Jan Koller facts for kids
Koller in 2019
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 30 March 1973 | |||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Prague, Czechoslovakia | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 2.02 m | |||||||||||||||
| Playing position | 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 | Cannes | 14 | (2) | |||||||||||||
| Total | 483 | (199) | ||||||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Czech Republic U21 | 3 | (1) | |||||||||||||
| 1999–2009 | Czech Republic | 91 | (55) | |||||||||||||
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Honours
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Jan Koller (born March 30, 1973) is a famous former football player from the Czech Republic. He played as a striker, which is a player whose main job is to score goals. Koller was very well-known for his amazing height, strong body, and how good he was at heading the ball.
He started his career at Sparta Prague in his home country. Later, he moved to Belgium and became the top scorer in the Belgian First Division while playing for Lokeren. He won the league championship twice with Anderlecht and also received the Belgian Golden Shoe award.
In 2001, Koller joined Borussia Dortmund in Germany. There, he helped his team win the Bundesliga title in his very first season! He scored 73 goals in 167 games over five years with Dortmund. After that, he played for several other clubs in France, Germany, and Russia before he stopped playing professionally.
Koller is the all-time top scorer for the Czech Republic national team. He scored an incredible 55 goals in 91 games over ten years, starting in 1999. He also played for his country in three UEFA European Championship tournaments and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Contents
Jan Koller: The Tall Striker
Early Days in Football
Jan Koller actually started playing football as a goalkeeper! But by the time he became a professional player, he had switched to being a striker. He began his professional journey with the Czech club Sparta Prague.
He played his first game for Sparta in 1995. In 1996, a Belgian club called Lokeren noticed his talent and signed him.
Becoming a Star in Belgium
Koller played for Lokeren for three successful years. In his last season there, he became the top scorer in the Belgian First Division. This great performance led to him being signed by another Belgian club, Anderlecht.
At Anderlecht, he quickly formed a strong team with Canadian striker Tomasz Radzinski. Koller played so well in his first season that he won the Belgian Golden Shoe award in 2000. After this, he joined the German team Borussia Dortmund.
Winning Big with Borussia Dortmund
While Koller was at Dortmund, the club won the 2001–02 Bundesliga title. Koller scored 11 goals that season, which really helped the team. Another big achievement was helping Dortmund reach the 2002 UEFA Cup Final. He scored a goal in that final, but unfortunately, his team lost 3–2 to Feyenoord.
Koller the Goalkeeper!
In the 2002–03 season, Koller's old goalkeeper training came in handy! In a Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich, Dortmund's goalkeeper was sent off. Since Dortmund had already used all their substitutions, Koller, who had already scored a goal in the game, bravely stepped in as goalkeeper for the last 23 minutes. He stopped Bayern from scoring any more goals, even though his team was down to nine players! Because of this amazing performance, a sports magazine named him the best goalkeeper of the week.
Moving Around Europe
In 2006, Koller made a surprising move to the French club Monaco. He played there for two seasons. Even though he scored a decent number of goals, he decided to move back to Germany to play for Nürnberg.
Nürnberg had a tough season and was relegated to a lower league. Koller scored two goals in 14 matches for them. After that, in 2008, he moved to the Russian club Krylia Sovetov Samara.
In 2009, Koller returned to France to play for Cannes. He played there until June 2011. In August 2011, after dealing with several injuries, Jan Koller announced that he was retiring from professional football.
Playing for the Czech Republic
Koller played his first game for the Czech Republic on February 9, 1999, against Belgium. He scored the only goal in that game, helping his team win 1–0.
On June 8, 2005, Koller became the all-time top scorer for the Czech Republic. He scored four goals in just 11 minutes during a 6–1 win against Macedonia, bringing his total to 39 goals for his country. He eventually reached 55 goals, which is still the record!
Koller played for the Czech national team in many important tournaments, including the UEFA European Championship and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He briefly retired from international football in 2008, but came back for one more game in 2009 to help his team in the World Cup qualifiers, before retiring for good.
His Unique Playing Style
Jan Koller was famous for his height, which is about 2.02 meters (6 feet 7 inches) tall! He was also very strong and incredibly good at heading the ball. People often called him a "towering forward" or a "human lighthouse" because of his size and how he stood out on the field. Because he was so big, his nickname throughout his career was Dino.
Career Numbers
Club Statistics
| 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 | |
| 2002–03 | Bundesliga | 34 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 48 | 22 | ||
| 2003–04 | Bundesliga | 32 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 42 | 19 | ||
| 2004–05 | Bundesliga | 30 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 33 | 16 | |||
| 2005–06 | Bundesliga | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 5 | ||
| Total | 138 | 59 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 31 | 14 | 182 | 79 | – | ||
| Monaco | 2006–07 | Ligue 1 | 32 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 35 | 8 | ||
| 2007–08 | Ligue 1 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 19 | 4 | |||
| 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 | |
| Krylia Sovetov Samara | 2008 | Russian Premier League | 18 | 7 | — | — | 18 | 7 | |||||
| 2009 | Russian Premier League | 28 | 9 | — | — | 28 | 9 | ||||||
| Total | 46 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 16 | – | ||||
| Cannes | 2009–10 | Championnat National | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 4 | |||
| 2010–11 | Championnat National | 29 | 16 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 31 | 16 | ||||
| Total | 44 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 20 | – | ||
| Career total | 483 | 199 | 33 | 19 | 8 | 2 | 62 | 25 | 586 | 245 | – | ||
International Statistics
| 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 |
Awards and Trophies
Sparta Prague
- Czech First League: 1994–95
- Czech Cup: 1995–96
Anderlecht
- Belgian First Division: 1999–2000, 2000–01
- Belgian Supercup: 2000
Borussia Dortmund
- Bundesliga: 2001–02
Individual Awards
- Belgian Pro League top scorer: 1998–99
- Czech Footballer of the Year: 1999
- Belgian Golden Shoe: 2000
See also
In Spanish: Jan Koller para niños
