WARSAW: Poland striker Robert Lewandowski was honoured on Thursday with his own postage stamp as the national post office kicked off the World Cup with one bearing the Bayern Munich star's portrait.
Poland Post said that the 29-year-old "has for years been one of the best strikers in the world and is the idol of young players and fans" as it rolled out five million copies of the stamp.
It features his face, name and the 'RL9' acronym of his initials and team number. Each stamp is valued at six zloty (1.4 euros, $1.63).
Lewandowski has arrived at the World Cup coming off an impressive season which saw him finish as the Bundesliga's top scorer for 2017/18 with 29 goals. He scored 41 times in 48 matches in all competitions for Bayern.
With 16 goals in ten appearances on the road to Russia, Lewandowski was also the top scorer in Europe's 2018 World Cup qualifiers as Poland, ranked 10th in the world, finished top of their group.
Under head coach Adam Nawalka, they have a realistic chance of qualifying from Group H, opening their campaign against Senegal in Moscow next Tuesday before facing Colombia and Japan.