Sunday, January 11, 2009

Jan Koller

Jan Koller

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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 career
1978–1989
1989–1994		 TJ Smetanova Lhota
ZVVZ Milevsko
Senior career1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1994–1996
1996–1999
1999–2001
2001–2006
2006–2008
2008
2008–		 Sparta Prague
Lokeren
Anderlecht
Borussia Dortmund
Monaco
Nuremberg
Krylya Sovetov Samara		 029 0(5)
097 (43)
065 (43)
137 (59)
051 (12)
014 0(2)
036 (13)
National team2
1999–2009 Czech Republic 091 (55)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 21:35, 30 August 2009 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 18:55, 6 September 2009 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Jan Koller (born 30 March 1973 in Smetanova Lhota) is a Czech footballer who currently plays for Russian Premier League club Krylya Sovetov Samara and formally played as a striker for the Czech 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 (6'7.5") and a weight around 107 kg (about 235 pounds), Koller has an impressive physical presence and is a constant aerial threat to the opposition.

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[edit] 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 Sparta Prague. 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 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. He helped them to the 2002 UEFA Cup Final where his goal could not prevent them going down 3-2 to Feyenoord.

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 Nuremberg.[1] Unfortunately for Koller (who wasn't the only Czech in the team as he was partnered with Tomáš Galásek and Jaromír Blazek), the Nuremberg-based club displayed a poor performance and was relegated to 2. Bundesliga at the end of the 2007–08 season. On 23 June, Koller was transferred[2] to Russian club Krylya Sovetov Samara in a deal worth 1 million euros.

[edit] 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 12 June 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 finished his international career with 55 goals, including a crucial headed goal in their deciding Euro 2008 Group A match against Turkey. However, his goal was not enough as the Czechs conceded three goals in the last 15 minutes with a Petr Čech blunder that left Nihat Kahveci with one of the best goals in Euro 2008.[4] The Czechs lost the match 3-2 and failed to progress to the knock-out stage, prompting Koller to announce his retirement from the national team.

On 12 August 2009, he announced that he would rejoin the national team because of poor results in the World Cup qualification. He played in the match against Slovakia, but retired on 6 September 2009 again from his International Career.[5]

[edit] Career statistics

Club performance League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Czech Republic League Czech Republic Football Cup Europe Total
1994-95 Sparta Prague Gambrinus liga 6 1 - - 6 1
1995-96 24 4 - - 24 4
Belgium League Belgian Cup Europe Total
1996-97 Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen Belgian League 31 8 - - 31 8
1997-98 33 11 - - 33 11
1998-99 33 24 5 3 - 38 27
1999-00 Anderlecht Belgian League 33 20 12 10 - 45 30
2000-01 32 22 5 2 13 4 50 28
Germany League DFB-Pokal Europe Total
2001-02 Borussia Dortmund Bundesliga 33 11 1 0 13 6 47 17
2002-03 34 13 - 12 8 46 21
2003-04 32 16 - 3 0 35 16
2004-05 30 15 - - 30 15
2005-06 9 4 - - 9 4
France League Coupe de France Europe Total
2006-07 Monaco Ligue 1 32 8 - - 32 8
2007-08 18 4 - - 18 4
Germany League DFB-Pokal Europe Total
2007-08 Nuremberg Bundesliga 14 2 - - 14 2
Russia League Russian Cup Europe Total
2008 Krylia Sovetov Samara Premier League 20 8 - - 20 8
2009 11* 4 - - 11 4

League Cup Continental Total
Total Czech Republic 30 5 - - 30 5
Belgium 162 85 22 15 13 4 197 104
Germany 152 61 1 0 28 14 181 75
France 50 12 - - 50 12
Russia 31* 12 - - 31 12
Career Total 425 175 23 15 41 10 489 208 
* - Russian Championship is not over. It will be finished on 29 Nov 2009.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

[edit] Individual


[edit] References

  1. ^ "Club vor Verpflichtung von Koller" (in German). fcn.de. 6 January 2006. http://www.fcn.de/index.php?id=16280. Retrieved 5 March 2008.
  2. ^ "Koller signs contract with Russian club Samara". SI.com. 23 June 2008. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/soccer/06/23/bc.eu.spt.soc.samara.koller.ap/index.html. Retrieved 24 June2008.
  3. ^ "Koller to quit Czechs after Euro finals". CNN.com. 8 April 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/football/04/08/football.koller/index.html. Retrieved 9 june 2008.
  4. ^ "Comeback Goal Nihat vs Czech Republic". youtube.com. 14 August 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHiePURNliY. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  5. ^ "Jan Koller tritt endgültig zurück" (in German). transfermarkt.de. 6 September 2009. http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/news/31168/jan-koller-tritt-endgueltig-zurueck.html. Retrieved 7 September 2009.

[edit] External links


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