David Lafata

David Lafata (born 18 September 1981) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was the Czech First League's top scorer in six seasons and with 198 league goals, he is by far the top scorer of the Czech First League of all time. He also scored nine goals for the Czech Republic national team.

David Lafata

Lafata in 2009
Personal information
Date of birth	(1981-09-18) 18 September 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth	České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1989–1992	JZD Olešník
1992–1999	České Budějovice
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1999–2005	České Budějovice	109	(27)
2002	→ Jihlava (loan)	5	(1)
2005–2006	Skoda Xanthi	9	(0)
2006–2007	Jablonec	31	(10)
2007–2008	Austria Wien	36	(6)
2008–2012	Jablonec	130	(78)
2013–2018	Sparta Prague	148	(83)
Total		468	(205)
International career
1996–1997	Czech Republic U15	9	(0)
1997	Czech Republic U16	3	(0)
1998–1999	Czech Republic U17	8	(2)
1999–2000	Czech Republic U18	13	(6)
2001–2002	Czech Republic U20	6	(0)
2002–2003	Czech Republic U21	13	(3)
2006–2016	Czech Republic	41	(9)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

From 1992 until 2005, Lafata played for Czech team SK České Budějovice, with a brief spell at FC Vysočina Jihlava in 2002. The striker then moved to Greek club Skoda Xanthi in July 2005, but returned to the Czech Liga in January 2006. After one year at Jablonec, Lafata was transferred to FK Austria Vienna in January 2007 from where he came back to Jablonec in the spring of 2008. For Austria, he scored a goal in a domestic cup final.^[1]

In the 2010–11 season, Lafata was top scorer of the Czech First League with 19 goals.^[2]

He continued his good run of form into the 2011–12 season, scoring eleven goals in the first seven games, at the end of the autumn half, he scored eighteen goals in sixteen appearances.^[3] In April 2012, Lafata broke the Czech First League season scoring record, notching his 23rd goal of the season.^[4] He finished season with 25 goals, being top scorer and setting a new record.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2012–13 season, Lafata scored 13 goals in the first 16 games, being top scorer of the league before signing for AC Sparta Prague in the winter break.^[5] In March 2014 Lafata scored his 134th goal in the Czech First League, surpassing Horst Siegl as its top all-time scorer.^[6] In spring 2013, he scored a goal in the Round of 32 at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.

At the start of the 2014–15 season, Lafata scored five goals in a 7–0 Champions League qualifying round win over Levadia Tallinn in the home leg in Prague.^[7] Continuing his fine form in the Champions League qualifying round, Lafata scored a hat-trick in a 4–2 comeback victory over Malmö FF at home in Prague.^[8] In autumn 2015, Lafata was denied at hat-trick (by the Croatian referee) in Europa League match in Greece against Asteras Tripolis.^{[citation needed]} He scored goal in both away and home match against Schalke 04, as Sparta progressed to the knockout stages.^{[citation needed]}

On 30 July 2017, he scored his 200th league goal in a 1–1 draw against city rival Bohemians 1905.^[9]

International career

He scored two goals on his debut for the Czech national team in a 2–1 win against Wales on 2 September 2006. He came on as a substitute after 75 mins and scored within a minute of coming on, the second coming in the 89th minute.

Career statistics

Club

Source: League matches^[10] European club matches^[11] League matches for Austria^{[citation needed]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
SK České Budějovice	2000–01	Czech First League	11	0			–		11	0
	2001–02	Czech 2. Liga					–
	2002–03	Czech First League	26	8			–		26	8
	2003–04	Czech First League	29	14			–		29	14
	2004–05	Czech First League	25	5			–		25	5
	Total		91	27			–		91	27
Skoda Xanthi	2005–06	Super League Greece	9	0	2	1	–		11	1
FK Jablonec	2005–06	Czech First League	14	3			–		14	3
	2006–07	Czech First League	17	7			–		17	7
	Total		31	10			–		31	10
Austria Wien	2006–07	Austrian Bundesliga	13	1	–		0	0	13	1
	2007–08	Austrian Bundesliga	22	5	3	1	7[a]	0	32	6
	Total		35	6	3	1	7	0	45	7
FK Jablonec	2008–09	Czech First League	30	10			–		30	10
	2009–10	Czech First League	27	11	5	3	–		32	14
	2010–11	Czech First League	29	19	4	3	2[a]	0	35	22
	2011–12	Czech First League	28	25	6	3	4[a]	3	38	31
	2012–13	Czech First League	16	13	1	2	–		17	15
	Total		130	78	16	11	6	3	152	92
Sparta Prague	2012–13	Czech First League	12	7	2	0	2[a]	1	16	8
	2013–14	Czech First League	30	16	6	2	2[a]	2	38	20
	2014–15	Czech First League	30	20	3[b]	1	11[c]	13	44	34
	2015–16	Czech First League	26	20	3	2	12[d]	5	41	27
	2016–17	Czech First League	28	15	2	0	10[e]	2	40	17
	2017–18	Czech First League	22	5	1	0	2[a]	0	25	5
	Total		148	83	17	5	39	23	204	111
Career total			444	204	38	18	52	26	534	248

1. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
2. Two appearances in Czech Cup, one appearance and one goal in Czech Supercup
3. Four appearances and eight goals in UEFA Champions League, seven appearances and five goals in UEFA Europa League
4. One appearance in UEFA Champions League, eleven appearances and five goals in UEFA Europa League
5. Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, eight appearances and two goals in UEFA Europa League

International goals

Scores and results list Czech Republic's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lafata goal.^[12]

List of international goals scored by David Lafata

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2 September 2006	Na Stínadlech, Teplice, Czech Republic	1	Wales	1–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
2					2–1
3	26 May 2012	UPC-Arena, Graz, Austria	17	Israel	2–1	2–1	Friendly
4	14 November 2012	Andrův stadion, Olomouc, Czech Republic	24	Slovakia	1–0	3–0	Friendly
5					2–0
6	6 February 2013	Manisa 19 Mayıs Stadium, Manisa, Turkey	25	Turkey	2–0	2–0	Friendly
7	11 October 2013	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Mdina, Malta	28	Malta	2–0	4–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
8	13 October 2014	Astana Arena, Astana, Kazakhstan	33	Kazakhstan	2–0	4–2	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
9	27 May 2016	Kufstein Arena, Kufstein, Austria	38	Malta	4–0	6–0	Friendly

Honours

Austria Wien

• Austrian Cup: 2006–07

Sparta Prague

• Czech First League: 2013–14
• Czech Cup: 2013–14
• Czech Supercup: 2014

Individual

• Czech Footballer of the Year: 2014
• Czech First League top scorer: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17

Records

• Czech First League all-time top goalscorer^[13]
• Czech First League most goals in the row: 9 matches / 9 goals^[14]
• Most goals in a single Czech First League game: 5 goals^[15]
• FK Jablonec all-time top goalscorer in Czech First League: 88 goals^[16]
• SK Dynamo České Budějovice all-time third goalscorer in Czech First League: 27 goals^[17]
• Most goals in a single UEFA Champions League qualifying phase: 8 goals (2014–15) (shared with Cléo)^[18]
• Most goals in a single UEFA Champions League game: 5 goals (shared with Lionel Messi, Luiz Adriano and Mikhail Mikholap)^[19]

References

1. "Austria Wien Archiv - die Online Statistik". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
2. "Lafata musí vyhrát, zněl příkaz. Díky, spoluhráči, řekl střelec ligy" (in Czech). idnes.cz. 29 May 2011. Archived from the original on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
3. "Jak že se ta paní jmenuje? Jo, Damková, zlobil se po prohře Lafata" (in Czech). idnes.cz. 18 September 2011. Archived from the original on 23 September 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
4. "Příbram – Jablonec 4:3, Lafata má rekord, k bodům ale nepomohl" (in Czech). idnes.cz. 7 April 2012. Archived from the original on 11 April 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
5. "Sparta Prague signs Lafata". Miami Herald. 11 January 2013. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
6. "Nejvíc gólů v historii ligy. Může Lafatův rekord ještě někdo překonat?". Lidové noviny (in Czech). 31 March 2014. Archived from the original on 3 April 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
7. "Lafata scores five for rampant Sparta". UEFA.com. 15 July 2014. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
8. Sparta - Malmö 4:2, český mistr prohrával, pak začal opět řádit Lafata Archived 2 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine, iDNES.cz, Retrieved 26. 7. 2014 (in Czech)
9. "Sparťanskými srdci cloumá nápor: Vztek na vymyšlenou penaltu Slavie, návrat legendy i další selhání". Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
10. "David Lafata league profile". www.idnes.cz. Archived from the original on 21 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
11. "David Lafata UEFA profile". www.uefa.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
12. David Lafata at Soccerway
13. "Po sezoně ukončím fotbalovou kariéru, potvrdil kapitán Sparty Lafata". aktualne.cz (in Czech). 9 May 2018. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
14. "Že mám rekord? Aha, divil se Lafata. Skóroval v osmém zápase za sebou" (in Czech). idnes.cz. 14 September 2015. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
15. "Jistota. Lafata je nejlepším střelcem, na závěr dal rekordních pět gólů" (in Czech). idnes.cz. 14 May 2016. Archived from the original on 17 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
16. "Vdenik.cz". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
17. "Vdenik.cz". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
18. "Jsme tady proto, abychom postoupili, říká před odvetou Lafata" (in Czech). ceskatelevize.cz. 5 August 2014. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
19. "Lafata's once-in-a-lifetime Sparta bonanza". uefa.com. 16 July 2014. Archived from the original on 14 August 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.

External links

• David Lafata at Fortunaliga.cz
• David Lafata – Czech First League statistics at Fotbal DNES (in Czech)
• David Lafata at FAČR (also at old FAČR website) (in Czech)
• David Lafata at National-Football-Teams.com