Toni Polster

Anton "Toni" Polster (born 10 March 1964) is an Austrian professional football coach and former player. He is the all-time leading goalscorer for the Austria national team with 44 goals and was known to fans as "Toni Doppelpack" – "Toni Brace" because of his tendency to score twice in a match.^[1][2]

Toni Polster

Polster in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Anton Polster
Date of birth	(1964-03-10) 10 March 1964 (age 60)
Place of birth	Vienna, Austria
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1973–1981	Austria Wien
1982	1. Simmeringer SC
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1982–1987	Austria Wien	146	(119)
1987–1988	Torino	27	(9)
1988–1991	Sevilla	102	(55)
1991–1992	Logroñés	38	(14)
1992–1993	Rayo Vallecano	31	(14)
1993–1998	1. FC Köln	150	(79)
1998–1999	Borussia Mönchengladbach	38	(15)
1999–2000	Austria Salzburg	12	(2)
Total		544	(307)
International career
1982–2000	Austria	95	(44)
Managerial career
2010	LASK Linz (reserve-team)
2011–2013	Wiener Viktoria
2013	Admira Wacker
2014	Wiener Viktoria
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Polster came through the Austria Wien youth system to make his professional league debut in August 1982, at 18 years of age. He scored his first Bundesliga goal three weeks later and went on to win three league titles and a domestic cup before moving abroad to play a season in Serie A with Torino. He then spent the five following years at Spanish teams Sevilla, Logroñés and Rayo Vallecano, ending up with these teams in mid-table as well except for one year, 1989–90, in which Sevilla FC ended in sixth place and played UEFA Cup the following year. In 1990, he finished runner-up in the Spanish goalscoring chart.^[3] In 1993, he moved to Germany to spend five years at Köln, again ending up in mid-table every season except for the last one in which he experienced relegation. That made him join Borussia Mönchengladbach next year but they got also relegated at the end of the season and Polster returned to Austria to play a final season at Austria Salzburg.^[4]

Polster was chosen in Austria's Team of the Century in 2001 and as Austrian Sportsman of the Year in 1997.

International career

In 1983, Polster was selected for the Austria U20's to play at the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship.^[5]

He had already made his senior debut for Austria in November 1982 against Turkey, immediately scoring his first goal, and was a participant at the 1990 World Cup and 1998 World Cup.^[6] He earned 95 caps, scoring a record 44 goals.^[7] He overtook the previous goalscoring record, set by Hans Krankl, in November 1996, scoring his 35th goal against Latvia.^[7][8]

His final (and record-breaking 94th) international was thought to be a 1998 FIFA World Cup match against Italy in June, but he was given an official farewell match in September 2000 against Iran,^[9] in which he was substituted in the 21st minute by Christian Mayrleb.^[10] His appearances record was surpassed by Andreas Herzog in May 2002.^[11]

Coaching career

Polster began his coaching career in January 2010 as the reserve-team coach at LASK Linz. In June 2011, he became the head coach of SC Wiener Viktoria in the Austrian 2. Landesliga, the fifth-tier in Austrian football. During his first season at Wiener Viktoria, the team promoted to the fourth-tier and consequently a year after to the third division, the so-called Austrian Regional League. On 17 June 2013, he accepted his first coaching role in the Austrian Bundesliga, taking over as the head coach of the top-flight side Admira Wacker Mödling.^[12] After starting the season with three straight defeats, including a 7–1 defeat to newly promoted Scholz Grödig, Polster was fired by Admira on 9 August 2013.^[13][14] Polster returned to SC Wiener Viktoria on 13 January 2014.^[15]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup[lower-alpha 1]		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Austria Wien	1982–83	Austrian Bundesliga	26	11	1	2	8[lower-alpha 2]	5	—		35	18
	1983–84		23	13	8	10	8[lower-alpha 3]	1	—		39	24
	1984–85		29	24	6	9	6[lower-alpha 4]	3	—		41	36
	1985–86		34	32	4	4	4[lower-alpha 4]	4	—		42	40
	1986–87		34	39	4	4	4[lower-alpha 4]	3	1[lower-alpha 5]	1	43	47
	Total		146	119	23	29	30	16	1	1	200	165
Torino	1987–88	Serie A	27	9	12	5	—		1[lower-alpha 6]	0	40	14
Sevilla	1988–89	La Liga	32	9	—		—		—		32	9
	1989–90		35	33	—		—		—		35	33
	1990–91		35	13	4	1	4[lower-alpha 3]	1	—		43	15
	Total		102	55	4	1	4	1	—		110	57
Logroñés	1991–92	La Liga	38	14	7	7	—		—		45	21
Rayo Vallecano	1992–93	La Liga	31	14	0	0	—		—		31	14
1. FC Köln	1993–94	Bundesliga	25	17	1	2	—		—		26	19
	1994–95		32	17	5	2	—		—		37	19
	1995–96		28	11	1	0	4[lower-alpha 7]	3	—		33	14
	1996–97		32	21	1	0	—		—		33	21
	1997–98		33	13	1	0	5[lower-alpha 7]	2	—		39	15
	Total		150	79	9	4	9	5	—		168	88
Borussia Mönchengladbach	1998–99	Bundesliga	31	11	4	3	—		—		35	14
	1999–2000	2. Bundesliga	7	4	1	0	—		—		8	4
	Total		38	15	5	3	—		—		43	18
Austria Salzburg	1999–2000	Austrian Bundesliga	12	2	4	3	—		—		16	5
Career total			544	307	64	52	43	22	2	1	653	382

1. Includes Austrian Cup, Coppa Italia, Copa del Rey and DFB-Pokal
2. Appearances in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
3. Appearances in UEFA Cup
4. Appearances in European Cup
5. Appearance in Austrian Supercup
6. Appearance in UEFA Cup play-off
7. Appearances in UEFA Intertoto Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[16]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Austria	1982	1	1
	1983	0	0
	1984	3	0
	1985	4	1
	1986	6	5
	1987	6	2
	1988	6	1
	1989	6	4
	1990	10	1
	1991	2	0
	1992	8	5
	1993	7	1
	1994	7	5
	1995	7	7
	1996	6	2
	1997	8	6
	1998	7	3
	1999	0	0
	2000	1	0
Total		95	44

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

List of international goals scored by Toni Polster

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	17 November 1982	Gerhard Hanappi Stadium, Vienna, Austria	Turkey	1–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying
2	7 May 1985	Liebenau Stadium, Graz, Austria	Cyprus	2–0	4–0	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
3	26 March 1986	Stadio Friuli, Udine, Italy	Italy	1–0	1–2	Friendly
4	27 August 1986	Tivoli, Innsbruck, Austria	Switzerland	1–0	1–1	Friendly
5	15 October 1986	Liebenau Stadium, Graz, Austria	Albania	2–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying
6	29 October 1986	Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria	West Germany	1–0	4–1	Friendly
7				2–1
8	1 April 1987	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Spain	2–2	2–3	Euro 1988 qualifying
9	29 April 1987	Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania	Albania	1–0	1–0	Euro 1988 qualifying
10	2 November 1988	Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria	Turkey	1–0	3–2	1990 FIFA World Cup qualification
11	20 May 1989	Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany	East Germany	1–0	1–1	1990 FIFA World Cup qualification
12	15 November 1989	Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria	East Germany	1–0	3–0	1990 FIFA World Cup qualification
13				2–0
14				3–0
15	28 March 1990	Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga, Spain	Spain	2–2	3–2	Friendly
16	25 March 1992	Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	1–0	1–2	Friendly
17	14 April 1992	Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria	Lithuania	3–0	4–0	Friendly
18	27 May 1992	De Baandert, Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands	Netherlands	1–2	2–3	Friendly
19	2 September 1992	Linzer Stadion, Linz, Austria	Portugal	1–0	1–1	Friendly
20	28 October 1992	Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria	Israel	3–0	5–2	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
21	14 April 1993	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Bulgaria	3–1	3–1	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
22	2 June 1994	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Germany	1–4	1–5	Friendly
23	7 September 1994	Sportpark, Eschen, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	1–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
24				3–0
25				4–0
26	12 October 1994	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Northern Ireland	1–1	1–2	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
27	29 March 1995	Stadion Lehen, Salzburg, Austria	Latvia	4–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
28				5–0
29	26 April 1995	Stadion Lehen, Salzburg, Austria	Liechtenstein	2–0	7–0	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
30				4–0
31	11 June 1995	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland	Republic of Ireland	1–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
32				3–1
33	16 August 1995	Daugava Stadium, Riga, Latvia	Latvia	1–2	2–3	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
34	24 April 1996	Népstadion, Budapest	Hungary	1–0	2–0	Friendly
35	9 November 1996	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Latvia	1–0	2–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
36	8 June 1997	Daugava Stadium, Riga, Latvia	Latvia	2–0	3–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
37	20 August 1997	Kadrioru Stadium, Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	1–0	3–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
38				2–0
39				3–0
40	11 October 1997	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Belarus	1–0	4–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
41				3–0
42	2 June 1998	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Liechtenstein	1–0	6–0	Friendly
43				6–0
44	11 June 1998	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse, France	Cameroon	1–1	1–1	1998 FIFA World Cup

Managerial

As of 15 May 2014

Managerial record by club and tenure

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %	Ref.
LASK Linz (A)1	4 January 2010[17]	29 November 2010[17]	16	8	1	7	29	26	+3	050.00	[18]
SC Wiener Viktoria2	1 July 2011[19]	17 June 2013[12]	33	22	6	5	88	32	+56	066.67	[20]
Admira Wacker Mödling	17 June 2013[12]	9 August 2013[14]	4	1	0	3	4	11	−7	025.00	[21]
SC Wiener Viktoria	13 January 2014[15]	Present	51	19	6	26	16	34	−18	037.25	[22]
Total			104	50	13	41	137	103	+34	048.08

• 1.^ Only 2010–11 season matches are included. Matches before 4 January 2010 – 6 August 2010 not included.
• 2.^ Only 2012–13 season matches are included. Matches from the 2011–12 season not included.

Honours

Austria Wien

• Austrian Football Bundesliga: 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86
• Austrian Cup: 1985–86

Individual

• Austrian Football Bundesliga Top scorer: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87^[23]
• Austrian Footballer of the Year: 1985–86, 1996–97
• European Golden Shoe: 1986–87^[24]

References

1. Metzger, Josef (1998). Doppelpack : Fußball mit Herz und Schmäh. Wien: Pichler. ISBN 9783854311461.
2. Polster, Toni. "Toni "Doppelpack" Polster". Retrieved 17 May 2014.
3. Tejedor Carnicero, José Vicente (28 September 2000). "Spain, Final Tables 1989-1999". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
4. Matthias Arnhold (31 July 2014). "Anton Polster - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
5. "1983 Austria U20 squad". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 23 November 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
6. Toni Polster – FIFA competition record (archived)
7. Mamrud, Roberto Mamrud (29 January 2009). "Anton "Toni" Polster - Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
8. Daley, Kieran (10 November 1996). "French record falls to Pedersen". The Independent. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
9. "5:1 – Erfolg im Freundschaftsspiel gegen den Iran: Polster sagt laut "Servus"". Rheinische Post (in German). 2 September 2000. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
10. "Länderspiele von März 2000" (PDF). Austrian Football Association (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
11. "Österreich in BayArena chancenlos". Der Standard (in German). 20 May 2002. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
12. "Admira give Polster first shot at the top flight". UEFA.com. 18 June 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
13. "Football: Polster sacked by struggling Admira". globalpost.com. 10 August 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
14. "Admira tritt gegen Toni Polster nach". Österreich (in German). 11 August 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
15. "Fix! Polster kehrt zu Wiener Viktoria zurück" (in German). 13 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
16. "Toni Polster - Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
17. "LASK Linz (A) » Trainerhistorie". Worldfootball. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
18. "LASK Linz (A) » Dates & results 2010/2011". Worldfootball. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
19. "SC Wiener Viktoria » Trainerhistorie". Worldfootball. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
20. "SC Wiener Viktoria » Dates & results 2012/2013". Worldfootball. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
21. "FC Admira Wacker" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
22. "SC Wiener Viktoria » Dates & results 2013/2014". Worldfootball. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
23. "Österreichs Torschützenkönige". oberliga-a.at. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
24. "ESM Golden Shoe: Makaay crowned". UEFA. 23 June 2003. Retrieved 31 May 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Toni Polster at Austria Archive (in German)
• Toni Polster at National-Football-Teams.com
• Toni Polster at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• Toni Polster at WorldFootball.net

Awards
Preceded by Andreas Goldberger	Austrian Sportsman of the Year 1997	Succeeded by Hermann Maier