1. He grew up on the Polish/East German border
Łukasz Fabiański was born in Kostrzyn nad Odra in the far west of Poland on 18 April 1985.
He grew up in the small town of Słubice, which sits on the River Oder directly across the border from what was then the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
As a schoolboy, Fabiański spent most of his time outdoors playing various sports and playing in goal for his local club Polonia Słubice.
At the age of 15, following a discussion with his parents, he decided to pursue a career in football and moved to the MSP Szamotuły football academy.
He spent four years at the academy, completing his schooling and playing for Polish Fourth and Third Division clubs Lubuszanin Drezdenko, Sparta Brodnica and Mieszko Gniezno.
2. His boyhood hero was Italy's No1
Łukasz Fabiański’s football hero as a boy was Italy international goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca.
Born in Bologna, Pagliuca kept goal for Sampdoria, Inter Milan and Bologna during the time when Italy’s Serie A was arguably the best in the world in the late 1980s and 1990s.
He was also Italy’s first-choice goalkeeper when his national team were runners-up at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, which the nine-year-old Fabiański watched on television at his home in Poland.
By strange coincidence, Pagliuca is the second-best penalty-stopper in Serie A history, with 24 spot-kicks saved, while Fabiański is the second-best penalty-stopper in Premier League history, with 12 saved!
3. He went on trial at two Premier League clubs
Łukasz Fabiański went on trial to Premier League clubs Southampton and Arsenal at the age of 17, impressing Saints manager Gordon Strachan and Gunners boss Arsène Wenger.
The goalkeeper was one of four youngsters from the MSP Szamotuły football academy who went to England with the hope of earning a contract.
Fabiański returned to Poland and signed for top-flight club Lech Poznań at the age of 19 in 2004. After making one Polish Cup appearance in a 4-1 win over Arka Gdynia in October 2004, he signed for the country’s biggest club, Legia Warsaw, in the summer of 2005.
He ultimately signed for Arsenal and Wenger in the summer of 2007, at the age of 22.
4. He won awards as a young goalkeeper
Łukasz Fabiański was just a month past his 21st birthday when he won the Polish Ekstraklasa title in 2005/06, starting all 30 matches and conceding just 17 goals as Legia Warsaw edged out Wisla Krakow by two points.
Fabianski was unsurprisingly voted the league’s Best Goalkeeper, an award which he retained in 2006/07, when he started 23 times as Legia finished third behind champions Zagłębie Lubin and runners-up GKS Bełchatów.
5. He made history when he signed for the Hammers
After spending seven seasons with Arsenal and four with Swansea City, Łukasz Fabiański became the first Pole to play first-team football for West Ham United.
Poland international full-back Filip Modelski spent three seasons with the Hammers between 2008-11, but did not make a senior appearance.
During his first seven-year spell at West Ham, Fabiański won 12 caps for his country, taking his final total to 57 and making him the most-capped Pole in the Club’s history.
The first came eight days after the goalkeeper had joined the Irons in a 1-0 FIFA World Cup Group H win over Japan in Volgograd, Russia, on 28 June 2018, and the last in a 5-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory over San Marino in the Polish capital, Warsaw, on 9 October 2021.
6. He is a Premier League record holder
Łukasz Fabiański has made more than twice as many Premier League appearances than any other Pole, with 376 and counting.
Fabiański played 32 Premier League games for Arsenal, 149 for Swansea City and 195 for the Hammers in his first spell in east London.
Defender Jan Bednarek ranks second with 184, all for Southampton, with Aston Villa full-back Matty Cash third on 151.
Fabiański’s long-time rival for the Arsenal and Poland No1 shirts, Wojciech Szczęsny, played 132 times for the Gunners to rank fourth, with former AFC Bournemouth stopper Artur Boruc fifth on 128 and ex-Liverpool custodian Jerzy Dudek sixth with 127.
