Not the next Lewandowski — the first Ewa Pajor

She is Poland’s captain and Barcelona rely on her goalscoring instinct — but she is not Robert Lewandowski. Women’s football is on the rise in Poland, which celebrated its first-ever major tournament appearance in the summer of 2025 and set a league Ekstraliga attendance record the season before. Ewa Pajor has undoubtedly played a major part in that growth.

Poland’s greatest footballer? For some, it’s Robert Lewandowski. For others, Wojciech Szczęsny or Jerzy Dudek. But for many young girls in Poland today, that list now includes Ewa Pajor. The prolific striker dominated Liga F in goalscoring last season and continues to post impressive numbers this year, sitting just behind Claudia Pina.

The parallels with Lewandowski don’t end there. Pajor looked up to him growing up, and when she made the move from Wolfsburg to Barcelona in 2024, it was her former idol who welcomed her to the club. Still, despite the similarities, Pajor is writing her own story.

“Ewa, follow your dreams and work hard,” Pajor said at the 2025 Ballon d’Or ceremony, where she picked up the award for top scorer across competitions. In her speech, she reminded everyone that she is “just a girl from a small Polish village.” Yet the Uniejów-born forward has already made a huge impact — not only on Polish women’s football, but on the game as a whole.

She started playing at the age of eight with boys at local club Orlęta Wielenin. Seven years later, she was already featuring for Medyk Konin in Poland’s top flight, becoming the youngest player to break into the senior level. Just a year later, she received her first call-up to the national team and made her debut against Czechia.

It couldn’t have gone much better — Pajor scored on her debut, finding the net in the 84th minute past goalkeeper Barbora Votíková. From that moment, it felt like only a matter of time before Europe’s biggest clubs came calling. It didn’t take long before she made the move to Germany, joining the Frauen-Bundesliga — one of Europe’s most competitive leagues alongside the WSL.

At Wolfsburg, one of the giants of women’s football, Pajor became a central figure. The club has won seven league titles and two Champions League trophies — and the Polish striker played a key role in many of their successes. Over nine years, she lifted the Frauen-Bundesliga title five times and won the DFB-Pokal in all nine of her seasons. The Champions League, however, remained just out of reach. Despite reaching the final multiple times, Pajor always fell short of lifting the trophy.

El Clásico hattrick hero

Her next step took her to Barcelona, where she joined stars such as Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas — and where she was welcomed by Lewandowski himself. Pajor also made history as the first Polish woman to wear the famous blaugrana shirt.

There were some doubts about whether she would fit into Barcelona’s star-studded squad, but those were quickly silenced. In her debut season, she finished as the league’s top scorer. In the Barcelona derby against Espanyol, she came off the bench to score a hattrick — celebrating it in the style of her idol, Lewandowski.

And she didn’t stop there. Pajor also became the first player to score a hattrick in El Clásico against Real Madrid. She went on to win a domestic treble with Barcelona, coming within one step of a perfect season before falling short in the Champions League final. Arsenal stood in the way, lifting the trophy for the first time in 18 years. Barcelona had won the competition in 2023 and 2024 — when Pajor was still at Wolfsburg — including a 2023 final victory over her former club.

Given Barcelona’s status as perennial favourites, Pajor is likely to have more chances to fight for the most prestigious trophy in the coming years. But in 2027, it could mean even more — the Champions League final is set to be held in her home country, Poland.