
Let's take a look!
The greatest goalscorer Poland has produced with 77 goals so far, Robert Lewandowski is the fifth-highest active international goal scorer in the world after Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Sunil Chhetri (India) and Ali Mabkhout (UAE).
His debut for the senior national team came in September 2008 when he came on as a substitute and scored a goal in Poland's 2-0 win against San Marino in a 2010 World Cup qualifier.
Lewandowski has featured for Poland at Euro 2012, Euro 2016, the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020.
He is also the third-highest men's international goalscorer in Europe behind Ferenc Puskas (84) and Cristiano Ronaldo (117).
The Barcelona striker's most-lethal performance came against Gibraltar in September 2014 when he scored four goals in a 7-0 win for Poland.
History maker for Poland in the 1970s and 80s, Wlodzimierz Lubanski scored 48 international goals in 75 games to become the greatest goal scorer for his country at the time.
Lubanski led Poland to gold in the 1972 Summer Olympics.
His best performance for Poland came against Luxembourg in April 1969 when he scored five times in his team's 8-1 win in their 1970 World Cup qualifier.
At club level, Lubanski became the youngest scorer in the history of the European Cup (UEFA Champions League) when he scored for Gornik Zabrze in November 1963, aged 16 years and 258 days.
Next up on the list of Poland's all-time top goal scorers is Grzegorz Lato.
One of three players in Polish history to reach a century of games for his country, Lato represented The Eagles for 13 years and scored 45 goals.
He featured in three World Cups for Poland. In 1974, Lato led Poland to a third-place finish at the tournament, scoring the only goal against Brazil in the play-off. He ended as the top scorer of the competition with seven goals.
After being eliminated from their group at the 1978 edition, Lato made his last appearance at the World Cup in 1982, scoring one goal in Poland's seven games at the tournament as they finished third.
He is one of the few Polish players to have won medals at two Summer Olympics, with a gold in 1972 and a silver in 1976.
With 97 appearances and 41 goals, Kazimierz Deyna was part of the Poland team that won the gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics and bronze at the World Cup in 1974.
In 1974, Deyna was ranked third in the European Footballer of the Year award, behind all-time legends like Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer.
Captain of the national team at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Deyna specialised in finding the back of the net from unusual positions, for instance, scoring a goal directly from a corner.
Deyna passed away in a car accident in California at the age of just 41.
With 39 goals in 46 appearances for Poland, Ernest Pol was one of the most prolific strikers in the world between 1955 and 1965.
To this day, he remains the top goal scorer in the Polish first division with 186 goals.
His best performance for Poland came at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome when he scored five goals in Poland's 6-1 win over Tunisia.
In 2004, Gornik Zabrze's stadium 'Arena Zabrze' was named after him as the 'Stadiun im. Ernesta Pohla'.
Part of Poland's golden era in the 1970s, Andrzej Szarmarch scored 32 goals for his country.
His best performance came in the 1974 World Cup when he scored five goals in the competition, including a hat-trick against Haiti and goals against Italy and Argentina, respectively.
His legendary status in the national team was confirmed at the 1976 Olympics when he was awarded the best player of the tournament with nine goals, leading Poland to the silver medal.
One of the greatest footballers in Polish history, Gerard Cieslik made his national team debut in June 1947 against Norway.
Also known as Gienek, the striker's most notable contribution for Poland came against the Soviet Union on October 20, 1957 when he scored a brace.
Cieslik was part of Poland's squad at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
One of the greatest Polish players of all time, Zbigniew Boniek scored 24 goals in 80 appearances for the national team.
The current UEFA vice-president was the first Polish footballer to win a UEFA competition when he helped Juventus win the European Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup.
Boniek was one of the players Pele selected as his 100 best footballers in 2004.
Part of the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups, the versatile attacker helped the Polish team win a bronze medal at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, scoring four goals at the tournament including a hat-trick against Belgium.
Nicknamed "Ezi", Ernest Wilimowski is one of the greatest goal scorers in the history of Polish national team and club football.
He is one of the few players who re-took German citizenship following the invasion of Poland, thus playing for the German national team too.
For Poland, Wilimowski made his debut at just under 18 years, scoring 21 goals in 22 appearances.
Two of his performances are remembered to this day.
The first came in a match against Brazil at the 1938 World Cup when he became the first player ever to score four goals in a single World Cup game.
His record was matched by other players afterwards, but was only broken 56 years later by Oleg Salenko, who scored five goals for Russia against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup.
The second of his two incredible performances came in August 1939 in an international game against the best football team in the world at that time, Hungary.
After trailing 2-0 to the Hungarians, Willimowski scored three goals in Poland's 4-2 win in an iconic game that was the last recorded football match to be played before the start of the World War II just four days later.
Tenth on the list of top international goal scorers for Poland is Jakub Blaszczykowski.
Since making his debut in March 2006, the Borussia Dortmund legend scored 21 goals for the national team, with his first international goal coming in a friendly against Russia in August 2007.
Rising up the ranks, Blaszczykowski was instated as the captain of the national team in November 2010.
He retired in 2019 after playing 108 games for Poland.
Position | Player | Games | Goals | Poland career |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Robert Lewandowski | 134 | 76 | 2008 - present |
2. | Wlodzimierz Lubanski | 75 | 48 | 1963 - 1980 |
3. | Grzegorz Lato | 100 | 45 | 1971 - 1984 |
4. | Kazimierz Deyna | 97 | 41 | 1968 - 1978 |
5. | Ernest Pol | 46 | 39 | 1955 - 1965 |
6. | Andrzej Szarmach | 61 | 32 | 1973 - 1982 |
7. | Gerard Cieslik | 45 | 27 | 1947 - 1958 |
8. | Zbigniew Boniek | 80 | 24 | 1976 - 1988 |
9. | Ernest Wilimowski | 22 | 21 | 1934 - 1939 |
10. | Jakub Blaszczykowski | 108 | 21 | 2006 - 2019 |
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