Jan Koller

Jan Koller
Personal information
Date of birth	March 30, 1973 (1973-03-30) (age 36)
Place of birth	Smetanova Lhota, Czechoslovakia
Height	2.02 m (6 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Krylya Sovetov Samara
Number	89
Youth clubs
1978–1989 1989–1994	TJ Smetanova Lhota ZVVZ Milevsko
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994–1996 1996–1999 1999–2001 2001–2006 2006–2008 2008 2008-	Sparta Prague Lokeren RSC Anderlecht Borussia Dortmund AS Monaco 1. FC Nuremberg Krylya Sovetov Samara	029 0(5) 097 (43) 065 (43) 137 (59) 051 (12) 014 0(2) 011 0(4)
National team2
1999–2008	Czech Republic	090 (55)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of September 27, 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of June 15, 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Jan Koller (born March 30 1973 in Smetanova Lhota, Czech Republic, then Czechoslovakia) is a Czech football player, who plays for the Russian Premier League club Krylya Sovetov Samara in Russia and also played as a striker for the Czech Republic national team. He is the all-time leading goal scorer for either the Czech Republic or the former Czechoslovakia, with 55 goals in 90 caps as of 15 June, 2008. With 202 cm height (almost 6'8") and a weight just over 100 kg (about 220 pounds), Koller has an impressive physical presence and is a natural threat in aerial game.

Career

Club career

Koller started his football training as a goalkeeper, but was converted to striker by the time he started his professional career with Czech giants AC Sparta Praha. In 1996, Koller caught the eye of Belgian football and signed with the club KSC Lokeren. After a successful three-year personal campaign, in which he managed to finish as Belgian first division top-scorer in his last season at Lokeren, Koller was appointed by Belgian giants RSC Anderlecht. A brilliant performance in his debut season earned him the Belgian Golden Shoe in 2000 and just a year later he was bought by German side Borussia Dortmund.

During Koller's spell at Dortmund (in which the club conquered the Bundesliga trophy in the 2001-2002 season), his training as a keeper saw some use in the 2002-03 season. In one Bundesliga match at Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund's keeper Jens Lehmann was sent off about midway through the second half, and Koller moved from striker to keeper after he had already scored once in the first half. He kept a clean sheet for the rest of the match against good opportunities by Michael Ballack and others, and was named the Bundesliga's top keeper of the week for his performance. Nevertheless Dortmund lost this important match.

In a surprising move, Koller signed with French side AS Monaco in 2006 but a two-season disappointing campaign, despite earning a decent scoring record, forced him to move back to Germany to play with 1. FC Nuremberg.^[1] Unfortunately for Koller (who wasn't the only Czech in the team as he was partnered with Tomas Galásek and Jaromír Blazek), the Nuremberg-based club displayed a poor performance and was relegated to 2.Bundesliga at the end of the 2007-2008 season. On June 23 Koller was transferred^[2] to Russian club Krylya Sovetov Samara in a deal worth 1 million euros.

International career

Koller is the most prolific goal-scorer of the Czech Republic and has represented his country in UEFA Euro 2000, UEFA Euro 2004, FIFA World Cup 2006 and UEFA Euro 2008.

His best performance to date in a major tournament was in the Euro 2004 when his side reached semi-finals and he scored two goals, not to mention the pivotal partnership that he forged with fellow striker Milan Baros. In the 2006 World Cup held at Germany, Koller suffered a minor thigh injury during the group stage debut game against the United States on June 12 2006, not long after the opening goal he scored. His injury was a major blow for the Czech Republic, which lost their next two matches without him.

Just about into his third month with Nuremberg, Koller announced that he would retire from the Czech national team after Euro 2008. ^[3] He currently has 194 goals in his professional career and scored a total of 55 goals in his international career, including a crucial headed goal in their deciding Euro 2008 Group A match against Turkey. However, his goal didn't prove good enough as the Czechs conceded 3 goals in the last 15 minutes to throw away a 2-0 lead, lose the match 3-2 and thus send Koller into international retirement in a dramatic way.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

• Czech Gambrinus Liga: 1994–1995: With AC Sparta Praha
• Czech Republic Football Cup: 1996 : With AC Sparta Praha

• Belgian Jupiler League: 1999-2000, 2000-2001: With RSC Anderlecht
• Belgian Supercup: 2000, 2001 : With RSC Anderlecht

• German Bundesliga: 2001-2002: With Borussia Dortmund

Individual

• Belgian League Top Scorer: 1998–1999
• Belgian Golden Shoe: 2000

References

External links

• Profile at Czech Republic Football Association (CMFS) official site with complete international stats (Czech)
• Official FIFA World Cup profile, with basic stats
• FootballDatabase provides Jan Koller's profile and stats

Czech Republic squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Srníček • 2 Řepka • 3 Látal • 4 Nedvěd • 5 Fukal • 6 Vlček • 7 Němec • 8 Poborský • 9 Kuka • 10 Koller • 11 Rosický • 12 Lokvenc • 13 Bejbl • 14 Horváth • 15 Jankulovski • 16 Maier • 17 Šmicer • 18 Novotný • 19 Rada • 20 Berger • 21 Gabriel • 22 Blažek • Coach: Chovanec

Czech Republic squad – UEFA Euro 2004 semi-finalists 1 Čech • 2 Grygera • 3 Mareš • 4 Galásek • 5 Bolf • 6 Jankulovski • 7 Šmicer • 8 Poborský • 9 Koller • 10 Rosický • 11 Nedvěd • 12 Lokvenc • 13 Jiránek • 14 Vachoušek • 15 Baroš • 16 Blažek • 17 Hübschman • 18 Heinz • 19 Týce • 20 Plašil • 21 Ujfaluši • 22 Rozehnal • 23 Kinský • Coach: Brückner

Czech Republic squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Čech • 2 Grygera • 3 Mareš • 4 Galásek • 5 Kováč • 6 Jankulovski • 7 Sionko • 8 Poborský • 9 Koller • 10 Rosický • 11 Nedvěd • 12 Lokvenc • 13 Jiránek • 14 Jarolím • 15 Baroš • 16 Blažek • 17 Štajner • 18 Heinz • 19 Polák • 20 Plašil • 21 Ujfaluši • 22 Rozehnal • 23 Kinský • Coach: Brückner

Czech Republic squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Čech • 2 Grygera • 3 Polák • 4 Galásek • 5 Kováč • 6 Jankulovski • 7 Sionko • 8 Fenin • 9 Koller • 10 Svěrkoš • 11 Vlček • 12 Pospěch • 13 Kadlec • 14 Jarolím • 15 Baroš • 16 Blažek • 17 Matějovský • 18 Sivok • 19 Skácel • 20 Plašil • 21 Ujfaluši • 22 Rozehnal • 23 Zítka • Coach: Brückner