David Lafata (born 18 September 1981) is a Czech former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. 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.

Club career

From 1992 until 2005, Lafata played for Czech team

SK České Budějovice SK may refer to: People * SK (actor) or Sivakarthikeyan, Indian actor * Salman Khan or SK, Indian actor * Shahram Kashani (SK), an Iranian-American singer * Shakib Khan, Bangladeshi film actor, known by the initialism SK * Søren Kierkegaard, Da ...

, with a brief spell at

FC Vysočina Jihlava FC Vysočina Jihlava is a association football, football club from Jihlava, Czech Republic, which plays in the Czech National Football League. The club played in the Czech First League for the first time in its history in the 2005–06 Czech Firs ...

in 2002. The striker then moved to Greek club

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club () is a Greek Association football, football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace. They play their home matches at Skoda Xanthi Arena Founded in 1967, Xanthi is well set up in terms of their financial support and youth set ...

in July 2005, but returned to the Czech Liga in January 2006. After one year at Jablonec, Lafata was transferred to

FK Austria Vienna Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Austr ...

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. In the 2010–11 season, Lafata was top scorer of the

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

with 19 goals. 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. In April 2012, Lafata broke the Czech First League season scoring record, notching his 23rd goal of the season. He finished season with 25 goals, being top scorer and setting a new record. 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 Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional association football, football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in cen ...

in the winter break. In February 2013, he scored a goal in the Europa League round of 32, in a 2–1 aggregate loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. In March 2014 Lafata scored his 134th goal in the Czech First League, surpassing

Horst Siegl Horst Siegl (born 15 February 1969) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is among the most successful goalscorers in the history of the Czech First League. He played for Czechoslovakia and later Czech Republic na ...

as its top all-time scorer. 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. Continuing his fine form in the Champions League qualifying round, Lafata scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 4–2 comeback victory over

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

at home in Prague.Sparta - Malmö 4:2, český mistr prohrával, pak začal opět řádit Lafata
, iDNES.cz, Retrieved 26. 7. 2014 (in Czech) In autumn 2015, Lafata was denied at hat-trick (by the Croatian referee) in Europa League match in Greece against Asteras Tripolis. He scored goal in both away and home match against Schalke 04, as Sparta progressed to the knockout stages. In May 2016, Lafata became the first player to score five goals in a Czech First League match, netting all of the goals in a 5–0 win against

Jihlava Jihlava (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. Jihlava is the capital of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava (river), Jihlava River on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia. Historically, Jihla ...

. On 30 July 2017, he scored his 200th league goal in a 1–1 draw against city rival

Bohemians 1905 Bohemians Praha 1905, commonly known as Bohemka or Bohemians Prague, is a professional association football, football club based in Vršovice, Prague, Czech Republic. The club competes in the Czech First League, Fortuna Liga, the top division ...

International career

He scored two goals on his debut for the Czech national team in a 2–1 win against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

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 European club matches League matches for Austria

International goals

:''Scores and results list Czech Republic's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lafata goal''.

Honours

Austria Wien *

Austrian Cup The Austrian 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 a record 27th time. Wo ...

: 2006–07 Sparta Prague *

: 2013–14 *

Czech Cup The Czech Cup (), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association. The Czech Cup was first held in 1961. The winner ...

: 2013–14 *

Czech Supercup The Czech Supercup () was an annual football match between the winners of the Czech First League and the Czech Cup, organised by the Czech Football Association. It was last sponsored by Synot Tip and was therefore officially known as the Synot ...

: 2014 Individual *

Czech Footballer of the Year The Czech Footballer of the Year () is awarded in the Czech Republic by the Football Association of the Czech Republic (FA ČR). Eligibility extends to Czech players in the Czech Republic and abroad. Awards for young player, coach and Czech First L ...

: 2014 *

top scorer:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 Records *

all-time top goalscorer *

most goals in the row: 9 matches / 9 goals * Most goals in a single

game: 5 goals * FK Jablonec all-time top goalscorer in

: 88 goals * SK Dynamo České Budějovice all-time third goalscorer in

: 27 goals * Most goals in a single

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

qualifying phase: 8 goals (2014–15) (shared with

Cléo Cléverson Gabriel Córdova (born 9 August 1985), commonly known as Cléo, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He also holds Serbian citizenship. While playing on three different continents, Cléo scored at ...

) * Most goals in a single

game: 5 goals (shared with

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

Luiz Adriano Luiz Adriano de Souza da Silva (born 12 April 1987), or simply Luiz Adriano (), is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Esporte Clube Vitória, Vitória. Born in P ...

and Mikhail Mikholap)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lafata, David Czech men's footballers Czech Republic men's youth international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech Republic men's international footballers Czech First League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Super League Greece players FC Vysočina Jihlava players FK Jablonec players SK Dynamo České Budějovice players FK Austria Wien players Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Czech expatriate sportspeople in Austria Xanthi F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Footballers from České Budějovice 1981 births Living people UEFA Euro 2012 players UEFA Euro 2016 players AC Sparta Prague players Men's association football forwards 21st-century Czech sportsmen