Product Code Database
Jan Koller (; born 30 March 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was noted for his height, strong physique and heading ability.
He began his career at Sparta Prague, then moved to Belgium, where he became the Belgian First Division top scorer with KSC Lokeren. He won the league championship twice with Anderlecht and the Belgian Golden Shoe. In 2001, he joined Borussia Dortmund, where he won the Bundesliga 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 the all-time top scorer for the Czech Republic national team, with 55 goals in 91 appearances in a decade-long career starting in 1999. He represented the nation at three UEFA European Championships and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
His training as a goalkeeper saw some use in the 2002–03 season. In a Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich, Dortmund's goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off in the second half for a second yellow card, 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 of Torsten Frings. Koller was named by kicker as the Bundesliga's top goalkeeper of the week for his performance.
Koller became the all-time top scorer for the Czech Republic on 8 June 2005 following a match against Macedonia, in which he scored four goals in just 11 minutes of a 6–1 win, taking his international total to 39.
In his third month with Nürnberg, Koller announced that he would retire from the Czech national team after Euro 2008. However, after losing a Euro 2008 Group A match against Turkey 3–2, Koller eventually retired from international football.
In July 2009, Koller announced that he would rejoin the national team because of poor results in the 2010 World Cup qualification. He played in the match against Slovakia, but announced his retirement from international football again on 6 September.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | ||||
| Sparta Prague | 1994–95 | Czech First League | 1 | |
| 1995–96 | Czech First League | 5 | ||
| Lokeren | 1996–97 | Belgian First Division | 8 | |
| 1997–98 | Belgian First Division | 11 | ||
| 1998–99 | Belgian First Division | 27 | ||
| Anderlecht | 1999–2000 | Belgian First Division | 33 | |
| 2000–01 | Belgian First Division | 31 | ||
| Borussia Dortmund | 2001–02 | Bundesliga | 17 | |
| 2002–03 | Bundesliga | 22 | ||
| 2003–04 | Bundesliga | 19 | ||
| 2004–05 | Bundesliga | 16 | ||
| 2005–06 | Bundesliga | 5 | ||
| Monaco | 2006–07 | Ligue 1 | 8 | |
| 2007–08 | Ligue 1 | 4 | ||
| 1. FC Nürnberg | 2007–08 | Bundesliga | 2 | |
| Krylia Sovetov Samara | 2008 | Russian Premier League | 7 | |
| 2009 | Russian Premier League | 9 | ||
| AS Cannes | 2009–10 | Championnat National | 4 | |
| 2010–11 | Championnat National | 16 | ||
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Czech Republic | 9 |
| 6 | |
| 0 | |
| 5 | |
| 7 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 7 | |
| 4 | |
| 4 | |
| 0 | |
Anderlecht
Borussia Dortmund
Individual
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