Wojciech Szczesny

Full name: Wojciech Tomasz Szczesny

Date of birth: 18 April 1990 (age 22)

Place of birth: Warsaw, Poland

Playing position: Goalkeeper

Current club: Arsenal (England)

As he braces for his first major international tournament, Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny displays a levelheadedness that belies his youth.

Having only turned 22 in April, the Arsenal star seems at ease in the well-worn mantle of the Pole in goal, joining a long line of high-profile names such as Jan Tomaszewski, Jerzy Dudek and Artur Boruc.

"Nothing's really worrying me," Szczesny says, as hosts Poland prepare to kick off Euro 2012 against Greece in Warsaw on Friday.

Today's squad carries the hopes of fans who remember the glory days in the 1970s -- Tomaszewski's era -- and 1980s.

"All of us have played important matches, and will have more important ones still, in our career. I'm sure each one of us will handle that pressure," says Szczesny

The serious tone is at odds with his funnyman reputation.

He's become known for tongue-in-cheek remarks such as how former England star David Beckham was "starstruck" when meeting him.

On top of that, he has hosted an oddball Internet show on his club's website.

"Wojciech vs." sees Szczesny, whose Polish accent mixes with a London twang, set team-mates challenges and even take on Arsenal's chef in a cook-off which ends with a little too much spice.

Szczesny is poised to face a real version versus Arsenal midfielders Tomas Rosicky and Andrey Arshavin - who was sent out on loan to Zenit Saint Petersburg last season - as Poland's group includes the Czech Republic and Russia, their respective countries.

Part of a Poland squad whose average age is 25, Szczesny has made a habit of doing things young.

The son of former Poland goalkeeper Maciej Szczesny, now 46, he was a youth player at Warsaw top-flight side Legia.

He joined Arsenal in August 2007, making his first senior appearance in a League Cup match in September 2009, before being sent on loan to League One club Brentford.

After flourishing there, he returned to Arsenal. He made his Premier League debut in December 2010 and by the end of the season was confirmed as number one keeper.

Szczesny made his Poland debut in November 2009, a month after the end of the failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

Franciszek Smuda took the helm as coach that month following the sacking of Dutchman Leo Beenhakker.

Smuda decided to favour Szczesny over "Holy Goalie" Artur Boruc -- the nickname coming from his signs of the cross at Scottish giants Celtic -- who had been in the squad since 2004 and the number one since 2006.

Within a year, Szczesny had cemented his hold on the position, though he took time to convince hardcore Boruc supporters on the terraces.

"I respect him as a goalkeeper and a man," Szczesny said of Boruc after a friendly in Warsaw against Portugal this February.

"But they weren't chanting his name at that match, so I reckon they were happy enough with me," he added.

Szczesny nonetheless plays down his image as the stand-out choice.

"I don't feel like a certainty. Quite the opposite. My sense is always that I have to work hard at every training session to hold onto my slot," he said recently.

However, he seems safe in his role after club and country understudy Lukasz Fabianski -- with whom he used to battle to be Arsenal's first choice -- suffered a shoulder injury during Poland's pre-Euro training camp.

Former Liverpool icon Dudek, Poland's first choice keeper from 2000 to 2006, rates Szczesny.

"He's a very good goalkeeper. He's had a fantastic season at Arsenal," Dudek told AFP, adding that he had nothing to teach Szczesny.

He is also admired by the next generation.

"You have to have luck, plus huge talent, to go so far so fast," says Legia youngster Oskar Pogorzelec, goalkeeper in Poland's bronze medal-winning squad at the recent European Under-17 championship.