Pajor’s journey to world’s most prolific striker

As the second-lowest ranked team at Euro 2025, not many people would give Poland much of a hope at this summer’s tournament.

But that would not take into account their star striker, Ewa Pajor.

After a record-breaking debut season with Barcelona, the 28-year-old goes into the competition as the most prolific striker in the world.

It has not been a straightforward journey for the Pole, who has overcome a career-threatening eye disease on the way, and while she has been rewarded with trophies at club level, it is her achievements with the national team which mean the most.

“Representing your country and leading it to its first major tournament is something you carry in your heart forever,” Pajor told BBC Sport.

Despite being drawn in a daunting group which contains eight-time Euros winners Germany, 2021 Olympic silver medallists Sweden and 2017 Euros runners-up Denmark, Pajor says Poland can make their mark.

She grew up on a farm outside Uniejow, a spa town of fewer than 2,000 people in central Poland.

If she wasn’t helping with the cows, she played football with her brothers – she was one of five siblings – as well as the local boys, outscoring them as if she were her idol Cristiano Ronaldo.

After she was spotted playing with local team Orleta Wielenin – she was the only girl playing – Pajor’s primary school PE teacher started to take her to tournaments in the town of Konin as her parents could not take time off from the farm.

Soon Pajor joined the youth system of women’s club Medyk Konin and she and older sister Paulina moved into a dormitory an hour from home.

Homesickness hit Pajor hard, but her parents had brought up a tough child.

“My ambition comes from my parents,” she told DAZN. “From a young age I saw how hard-working and ambitious they are. They instilled that in me, as well as never giving up. “

It was at Medyk that Pajor first met Nina Patalon, now Poland’s head coach, who at the time was coaching in the club’s youth set-up.

Patalon – the first woman in Poland to receive a Uefa Pro Diploma – has coached thousands of girls and women over the years, but she still remembers the moment she first saw a 10-year-old Pajor.

“Ewa came to one of my sessions with girls two years older than her, this tiny girl with a ball almost bigger than her,” Patalon told BBC Sport.

“At first, I thought she was way too small for the group. But then she started playing, and we were all stunned.

“Her speed, coordination, the way she moved with the ball – it was simply extraordinary. The older girls couldn’t handle her.

Pajor made her senior debut for Medyk – coached by Patalon – at 15 years and 133 days, scoring twice as she become the youngest player to appear in Poland’s top flight.

She went on to score 64 goals in 60 league games for the club before joining German giants Wolfsburg in 2015.

Moving to a club that was a fixture in the Champions League, and playing in a physical domestic league, was a huge step up for Pajor – she told DAZN that she was “very thin with no muscles” at the time.

It was in 2017 in Germany that Pajor was diagnosed with keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease that can cause blurriness and stop the eye from focusing properly.

The issue threatened her career, but two surgeries and adaptive contact lenses allowed her to continue her development.

After making modest contributions to Wolfsburg’s Frauen-Bundesliga title wins in 2016-17 and 2017-18, Pajor scored 24 goals in 19 games in 2018-19 as her side won a third successive title.

Pajor followed that up with 17 goals in 16 games as Wolfsburg again won the title in 2019-20, before injury disrupted the following two campaigns.

Nine goals in the 2022-23 Women’s Champions League took Wolfsburg to the final, during which she scored the opener.

Yet for the fourth time in her career Pajor was on the losing side as Wolfsburg surrendered a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Barcelona in Eindhoven.

The quality and standards at Barcelona are such that it often takes new signings months to find their feet, but that was no issue for Pajor.

Not only did Pajor win the Pichichi Trophy as the top scorer in Liga F last season, but at the time of writing she is the top-scoring player – female or male – in the world in 2025 with 29 goals.

Though Barcelona lost to Arsenal in the Champions League final – bringing her tally of defeats in Europe’s premier club tournament’s showpiece to five – she undoubtedly improved a team that was already close to perfection.

“Barca and Pajor have improved each other. Her arrival gave Barca a number nine, a killer,” Spanish football journalist Julia Gimenez Funes told BBC Sport.

“After Asisat Oshoala’s departure last year, Salma Paralluelo filled that position and did very well even though it wasn’t her natural position.

“However, Barca needed a pure centre-forward like Pajor who could take advantage of passes from Patri Guijarro, Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmati. “

Speaking before the Champions League final in May, Barca boss Pere Romeu said that “having Ewa Pajor in the box gives us more presence than we had before”.

Barcelona have not only taught Pajor a new way to play football – she drops deeper and gets more involved in build-up play than she did at Wolfsburg – but other aspects of the game as well.

“What surprised me most was the focus on team culture and details,” Pajor told BBC Sport.

“It’s not just talent – it’s discipline, humility, and the will to improve constantly.

As Poland’s all-time leading goal scorer with – at the time of writing – 68 goals in 101 appearances, it was fitting Pajor scored the most significant goal in the history of Polish women’s football.

Hanging on to a 1-0 aggregate lead against Austria in the second leg of their Euro 2025 qualification play-off in Vienna, Pajor smashed home from close range in the fourth minute of stoppage time to secure victory.

Pajor broke down in tears at the final whistle, Poland’s place at a major tournament for the very first time secured on her 28th birthday.

“It was one of the most emotional moments of my life,” Pajor told BBC Sport.

“Knowing we had made history – it’s hard to describe. I’ve won titles at club level, but this was different.

“It’s not just about me – it’s about the team, the journey, and every little girl watching who now knows this is possible. “

Though Poland lost all of their Euros qualifiers – they earned a place in the play-offs by winning their group in the 2023-24 Uefa Women’s Nations League – Pajor is bullish on their chances.

“We’ve grown so much as a group, and I believe in the work we’ve done,” she said.