From the potato field to Champions League winner

Leszno is a small, quiet town in Poland with a population of around 4,000 people, 30 kilometres from the capital city of Warsaw. Until recently, it had relatively few claims to fame; now it is known as the place where Robert Lewandowski lived and grew up.

“In 2016 we gave him Honourable Citizenship, the first such title in our history, because we are very proud of him,” declared former Leszno mayor Andrzej Cieslak.

Playing in the streets of Leszno, Lewandowski fell in love with football. When he was just eight, his father, Krzysztof, took him to Varsovia, a youth club in Warsaw.

“I remember him as the smallest, skinniest boy,” recalls Lewandowski’s first coach, Marek Siwecki, who passed away last year. “His legs looked like two thin sticks. But I let him show me what he could do with a ball, and I said: ‘Okay, you will