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 ...

who is youth manager at Dutch club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

. He played primarily as a striker or winger, representing clubs in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, England, Greece, Poland, and Qatar. Smolarek played 47 times for the

Polish national football team The Poland national football team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w piłce nożnej) has represented Poland in men's international tournaments football competitions since their first match in 1921. The team is controlled by the Polish Football Assoc ...

, scoring 19 officials 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, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

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 football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

Club career

Born in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

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

Włodzimierz Smolarek Włodzimierz Wojciech Smolarek (16 July 1957 – 7 March 2012) was a Polish footballer who played as a winger or an attacking midfielder. He played most of his 20-year professional career with Widzew Łódź and Utrecht, appearing in more than ...

, played in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

and later worked as a coach. Smolarek went through 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, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syst ...

for a reported €4.8 million. Polonia Warszawa vs Jagiellonia Białystok 05-2011 3

On 29 August 2008, Racing loaned Smolarek to Bolton Wanderers 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 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 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. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

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

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia and the capital of Kavala (regional unit), Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across ...

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 ( pl, Polonia Warszawa, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing Varsovian sports club, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contract ...

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 Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

side

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish 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 Reserve Battalion in Białystok. Jagiellonia play their home g ...

International career

Poland & US friendly soccer match in Kaiserslautern 2006-03-01

Polish international The Polish International in badminton is an international open held in Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area ...

since 2002, Smolarek was selected for the

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 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

. 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 wic ...

against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. 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 ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

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 football manager and former player who manages the Belgium U19 national team. He played as a striker for Molenbeek, Germinal Ekeren, Germinal Beerschot, Genk, Ajax, Borussia Mönch ...

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,

. 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 footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

. With his Dutch fiancée Thirza van Giessen he has a son (b. 27 April 2010), named Mees (for some time it was believed he named him Messi after Argentinian footballer

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

; the actual name Mees is an old Dutch name, and does not have anything to do with Messi).

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Honours

Club

Feyenoord *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 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 Association football forwards Association football midfielders Association football wingers Polish 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 Cup winning players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players La Liga players Premier League players Super League Greece players Ekstraklasa players Qatar Stars League players Poland international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Doping cases in association football Polish sportspeople in doping cases Polish expatriate footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Polish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Polish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Polish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Polish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Polish expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate footballers in Qatar Polish football managers Polish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands