 Koller in 2019 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jan Koller[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1973-03-30)30 March 1973 (age 52) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Prague,[2]Czechoslovakia | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1978–1989 | TJ Smetanova Lhota | ||||||||||||||||
| 1989–1994 | ZVVZ Milevsko | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1994–1996 | Sparta Prague | 29 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–1999 | Lokeren | 97 | (43) | ||||||||||||||
| 1999–2001 | Anderlecht | 65 | (42) | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2006 | Borussia Dortmund | 138 | (59) | ||||||||||||||
| 2006–2008 | Monaco | 50 | (12) | ||||||||||||||
| 2008 | 1. FC Nürnberg | 14 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2008–2009 | Krylia Sovetov | 46 | (16) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009–2011 | Cannes | 44 | (20) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 483 | (199) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Czech Republic U21 | 3 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1999–2009 | Czech Republic | 91 | (55) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Jan Koller (Czech pronunciation:[ˈjanˈkolɛr]; born 30 March 1973) is a Czech former professionalfootballer who played as astriker. He was noted for his height, strong physique and heading ability.
He began his career atSparta Prague, then moved to Belgium, where he became theBelgian First Division top scorer withLokeren. He won the league championship twice withAnderlecht and theBelgian Golden Shoe. In 2001, he joinedBorussia Dortmund, where he won theBundesliga title in his first season and scored 73 goals in 167 official games over five campaigns. He moved frequently in his later career, with stops in France, Germany and Russia.
Koller is theall-time top scorer for theCzech Republic national team, with 55 goals in 91 appearances in a decade-long career starting in 1999. He represented the nation at threeUEFA European Championships and the2006 FIFA World Cup.
Koller started his football training as agoalkeeper,[3] but was converted tostriker by the time he started his professional career with Czech clubSparta Prague. He made his début for Sparta in the spring of 1995 in a match againstBenešov, coming on as a substitute with 20 minutes of the game remaining.[4] In 1996, Koller caught the eye of Belgian football and signed with the clubLokeren for a fee equivalent to €102,000.[3]
After a successful three-year stint, in which he managed to finish asBelgian First Division top-scorer in his last season at Lokeren, Koller was signed by Belgian clubAnderlecht. He quickly built up a successful partnership with Canadian strikerTomasz Radzinski, excelling in his debut season and earning him theBelgian Golden Shoe in 2000. At the end of the season, he was bought by German sideBorussia Dortmund after turning down English sideFulham.[5]
While Koller was at Dortmund, the club won the2001–02 Bundesliga, thanks in part to Koller's 11 league goals. Besides the Bundesliga title his biggest success whilst at Dortmund was helping them to the2002 UEFA Cup Final, where his goal could not prevent them losing 3–2 to Feyenoord.
His training as a goalkeeper saw some use in the 2002–03 season. In a Bundesliga match againstBayern Munich, Dortmund's goalkeeperJens Lehmann was sent off in the second half for a second yellow card,[6] and Dortmund had already used their three substitutions. Koller, who had already opened the scoring in the 8th minute, moved from striker to goalkeeper after 67 minutes of the match. He prevented any more goals for the rest of the match, despite Dortmund having been reduced to nine players due to the earlier expulsion ofTorsten Frings.[7] Koller was named bykicker as the Bundesliga's top goalkeeper of the week for his performance.[8][9]
In a surprising move, Koller signed with French sideMonaco in 2006 but a two-season disappointing campaign, despite a decent scoring record, forced him to move back to Germany to play withNürnberg.[10] Unfortunately for Koller, who wasn't the only Czech in the team as he was partnered withTomáš Galásek andJaromír Blazek, the Nürnberg-based club had performed poorly throughout the season and were relegated to2. Bundesliga at the end of the 2007–08 season. In 14 matches Bundesliga matches he netted twice for Nürnberg.[11]
On 23 June 2008, Koller was transferred to Russian clubKrylia Sovetov Samara in a deal worth €1 million.[12] On 5 December 2009, Koller returned to France, joiningChampionnat National teamCannes, with a contract until June 2011.[13] Koller announced his retirement from football in August 2011 after a series of injuries.[3]
Koller made his debut for theCzech Republic in a friendly away toBelgium at theKing Baudouin Stadium inBrussels on 9 February 1999, and netted the only goal of the game in the 73rd minute.[14]
Koller became the all-time top scorer for the Czech Republic on 8 June 2005 following a match againstMacedonia, in which he scored four goals in just 11 minutes of a 6–1 win, taking his international total to 39.[15]
In his third month with Nürnberg, Koller announced that he would retire from the Czech national team afterEuro 2008.[16] However, after losing aEuro 2008 Group A match againstTurkey 3–2, Koller eventually retired from international football.[17]
In July 2009, Koller announced that he would rejoin the national team because of poor results in the2010 World Cup qualification.[18] He played in the match againstSlovakia, but announced his retirement from international football again on 6 September.[19]
Koller was particularly noted for his height, strong physique and heading ability, being referred to as a "toweringforward"[20][21] and a "human lighthouse".[22] Due to his stature, he was often nicknamedDino throughout his career.[23]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Sparta Prague | 1994–95 | Czech First League | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 6 | 1 | |||
| 1995–96 | Czech First League | 23 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 | 1 | 30 | 5 | |||
| Total | 29 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 36 | 6 | – | ||
| Lokeren | 1996–97 | Belgian First Division | 31 | 8 | — | — | — | 31 | 8 | ||||
| 1997–98 | Belgian First Division | 33 | 11 | — | — | — | 33 | 11 | |||||
| 1998–99 | Belgian First Division | 33 | 24 | 5 | 3 | — | — | 38 | 27 | ||||
| Total | 97 | 43 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 102 | 46 | – | ||
| Anderlecht | 1999–2000 | Belgian First Division | 33 | 20 | 12 | 10 | — | 4 | 3 | 49 | 33 | ||
| 2000–01 | Belgian First Division | 32 | 22 | 5 | 2 | — | 16 | 7 | 53 | 31 | |||
| Total | 65 | 42 | 17 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 102 | 64 | – | ||
| Borussia Dortmund | 2001–02 | Bundesliga | 33 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 6 | 49 | 17 | [24] |
| 2002–03 | Bundesliga | 34 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 48 | 22 | [24] | |
| 2003–04 | Bundesliga | 32 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 42 | 19 | [24] | |
| 2004–05 | Bundesliga | 30 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 33 | 16 | [24] | ||
| 2005–06 | Bundesliga | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 5 | [24] | |
| Total | 138 | 59 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 31 | 14 | 182 | 79 | – | ||
| Monaco | 2006–07 | Ligue 1 | 32 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 35 | 8 | [24] | |
| 2007–08 | Ligue 1 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 19 | 4 | [24] | ||
| Total | 50 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 12 | – | ||
| Nürnberg | 2007–08 | Bundesliga | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 2 | [24] |
| Krylia Sovetov Samara | 2008 | Russian Premier League | 18 | 7 | — | — | 18 | 7 | [24] | ||||
| 2009 | Russian Premier League | 28 | 9 | — | — | 28 | 9 | [24] | |||||
| Total | 46 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 16 | – | ||||
| Cannes | 2009–10 | Championnat National | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 4 | [25] | ||
| 2010–11 | Championnat National | 29 | 16 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 31 | 16 | [25] | |||
| Total | 44 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 20 | – | ||
| Career total | 483 | 199 | 33 | 19 | 8 | 2 | 62 | 25 | 586 | 245 | – | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Czech Republic | 1999 | 10 | 9 |
| 2000 | 11 | 6 | |
| 2001 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 9 | 5 | |
| 2003 | 9 | 7 | |
| 2004 | 14 | 6 | |
| 2005 | 6 | 7 | |
| 2006 | 8 | 7 | |
| 2007 | 9 | 4 | |
| 2008 | 7 | 4 | |
| 2009 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 91 | 55 |
Sparta Prague
Anderlecht
Borussia Dortmund
Individual
Czech Republic squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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| International | |
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| National | |
