Following the confirmation of his return to West Ham United, we take a photographic journey through Łukasz Fabiański’s incredible career in football so far.
Born in the town of Kostrzyn nad Odrą in western Poland, Fabiański played youth football for a number of clubs before making his senior debut, aged 19, for Lech Poznan in a 4-1 Polish Cup win over Arka Gdynia in October 2004.
The following year saw the young goalkeeper move to Legia Warsaw, where he made his Ekstraklasa bow against Arka in July 2005. Fabiański gave notice of his considerable promise by keeping clean sheets in each of his first three league games and recording an amazing 19 shutouts in 30 Ekstraklasa appearances in total as Legia won the title.
Another fine season in 2006/07 saw Arsenal spend £2million to bring Fabiański to north London, where he backed-up the likes of Jens Lehmann, Manuel Almunia and compatriot Wojciech Szczęsny. Fabiański played 78 times for the Gunners, with his final appearance being the 2014 FA Cup final victory over Hull City at Wembley Stadium.
The following four campaigns saw Fabiański excel between the sticks for Swansea City, making a Premier League-high 499 saves over that period and missing just three top-flight matches.
He was rewarded with Swansea’s 2017/18 Player of the Year award before embarking on his first spell at West Ham in June 2018, where he would continue his fine form and earn the coveted Hammer of the Year crown at the end of his first campaign with the Club.
Fabiański was a key member of the Irons side that roared to three top-nine Premier League finishes in four seasons under David Moyes between 2020/21 and 2023/24, and powered to the unforgettable 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League title in the second of three consecutive terms in Europe that also yielded runs to the Europa League semi-finals and quarter-finals.
On the final day of 2024/25, Fabiański became the fourth oldest player to feature in the Club’s history at 40 years and 37 days, making his 216th appearance for the Irons before his brief departure from east London.
On the international front, Fabiański won 57 caps for Poland between 2006 and 2021, serving at the 2006 and 2018 FIFA World Cups and the 2008, 2016 and 2020 UEFA European Championships, and winning the 2018 Polish Footballer of the Year prize. No Pole has made more Premier League appearances than Fabiański, who has turned out 376 times in the competition so far.
Check out the images from our new No22’s life on the pitch so far in the gallery above.
