Full-back turns striker, scores 17 goals and saves German side 🔥
In football, position changes happen.But the one involving Polish player Mateusz Zukowski, in the 2025/26 season of the 2. Bundesliga, may have followed a storyline that was, to say the least, curious...
Full-back turns striker, scores 17 goals and saves German side 🔥 In football, position changes happen. But the one involving Polish player Mateusz Zukowski, in the 2025/26 season of the 2. Bundesliga, may have followed a storyline that was, to say the least, curious.
Originally a right-back with modest numbers, the 24-year-old was deployed as a center-forward by Magdeburg. The result? A flood of goals that lifted the team off the bottom of the table and secured its place in the division.
Developed by Lechia Gdansk and after a brief spell at Rangers (Scotland) in 2021, Zukowski was far from being a prolific scorer. Until the start of this season, he had scored only six goals in his entire professional career. At his previous club, Slask Wroclaw, he had played in a slightly more advanced role as a winger, recording two goals and six assists in 37 matches during the 2024/25 season.
The transfer to Magdeburg involved a significant amount of risk. The German club paid around 250,000 euros (approximately R$ 1. 3 million) for the player while he was still recovering from a metatarsal fracture, an injury that kept him off the pitch for about four months.