Anton "Toni" Polster (born 10 March 1964) is an Austrian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player. He is the all-time leading goalscorer for the Austria national team with 44 goals. Polster's top flight coaching debut at Admira Wacker lasted just three league games before he was sacked on 10 August 2013.

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 The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

with

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

. He then spent the five following years at Spanish teams

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

, Logroñés and

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

, 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. 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 Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

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 SV Austria Salzburg is an Austrian professional football club, based in the city of Salzburg. The club was formed in 2005 by some supporters of the original SV (Austria) Salzburg after it was renamed FC Red Bull Salzburg by its new owners, who ...

. He was known to fans as "Toni Doppelpack" – "Toni

Brace Brace(s) or bracing may refer to: Medical * Orthopaedic brace, a device used to restrict or assist body movement ** Back brace, a device limiting motion of the spine *** Milwaukee brace, a kind of back brace used in the treatment of spinal cur ...

", because of his reputation for scoring two goals in many matches. Polster was chosen in Austria's Team of the Century in 2001 and as Austrian Sportsman of the Year 1997.

International career

In 1983, Polster was selected for the Austria U20's to play at the

1983 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship was the fourth edition FIFA World Youth Championship tournament, hosted from 2 June to 19 June 1983 in seven venues in Mexico — Guadalajara, Irapuato, León, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla and Toluca — wh ...

. He had already made his senior debut for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in November 1982 against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, immediately scoring his first goal, and was a participant at the 1990 World Cup and 1998 World Cup. He earned 95 caps, scoring a record 44 goals. He overtook the previous goalscoring record, set by

Hans Krankl Johann "Hans" Krankl (; born 14 February 1953) is a retired Austrian footballer. A prolific striker, Krankl is regarded by many as one of Austria's greatest players. Club career Krankl started his professional career at Rapid Wien and stayed ...

, in November 1996, scoring his 35th goal against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. His final (and record-breaking 94th) international was thought to be a

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in June, but he was given an official farewell match in September 2000 against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, in which he was substituted in the 21st minute by

Christian Mayrleb Christian Mayrleb (born 8 June 1972) is an Austrian retired professional footballer who is employed as the manager of Austrian side ASKÖ Donau Linz. Club career Born in Wels, Upper Austria, Mayrleb started his professional career at Second Di ...

. His appearances record was surpassed by

Andreas Herzog Andreas "Andi" Herzog (born 10 September 1968) is an Austrian former footballer and manager who last managed Admira Wacker. As a player, he played as an attacking midfielder, most notably for Werder Bremen. A full international between 1988 and ...

in May 2002.

Coaching career

Polster began his coaching career in January 2010 as the reserve-team coach at

LASK Linz Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as Linzer ASK () or simply LASK, is an Austrian professional football club, from the Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football ...

. In June 2011, he became the head coach of SC Wiener Viktoria in the

Austrian 2. Landesliga The Austrian 2. Landesliga is the fifth tier of football in Austria. It is divided among the Austrian states by one or more conferences. The champions of each conference are promoted to the Landesliga. *Burgenland: ''2. Liga Nord'', ''2. Liga Mit ...

, 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 The Austrian Regionalliga (german: Regionalliga or plural , means Regional League) is the third-highest division in Austrian football, after the Austrian Bundesliga and the Second League. It is divided into 5 groups: East (), covering the stat ...

. On 17 June 2013, he accepted his first coaching role in the

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

, taking over as the head coach of the top-flight side Admira Wacker Mödling. 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. Polster returned to SC Wiener Viktoria on 13 January 2014.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Managerial

*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

Club

Austria Wien *

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

: 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

: 1985–86

Individual

* Austrian Football Bundesliga Top scorer: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

Austrian Footballer of the Year The Austrian Footballer of the Year award (german: APA-Fußballerwahl) is an annual football award, established in Austria in 1984 and sponsored by the Austria Press Agency (APA). The coaches of all Austrian Football Bundesliga clubs vote to elect ...

: 1985–86, 1996–97 *

European Golden Shoe The European Golden Shoe, also known as European Golden Boot, is an award that is presented each season to the leading goalscorer in league matches from the top division of a European national league. The trophy is a sculpture of a football boot. ...

: 1986–87

References

External links

*
Toni Polster
at Austria Archive * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Polster, Toni 1964 births Living people Footballers from Vienna Association football forwards Austrian footballers Austria youth international footballers Austria international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players FK Austria Wien players Torino F.C. players Sevilla FC players CD Logroñés footballers Rayo Vallecano players 1. FC Köln players Borussia Mönchengladbach players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Serie A players La Liga players Bundesliga players Austrian football managers FC Admira Wacker Mödling managers Austrian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Spain