Podolski could not wait to get his teeth dug into one of his favourite culinary delights. - © © imago / Benjamin Horn
Podolski could not wait to get his teeth dug into one of his favourite culinary delights. - © © imago / Benjamin Horn

Lukas Podolski opens kebab shop in Cologne

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Lukas Podolski certainly knows how to tickle the tastebuds of fans from Cologne, to Munich and further afield in London, Istanbul or Kobe, as his latest venture proves.

Not yet tired of wowing fans with his goals, the 32-year-old returned from his current club Vissel Kobe in Japan to his home city of Cologne at the weekend to open his own kebab shop, and he had the net - or bellies - bulging.

Queues were forming hours before Podolski arrived to shave off the first slices of lamb for over 1,000 hungry fans packed into the city's Chlodwigplatz. "You eat doner kebabs when you're young, when you're still playing and when you've finished playing – it's a perfect solution," Podolski explained his business plan, which came 50 percent from his heart and 50 percent from his stomach.

Watch: Podolski's top five Bundesliga goals

It is not the first food outlet opened by the former Galatasaray star in Cologne. Last summer, he opened Ice Cream United, whose name gives away what culinary delights are on offer there, in the popular Belgian district of the city. "Ice cream and doner kebabs – I love it!" exclaimed Podolski.

As the throngs in Cologne confirmed, he is not the only one.

Click here to retrace the career of the former Cologne, Bayern and Germany international, Prince Poldi.