October 28, 1981, Vigantice
He is a former Czech football striker who played for FC Baník Ostrava and at the club level abroad in England, France, and Turkey.
- Bronze medalist at UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal
- The top scorer of the tournament with 5 goals, ahead of Wayne Rooney (England) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), who scored 3 goals each. He was also included in the tournament’s All-Star team.
- With 41 goals, he is the second-best scorer in the history of the Czech national team (behind Jan Koller with 55 goals) and a member of the Club of League Scorers.
- European champion for players under 21 in 2002
- Together with Vladimír Šmicer, he became the first Czech winner of the UEFA Champions League in 2005 while playing for Liverpool.
As a promising player, he transferred in 2002 to Liverpool FC for approximately £3.2 million, where he became the winner of the English League Cup (2003) and the UEFA Champions League (2004/2005).
He won further titles with Olympique Lyon (2006/2007) and Portsmouth FC, where he won the FA Cup (2008).
In August 2008, he signed a three-year contract with the famous Turkish club Galatasaray SK in Istanbul, transferring for €7 million. With 20 goals, he became the top scorer of the Turkish Süper Lig, needing only 31 matches to win the golden boot.
He finished the 2011/12 season as a Turkish league champion, contributing with 8 goals.
His most outstanding goal-scoring performance in international football was on September 9, 2009, in a World Cup qualifying match against San Marino, where he scored 4 goals between the 27th and 66th minute (Czech Republic won 7-0).
On July 3, 2020, at a press conference of FC Baník Ostrava, he announced his retirement from professional football.