Jan Koller
Personal information
Date of birth	March 30, 1973 (1973-03-30) (age 35)
Place of birth	Smetanova Lhota, Czechoslovakia
Height	2.02 m (6 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	1. FC Nuremberg
Number	19
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-	Sparta Prague Lokeren RSC Anderlecht Borussia Dortmund AS Monaco 1. FC Nuremberg	029 0(5) 097 (43) 065 (43) 137 (59) 051 (12) 014 0(2)
National team2
1999–	Czech Republic	086 (54)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 1, 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of May 27, 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Jan Koller (born March 30, 1973 in Smetanova Lhota, Czech Republic, then Czechoslovakia) is a Czech football player, who currently stars as a striker for the Czech Republic national team and the Bundesliga club 1. FC Nuremberg in Germany. He is the all-time leading goal scorer for either the Czech Republic or the former Czechoslovakia, with 54 goals in over 80 caps as of 9 June 2008.

Koller has an impressive physical presence (height: 2.02 m, nearly 6'8" and weight 100 kg, about 220 pounds). Koller started his football training as a goalkeeper, but was converted to striker by the time he started his professional career. 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 was bought from Anderlecht in 2001. He also played for Lokeren and finished the 1998-99 season as Jupiler League topscorer for that club. Playing at Anderlecht, he also won the Belgian Golden Shoe.

Koller suffered a minor thigh injury during a World Cup 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, who lost their next 2 matches without him. Koller moved to French side AS Monaco on a free transfer in June 2006.

He found it difficult to settle in France however, despite a respectable scoring record, and on January 6, 2008 he returned to Germany with 1. FC Nuremberg.^[1]

Just about into his third month with Nuremberg, Koller announced that he will retire from the Czech national team after EURO 2008.^[2] He currently has 194 goals in his professional carrer and 54 goals in his international career.

Career statistics

References