Roland Linz

Roland Gunther Linz (born 9 August 1981) is an Austrian former professional footballer. He  played as a forward. He played mainly for Austria Wien and the Austrian national football team.

Linz earned 39 caps for Austria, appearing for the nation at Euro 2008.

Club career
Roland Linz began his career as a junior player at DSV Leoben. In 1997 he moved to Germany for two years to the youth team of TSV 1860 Munich. He then returned to his home club in Leoben. At the age of 19 he became his club's top scorer in the second-class first division. After scoring 21 goals in the 2000/01 season he signed for FK Austria Wien in the Bundesliga. He scored 8 goals in his first year in the Bundesliga.  In the 2002/03 season he won the championship and the ÖFB Cup with the Austria. He was used less and less by manager Christoph Daum and from the sixth round onwards had no more match over the full distance.

Linz was loaned to VfB Admira Wacker Mödling in the 2003/04 season. Then he was loaned to OGC Nizza. He returned to Austria in winter 2005, where he worked for SK Sturm Graz for the rest of the season. In the 2005/06 season, Linz played again as a striker for Wiener Austria, became Austria's top scorer and won the championship title and ÖFB Cup with the club. 

2007 the went to  Boavista Porto in the Portuguese first division, where he scored ten goals in his first season. In August 2007 there he joined Sporting Braga. On January 30, 2009 he went on loan to the Swiss Grasshopper Club Zurich until the end of the 2008/09 season,[2] then to Gaziantepspor in Turkey. However, the contract was dissolved in January 2010.[3] On February 1, 2010, Linz signed a six-month contract with an option for three more years at FK Austria Wien. After he was only used very rarely at FK in 2012, the contract was dissolved. He moved to Thai club Muangthong United on January 10, 2013. In January 2014 Linz moved back to the Portuguese league to Belenenses Lisbon, where the contract ended on June 30, 2014.

International career
Linz made his debut for Austria in a friendly match with Slovakia, a 2–0 win in Graz on 27 March 2002. He remained a regular until September 2007. He made a public outburst against Austrian Football Association president Friedrich Stickler. For the next 18 months, he was not called in the team."Der Teamchef bin ich" ("I am the boss"); Der Standard, 5 October 2007 Austrians awarded second chance; UEFA, 24 January 2008

Linz returned to the national side in time for UEFA Euro 2008 . He played  two of Austria's matches during the tournament . He scored no goals.

Career statistics
Club
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational cupLeague cupContinentalTotalLeagueAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsDSV Leoben1999–2000Austrian First League0020——202000–0112310——133Total123300000153Austria Wien2001–02Austrian Bundesliga29833——32112002–0321330—10253Total50116300105714Admira Mödling2003–04Austrian Bundesliga311533——3418Nice2004–05Ligue 1150001010170Sturm Graz2004–05Austrian Bundesliga13400—00134Austria Wien2005–06Austrian Bundesliga311510—433618Boavista2006–07Primeira Liga281041——32112007–08000010—10Total28104110003311Braga2007–08Primeira Liga271140008539162008–0960310063154Total331171001485420Grasshoppers (loan)2008–09Swiss Super League16710——177Gaziantepspor2009–10Süper Lig5000——50Austria Wien2009–10Austrian Bundesliga15610——1662010–11362142—6346262011–12281232—10241162012–137122——93Total86401060016511251Muangthong United2013Thai League T14100—60101Belenenses2013–14Primeira Liga300020—50Career total3271173514404116407147

International statistics
Transfermarkt.at 
+ Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoals  Austria 200241200310200440200542200673200780200872201040Total398

Scores and results list Austria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Linz goal.

+ List of international goals scored by Roland LinzNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition13 September 2005    Stadion Slaski,  Chorzow, Poland  1-22-3  2006 FIFA World Cup qualification22-332 September 2006  Stade de Geneve,  Geneva,  Switzerland  1-12-2  Friendly match42-2511 October 2006 Tivoli ,  Innsbruck,  Austria  1-02-1  Friendly match730 May 2008   Liebenauer Stadium,  Graz,  Austria  2-05-1 Friendly match83-1
Honours
Austria Wien
Austrian Bundesliga: 2003, 2006, 2013
Austrian Cup: 2003, 2006

Individual
 Austrian Bundesliga top scorer: 2006, 2011Österreichs Torschützenkönige (Austria top scorers) ; at Oberliga Season review: Austria; UEFA, 13 June 2011

References

Other websites
Austria Wien archives 

National team data  

Category:1981 births
Category:Living people
Category:Players of the Austrian national football team
Category:Austrian footballers
Category:Association football forwards
Category:FK Austria Wien players
Category:UEFA Euro 2008 players
Category:Austrian football forwards
Category:Austrian Football Bundesliga top scorers
Category:Austrian football champions