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.

Roland Linz

Linz playing with Austria Wien in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Roland Gunther Linz
Date of birth	(1981-08-09) 9 August 1981
Place of birth	Leoben, Austria
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Forward
Youth career
1995–1997	DSV Leoben
1997–1999	1860 Munich
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1999–2001	DSV Leoben	53	(27)
2001–2006	Austria Wien	81	(26)
2003–2004	→ Admira Mödling (loan)	31	(15)
2004	→ Nice (loan)	15	(0)
2005	→ Sturm Graz (loan)	13	(4)
2006–2007	Boavista	28	(10)
2007–2009	Braga	33	(11)
2009	→ Grasshoppers (loan)	16	(7)
2009–2010	Gaziantepspor	5	(0)
2010–2013	Austria Wien	86	(40)
2013–2014	Muangthong United	4	(1)
2014	Belenenses	3	(0)
Total		368	(141)
National team
2002–2010	Austria	39	(8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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.

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 goal.

Honours

Austria Wien

• Austrian Bundesliga: 2003, 2006, 2013
• Austrian Cup: 2003, 2006

Individual

• Austrian Bundesliga top scorer: 2006, 2011

Other websites

• Austria Wien archives (in German)
• Roland Linz at fussballdaten.de (German)
• National team data Archived 2017-03-27 at the Wayback Machine (in German)
• Roland Linz at National-Football-Teams.com