Toni Polster

Anton "Toni" Polster (born 10 March 1964) is an Austrian former professional football player and current coach. He is the all-time leading goalscorer for Austria.

Polster's top flight coaching debut at Admira Wacker lasted just three league games before he was sacked 10 August 2013.

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. 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.

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

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

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. He earned 95 caps, scoring a record 44 goals. He overtook the previous goalscoring record, set by Hans Krankl, in November 1996, scoring his 35th goal against Latvia.

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, in which he was substituted in the 21st minute by Christian Mayrleb. His appearances record was surpassed by Andreas Herzog in May 2002.

International goals

Scores and results list Austria's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	17 November 1982	Gerhard Hanappi Stadium, Vienna	Turkey	1–0	4–0	Euro 1984 qualifier
2.	7 May 1985	Liebenau Stadium, Graz	Cyprus	2–0	4–0	1986 World Cup qualifier
3.	26 March 1986	Stadio Friuli, Udine	Italy	1–0	1–2	Friendly
4.	27 August 1986	Tivoli, Innsbruck	Switzerland	1–0	1–1
5.	15 October 1986	Liebenau Stadium, Graz	Albania	2–0	3–0	Euro 1988 qualifier
6.	29 October 1986	Praterstadion, Vienna	West Germany	1–0	4–1	Friendly
7.				2–1
8.	1 April 1987		Spain	2–2	2–3	Euro 1988 qualifier
9.	29 April 1987	Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana	Albania	1–0	1–0
10.	2 November 1988	Praterstadion, Vienna	Turkey	1–0	3–2	1990 World Cup qualifier
11.	20 May 1989	Zentralstadion, Leipzig	East Germany	1–0	1–1
12.	15 November 1989	Praterstadion, Vienna		1–0	3–0
13.				2–0
14.				3–0
15.	28 March 1990	Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga	Spain	2–2	3–2	Friendly
16.	25 March 1992	Népstadion, Budapest	Hungary	1–0	1–2
17.	14 April 1992	Praterstadion, Vienna	Lithuania	3–0	4–0
18.	27 May 1992	De Baandert, Sittard-Geleen	Netherlands	1–2	2–3
19.	2 September 1992	Linzer Stadion, Linz	Portugal	1–0	1–1
20.	28 October 1992	Praterstadion, Vienna	Israel	3–0	5–2	1994 World Cup qualifier
21.	14 April 1993	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna	Bulgaria	3–1	3–1
22.	2 June 1994		Germany	1–4	1–5	Friendly
23.	7 September 1994	Sportpark, Eschen	Liechtenstein	1–0	4–0	Euro 1996 qualifier
24.				3–0
25.				4–0
26.	12 October 1994	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna	Northern Ireland	1–1	1–2
27.	29 March 1995	Stadion Lehen, Salzburg	Latvia	4–0	5–0
28.				5–0
29.	26 April 1995		Liechtenstein	2–0	7–0
30.				4–0
31.	11 June 1995	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	Republic of Ireland	1–1	3–1
32.				3–1
33.	16 August 1995	Daugava Stadium,Riga	Latvia	1–2	2–3
34.	24 April 1996	Népstadion, Budapest	Hungary	1–0	2–0	Friendly
35.	9 November 1996	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna	Latvia	1–0	2–1	1998 World Cup qualifier
36.	8 June 1997	Daugava Stadium, Riga		2–0	3–1
37.	20 August 1997	Kadrioru Stadium, Tallinn	Estonia	1–0	3–0
38.				2–0
39.				3–0
40.	11 October 1997	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna	Belarus	1–0	4–0
41.				3–0
42.	2 June 1998		Liechtenstein	1–0	6–0	Friendly
43.				6–0
44.	11 June 1998	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse	Cameroon	1–1	1–1	1998 World Cup

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. 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.

As of 15 May 2014

• 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.

Club

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
• Austrian Footballer of the Year: 1985–86, 1996–97