Euzebiusz Smolarek
Personal information
Full name	Euzebiusz Smolarek
Date of birth	9 January 1981 (1981-01-09) (age 28)
Place of birth	Łódź, Poland
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Striker, Winger
Club information
Current club	Free agent
Youth career
1993–2000	VV Spirit Feyenoord
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000–2005 2005–2007 2007–2009 2008–2009	Feyenoord Borussia Dortmund Racing Santander → Bolton Wanderers (loan)	68 (12) 81 (25) 34 0(4) 12 0(0)
National team2
2002–	Poland	42 (19)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:45, 25 May 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 11:05, 9 September 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Euzebiusz "Ebi" Smolarek (Polish pronunciation: [ɛu̯ˈzɛbjuʂ smɔˈlarɛk]; born 9 January 1981 in Łódź, Poland^[1]) is a Polish footballer who is currently playing for the Polish national football team. He has played forty times for the Polish national football team. Smolarek plays primarily as a striker or winger.^[2]

[edit] Club career

Smolarek grew up in the Netherlands, where his father played in the Eredivisie and later worked as a coach.^[3] "Ebi" went through the Feyenoord youth system and made it all the way to the first team.

On 24 August 2007, Smolarek signed with Racing de Santander for a reported €4.8 million.^[4]

On 29 August 2008, Racing loaned Smolarek to Bolton Wanderers for the season, with a view to signing him permanently.^[5] Smolarek's debut for his new club came as the team lost 3–1 to Arsenal on 20 September 2008.^[6]

On 3 January 2009, Smolarek scored his first goal for Bolton in the FA Cup 3rd Round match away to Sunderland^[7] but at the end of the season the club decided not to make his loan permanent. On 10 August 2009 he was released by Racing.^[8] Despite some interest from Bundesliga clubs at the start of the 2009-10 season,^[9] Smolarek wasn't signed and is still a free agent.

[edit] International career

A Polish international since 2002, Smolarek was selected for the 2006 FIFA World Cup but failed to score any goals.

He was Poland's (and group A's) top scorer in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying scoring nine goals, beating Cristiano Ronaldo. Smolarek scored a hat-trick against Kazakhstan in Warsaw. He played all of the nation's matches in Switzerland and Austria, as Poland exited in the group stages.

In a memorable feat, he was the first Pole to score a goal against Portugal in 20 years, the previous one being by his father. Impressively, he scored both goals in a 2-1 win in a Euro 2008-qualifying match.^[10]

On April 1, 2009, Smolarek scored 4 goals on San Marino. This made him top goal scorer for group three and tied him with Belgium's Wesley Sonck for second highest goal scorer for the European Zone of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification.

[edit] Poland goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	3 September 2005	Chorzów, Poland	Austria	3-2	Win	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
2.	7 October 2005	Warsaw, Poland	Iceland	3-2	Win	Friendly
3.	13 November 2005	Barcelona, Spain	Ecuador	3-0	Win	Friendly
4.	3 June 2006	Wolfsburg, Germany	Croatia	1-0	Win	Friendly
5.	7 October 2006	Almaty, Kazakhstan	Kazakhstan	1-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A
6.	11 October 2006	Chorzów, Poland	Portugal	2-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A
7.
8.	2 June 2007	Baku, Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	3-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A
9.	13 October 2007	Warsaw, Poland	Kazakhstan	3-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A
10.
11.
12.	17 November 2007	Chorzów, Poland	Belgium	2-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A
13.
14.	10 September 2008	Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	2-0	Win	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
15.	15 October 2008	Bratislava, Slovakia	Slovakia	1-2	Loss	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
16.	1 April 2009	Kielce, Poland	San Marino	10-0	Win	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
17.
18.
19.

[edit] Personal

Smolarek is the son of another Polish international, Włodzimierz Smolarek. He was named after Portuguese footballer Eusébio.^[11]

[edit] Honours

• Feyenoord
  • Eredivisie runners-up: 2000-01
  • UEFA Cup champions: 2001-02

• Personal
  • Polish Footballer of the Year: 2005, 2006, 2007

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website (Polish) (English) (German)
• National team stats (Polish)
• Euzebiusz Smolarek career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Poland squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Boruc • 2 Jop • 3 Gancarczyk • 4 Baszczyński • 5 Kosowski • 6 Bąk • 7 Sobolewski • 8 Krzynówek • 9 Żurawski • 10 Szymkowiak • 11 Rasiak • 12 Kuszczak • 13 Mila • 14 Żewłakow • 15 Smolarek • 16 Radomski • 17 Dudka • 18 Lewandowski • 19 Bosacki • 20 Giza • 21 Jeleń • 22 Fabiański • 23 Brożek • Coach: Janas

v • d • e Poland squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Boruc • 2 Jop • 3 Wawrzyniak • 4 Golański • 5 Dudka • 6 Bąk • 7 Smolarek • 8 Krzynówek • 9 Żurawski • 10 Garguła • 11 Saganowski • 12 Kowalewski • 13 Wasilewski • 14 Żewłakow • 15 Pazdan • 16 Piszczek • 17 Łobodziński • 18 Lewandowski • 19 Murawski • 20 Guerreiro • 21 Zahorski • 22 Fabiański • 23 Kokoszka • Coach: Beenhakker