Euzebiusz "Ebi" Smolarek (; born 9 January 1981) is a Polish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He is currently the head of the Polish Union of Footballers. He played primarily as a striker or winger, representing clubs in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Spain, England, Greece, and Qatar. Smolarek played 47 times for the

Poland national football team The Poland national football team () represents Poland in men's international Association football, football competitions since their first match in 1921. It is governed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football ...

, scoring 19 goals, the joint-tenth most in the nation's history. He was part of the Polish squads at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

and

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

. He was voted the Polish Footballer of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Club career

Born in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

, Smolarek grew up in the Netherlands, where his father, Włodzimierz Smolarek, played in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

and later worked as a coach. Smolarek went through the

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

youth system and made it all the way to the first team. On 24 August 2007, Smolarek signed with

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

for a reported €4.8 million. On 29 August 2008, Racing loaned Smolarek to

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

for the season, with a view to signing him permanently. Smolarek's debut for his new club came as the team lost 3–1 to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 20 September 2008. On 3 January 2009, Smolarek scored his first, and only, goal for Bolton in the FA Cup 3rd Round match away to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

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. Despite some interest from

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

clubs at the start of the 2009–10 season, Smolarek signed on 14 December 2009 with

Kavala Kavala (, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the A2 motorway, a one-and ...

until 30 June 2012. On 25 July 2010, he and the club agreed to cancel his contract by mutual consent. He signed a two-year contract with

Polonia Warsaw Polonia Warsaw (, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing sports club in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, best known for its Association football, football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, Swimming (sport), swimm ...

on 27 July 2010. On 29 July 2011, Smolarek agreed to cancel his contract with Polonia due to his financial expectations. Smolarek also played for

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

side

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish professional football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the 42nd Infantry Regiment Reserve Battalion in Bi ...

International career

A Polish international since 2002, Smolarek was selected for the

but failed to score any goals. He was Poland's and

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

's top scorer in

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a Round-robin tournament, double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others ...

scoring nine goals, beating

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

. Smolarek scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. 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 Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in 20 years, the previous one being his father. Impressively, he scored both goals in a 2–1 win in a Euro 2008-qualifying match. On 1 April 2009, Smolarek scored four goals against San Marino. This made him top goal scorer for group three and tied him with Belgium's

Wesley Sonck Wesley Sonck (born 9 August 1978) is a Belgian professional association football, football manager and former player who manages the Belgium national under-19 football team, Belgium U19 national team. He played as a striker (association football ...

for second highest goal scorer for the European Zone of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification.

Personal life

Smolarek is the son of another Polish international, Włodzimierz Smolarek. He was named after Portuguese footballer

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Stri ...

. With his Dutch fiancée Thirza van Giessen he has a son (b. 27 April 2010), named Mees.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Honours

Feyenoord *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 2001–02 Individual * Polish Footballer of the Year: 2005, 2006, 2007

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smolarek, Euzebiusz Living people 1981 births Footballers from Łódź Polish emigrants to the Netherlands Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Polish men's footballers Feyenoord players Borussia Dortmund players Racing de Santander players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Kavala F.C. players Polonia Warsaw players Al-Khor SC players ADO Den Haag players Jagiellonia Białystok players UEFA Europa League–winning players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players La Liga players Premier League players Super League Greece players Ekstraklasa players Qatar Stars League players Poland men's international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Doping cases in association football Polish sportspeople in doping cases Polish expatriate men's footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Polish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Polish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Polish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Polish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Polish expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Polish football managers Polish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands 21st-century Polish sportsmen