Roman Wallner

Roman Wallner
Personal information
Full name	Roman Wallner
Date of birth	4 February 1982 (age 40)
Place of birth	Graz, Styria, Austria
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Club information
Current team	Salzburger AK (individual coach)
Youth career
1988–1998	Sturm Graz
Senior career*
Years	Team
1998–1999	Sturm Graz
1999–2004	Rapid Vienna
2004–2006	Hannover 96
2005	→ Admira Wacker (loan)
2006	→ Austria Vienna (loan)
2006–2007	Austria Vienna
2007–2008	Falkirk
2007	→ Hamilton Academical (loan)
2008	Apollon Kalamarias
2008–2009	Skoda Xanthi
2009–2010	LASK Linz
2010–2012	Red Bull Salzburg
2012	RB Leipzig
2012–2015	FC Wacker Innsbruck
2015–2019	SV Grödig
Total
National team
2001–2010	Austria
Teams managed
2019	Salzburger AK (caretaker)
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Roman Wallner (born 4 February 1982) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a forward and manager. He is currently a part of Salzburger AK 1914's technical staff, working as an individual coach.

Club career[]

Born in Graz, Styria, Wallner began his career with hometown Sturm Graz in 1998. In the following year he moved to Rapid Wien, where he would have his most successful years, appearing in over 100 matches and scoring 42 goals over five seasons with the club. He then spent one year spells at German club Hannover 96 and VfB Admira Wacker Mödling before signing with Austria Vienna in 2005. He left the club in 2007.

At the beginning of the 2007–08 season, Wallner signed a one-year contract including the option of a 2nd year with Scottish Premier League outfit Falkirk F.C.^[1]

In November 2007, Roman signed for Scottish First Division Hamilton Academical on loan from Falkirk,^[2] scoring once in four games against Stirling Albion.^[3] He returned to Falkirk the following month.

In January 2008, he travelled to Greece where he was on trial for the Greek Cup 2006–07 winners Larissa F.C. In the same month Falkirk announced that Wallner had been released from his contract by mutual consent. In late January, he signed with Apollon Kalamarias.

On 3 February 2008, Apollon Kalamarias' player Barkoglou scored a last minute goal in a match against Olympiacos which ended 1–0 to Apollon. Olympiakos appealed against Wallner's appearance in the match,^[4] because according to FIFA rules a player could play for no more than two teams per season (having already played for Falkirk and Hamilton Academical), because of this Apollon lost the game in cards 0–3 and had 1 point deducted. The case went to the jurisdiction of CAS. The appeal for provisional measures was declined. After the end of the Greek Superleague, Apollon Kalamarias was relegated and the deducted points would be inefficient to keep them clear of relegation. Therefore, the appeal against the first decision was withdrawn. Olympiacos won the title leading the table with runners-up AEK Athens trailing by only two points. This fact, along with the claims by the AEK chairman Demis Nikolaidis and footballers like Rivaldo, Traianos Dellas and Nikos Lyberopoulos that the Greek Football Association was responsible for this outcome, left the AEK fans with a taste of unjustice. By then, Roman Wallner was one of the most identifiable and recnognisable footballers in Greece and the controversy about his case will be remembered by all the Greek football fans in the years to come.

International career[]

He made his debut for Austria in an April 2001 World Cup qualification match against Liechtenstein.

Coaching career[]

After retiring, Wallner was hired by Salzburger AK 1914 as an individual coach both for the first team but also for the youth teams, mainly be responsible for the strikers.^[5] On 17 October 2019, Wallner was appointed caretaker manager for the last three games of the year, following the departure of Andreas Fötschl.^[6]