Roland Linz

Football player infobox
playername = Roland Linz


fullname =
height = height|m=1.85
weight =
nickname = Roli
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1981|8|9|mf=y
cityofbirth = Leoben
countryofbirth = Austria
currentclub = Sporting Braga
clubnumber = 29
position = Striker
youthyears = 1997-1999
youthclubs = DSV Leoben
1860 Munich
years = 1999-2001 2001-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-
clubs = DSV Leoben
Austria Wien
Admira/Wacker Mödling
OGC Nice
Sturm Graz
Austria Wien
Boavista
Sporting Braga
caps(goals) = 53 (27)
50 (11)
31 (15)
15 0(0)
13 0(4)
31 (15)
28 (10)
26 (12)
nationalyears = 2003-
nationalteam = Austria
nationalcaps(goals) = 34 (7)
pcupdate = 02:15, 22. November 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate = 10 September 2008

Roland Linz (born August 9, 1981 in Leoben, Styria) is an Austrian football forward who currently plays for Sporting Braga in the Portuguese SuperLiga.

Club career

He started out in the youth teams of local club DSV Leoben. Aged 16 he left for Germany to join the youth team of 1860 München, one of the two big teams located in Bavaria's capital Munich (the other one being Bayern München). Two years later Linz returned to Austria to rejoin his home team DSV Leoben, this time being featured in the professional squad, to be recruited by one of the country's major football teams, Viennese club Austria Wien, after 2 more years. It was also in Austria's capital where the young striker had his first big successes, winning both the championship and the Austrian Cup in 2003, as well as making his debut in the Austrian national team in 2002. For the 2004/05 season Linz was transferred on loan to Austrian Bundesliga side Admira Wacker, located in the southern outskirts of Vienna, just a few kilometres away from his previous club. Aged 23 he left Austria for the second time in 2004, being lent to french club OGC Nice. However he failed to establish himself in France and returned to Austria after six months already, to play for Sturm Graz for the rest of the season. After half a year in Styria's capital, Linz was back in Vienna for his second and final season with Austria Wien, again being remarkably successful winning both the Austrian championship and cup in 2006, topping it off with earning himself the league's top scorer crown this time.

These successes, as well as several solid appearances in the national team, and a finished contract in Vienna again led to increasing foreign interest in Austria's probably highest rated striker of the present day.

In the summer of 2006 it was announced that Linz would search his fortune in Portugal in the upcoming season, thus he was signed by Boavista FC on a three years contract, but after one season and 10 goals (making him one of the top 5 goalscorers of the league), he was bought by Sporting Braga for the 2007/08 season, transferring inside of the portuguese league and moving away just 50 km from Porto.

In the UEFA Cup of 2007/2008 season, Linz scored a total of 5 goals before seeing his side eliminated against German giants SV Werder Bremen where he had been in the UEFA.COM Dream team on several actions scoring against the likes of Bayern Munich, Aris FC and Red Star Belgrade all vital games with enabled Braga to more points as they moved to the next round he also made dream team alongside players like Luca Toni and Andrei Arshavin.

International career

He made his debut for Austria in a March 2002 friendly match against Slovakia and has been a regular since. By the end of July 2008, he earned 34 caps, scoring 7 goals.

Linz was a key player for Austria at the 2008 European football championship in his home country; unfortunately he was not able to score any goals during his team's campaign.

Honours

*Austrian Football Bundesliga (2):
** 2003, 2006
*Austrian Cup (1):
** 2003, 2006
*Austrian Bundesliga Top Goalscorer (1):
** 2006 [ [http://www.oberliga-a.at/fussball_a/torschutzen_a.htm Österreichs Torschützenkönige] - Oberliga.at]

External links

* [http://www.scbraga.pt/plantel.php?id_jogador=151 Player profile] - Sporting Braga
* [http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/players/player=41681/index.html Player profile] - EURO2008
* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=480 Career stats] - National Football Teams
* [http://www.austria-archiv.at/spieler.php?Spieler_ID=21 Profile] - Austria Archive
* [http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/FootballFicheJoueur18170.html Stats] - L'Equipe fr|icon
* [http://www.lfp.fr/joueur/index.asp?no_joueur=108037 French league stats] - Ligue de Football Professionnel fr|icon

References