Ebi Smolarek: Borussia Dortmund’s derby hero
Post Dortmund career and “international troubles”
Smolarek’s time at Borussia Dortmund is often touted as the golden era of his career. Having scored 25 goals and notched 15 assists in two years, Ebi had proven his coaches at Feyenoord wrong. With a trusting manager he was allowed to flourish and play an impactful role for the club. Because the club was still reeling from its brush with bankruptcy, however, Dortmund had taken on the nature of a club that worked to make a profit where it could, even if it meant selling some of their better players. That is why when an offer for Smolarek came in from then La Liga side Racing Santander, the 4.05 million pounds was too much for the team to pass up on. The club cashed in on Smolarek, and it has to be said that Ebi’s career never truly recovered.
Smolarek spent a season and a half with Racing, making 33 appearances and notching 4 goals and 2 assists. Much of his time under contract with the Spanish club was also spent on loan with Bolton Wanderers. In January of 2010, Smolarek made the move to Al Khor Sports Club in Qatar on a free transfer. He would spend the rest of his career on the move, finally retiring with Jagiellonia Białystok in 2014.
On the international front, Ebi was of course expected to play an integral role for the Polish National team in the 2000’s, but just like for most of his playing career, Smolarek found it very difficult to gain a foothold in the national team setup. In the early days of his career, it was thought that Smolarek felt alienated from his country’s national team and teammates. Because the player grew up in the Netherlands, he was often ashamed of his level mastery with the Polish language, and his style of football was not always looked kindly upon. According to Dariusz Wołowski of Sport.pl, Smolarek was an “Oranje product” or export. Because of his shy nature, Wołowski indicates that Smolarek rarely talked with his teammates in the initial stages of his international career.
Being the son of a famous Polish international didn’t help, either. Włodzimierz Smolarek had been a tank in midfield, highly touted for his warrior like tendencies on the pitch. His son, meanwhile, was a more technical player, an attacker that preferred the ball at his feet to making crunching tackles on opponents. He was not what the Polish FA had expected, and struggled to get playing time under numerous national team coaches. Smolarek also spent lengthy spells away from the national team due to injuries and marijuana use.
Despite these troubles however, Smolarek was still able to leave a mark on the international scene. Smolarek saw one of his best runs in a Poland kit come to fruition when he surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo in group A of the qualifying rounds of Euro 2008 by scoring 9 goals, claiming top scorer honors in the group. He was also the first Pole to score against Portugal since his father in a 2-1 win during the same qualifying round. Ebi scored a total of 19 goals in 47 appearances for his country.