Early career As a boy, Baroš played for youth clubs in Vigantice and
Rožnov pod Radhoštěm before joining the youth team of
Baník Ostrava at the age of 12. In 1998, he made his debut for the club in the
Czech First League, the top division of Czech football, becoming a regular over the next few seasons. In 2000, he won the Talent of the Year award at the
Czech Footballer of the Year awards. He was described by the Czech News Agency in the 2000–01 season as "perhaps the biggest star of the [Czech] football league". He played his last game for the club on 2 December 2001, in a 1–0 loss at
Viktoria Žižkov. During his time in Ostrava, he scored 23 league goals in 76 appearances. The BBC estimated his transfer fee as
£3.2 million. He did not move to England straight away due to delays in obtaining a
work permit, which was obtained in December. He made his club debut in a
UEFA Champions League tie away to
Barcelona on 13 March 2002; he played the last 16 minutes in place of
Emile Heskey as the match finished goalless. It was his only appearance of the
2001–02 season. Baroš was a substitute in the
2003 Football League Cup Final against
Manchester United. He entered the game in the second half, but did not play to the end of the game, being substituted himself a minute before the end of the game. Liverpool won the game 2–0 to win the cup, the first major trophy of Baroš' career. He ended his first season in the Premiership with 12 goals for the club. Baroš broke his ankle in a September 2003 match against
Blackburn Rovers, a match which also saw teammate
Jamie Carragher sustain a broken leg. Baroš subsequently missed five months of football and scored just two goals in the
2003–04 season. His first goal came in a league match against
Leeds United in February 2004, while his other goal was in March in a 1–1 Champions League draw against
Marseille. Baroš would later claim that had manager
Gérard Houllier stayed at the club after the summer of 2004, he would have put in a transfer request. Baroš entered the
2004–05 season having been the top goalscorer in the summer's
Euro 2004 Despite being the club's joint top scorer with 13 goals, including a
hat-trick against
Crystal Palace, Spaniard
Fernando Morientes was preferred to Baroš in Liverpool's starting lineup for the
League Cup Final, a match they lost to
Chelsea. However, he did start the
2005 Champions League Final, being substituted after 85 minutes as the game finished 3–3 in normal time. Liverpool went on to win the match on penalties. Baroš reportedly dropped the trophy during the team's celebration, leaving a dent, but Liverpool decided not to mend it because it "added to the character" of the trophy. He finished the season with 13 goals, becoming the joint-top scorer for the club. Baroš also received his first red card during the campaign, being sent off for a high challenge on
Everton's
Alan Stubbs in the
Merseyside derby on 20 March. In June 2005, former manager Gérard Houllier, then with French club
Lyon, made an approach to sign Baroš. The player rejected the approach, but only made two substitute appearances for Liverpool in the
2005–06 season before leaving the club. He left Liverpool with league figures of 19 goals in 68 appearances.
Aston Villa Baroš moved to Premiership side
Aston Villa for a fee of £6.5 million in August 2005, signing a four-year contract. Just ten minutes into his Aston Villa debut, he scored the only goal in his new team's league victory over Blackburn. He played a crucial role in Villa's
League Cup second round victory against
Wycombe Wanderers in September. With Villa trailing 3–1 at half time, Baroš scored shortly after the beginning of the second half and won a penalty, which
Gareth Barry converted. Hughes' pass found
Kevin Phillips, who opened the scoring against his old club. He later scored a goal himself in the same game, which ended 3–1 to Villa. This was not punished and the referee awarded a goal. A number of missiles from the crowd were subsequently thrown in Baroš' direction. He went on to score his second goal of the game, and Villa's fourth, earning him
man of the match honours. and added another in the following round's 1–1 draw with
Manchester City. Late in the season, he scored two goals in the
Second City derby against
Birmingham City at Villa Park, marking his 11th and 12th goals of the season and winning another man of the match award. He would score no further goals that season. Baroš failed to score at the start of the
2006–07 season, leading new manager
Martin O'Neill to challenge him in October to prove himself before the January
transfer window. He subsequently scored his first goal of the season in December 2006, eight months since scoring his last one, with a close-range equaliser against
Sheffield United in a 2–2 draw. Although he also managed to score for Aston Villa in a 2–1 loss to Manchester United in the FA Cup, he left the club in January 2007, having scored just once in 17 league matches that season.
Lyon On 22 January 2007, Baroš signed with French side Lyon, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract and reuniting with former manager Gérard Houllier from his time at Liverpool. The deal swapped Baroš with Lyon striker
John Carew, who joined Aston Villa on a three-and-a-half-year deal. Just two days after joining the club, he made his Lyon debut in a league match against
Bordeaux. He appeared as a substitute, as league leaders Lyon lost 2–1 for their first home defeat of the season. Baroš took part in that year's
Champions League, featuring as a substitute in a 0–0 draw in
Rome against
Roma. He played no further part in that season's Champions League campaign, as he remained on the bench in the return leg as Lyon were eliminated. In May 2007, Baroš was accused of making a racist gesture towards his
Cameroonian opponent
Stéphane Mbia during Lyon's match against
Rennes on 18 April. After having been fouled by Mbia several times, Baroš held his nose in front of Mbia and waved his hand as if to waft away an unpleasant smell. Baroš scored in Lyon's opening game of the
2007–08 season as his club won 2–0 against
Auxerre. However, he played significantly less under new manager
Alain Perrin, making just six starts and scoring a total of three league goals. In mid-November, Baroš revealed a break down in his relationship with Perrin and hinted at a move to another club.
Portsmouth Baroš joined Premier League side
Portsmouth on loan from Lyon in January 2008 until the end of the season, with the option of making the move permanent at the end of the loan. The final match of Baroš' loan spell was the
2008 FA Cup Final victory over
Cardiff City at
Wembley Stadium, where he appeared as an 87th-minute substitute for Kanu. By the end of the season, Baroš had played 16 matches for Portsmouth, including seven as a substitute, although he failed to score. At the end of the season, Baroš returned to Lyon.
Galatasaray In August 2008, Baroš joined Turkish champions
Galatasaray from Lyon for a fee of €4.7 million. He made his first appearance against
Kayserispor, playing the last 15 minutes. Baroš scored his first two goals for the club in the
UEFA Cup first round, first leg game against
Bellinzona. Three days later, in his first league start, he once again scored two goals against
Kocaelispor, with Galatasaray going on to win the match 4–1. On 21 December 2008, Baroš scored a hat-trick in the 4–2
Süper Lig derby win against
Beşiktaş, converting two penalties and scoring one from open play. He scored another hat-trick later in the season against
Hacettepe. He finished the
2008–09 season as the Süper Lig top scorer with 20 goals. Baroš scored his first goal of the
2009–10 season in his third league game when he scored twice in a 4–1 win against Kayserispor. His next two goals came on 13 September where Galatasaray played rivals Beşiktaş. Galatasaray won the match 3–0, with Baroš scoring his third and fourth goals of the season. He scored a total of five times in ten matches before breaking his left foot in two places after a tackle by
Emre Belözoğlu in the
Fenerbahçe–Galatasaray derby on 25 October 2009. He returned to action four and a half months later on 14 March 2010 for a game against
Ankaragücü, scoring a goal on his comeback. During the season, he scored his third hat-trick for the club in a match against
Diyarbakirspor. In August 2010, a week before the start of the
2010–11 Süper Lig, he extended his contract with Galatasaray for two seasons, keeping him contracted to the club until the end of the 2012–13 season. At the end of September, he scored his fourth hat-trick for the club against
Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor, although he failed to complete the game due to an injury. Baroš was suspended for three matches in March 2011 after insulting referee
Fırat Aydınus in a match against Beşiktaş. By the end of the season, Baroš had appeared in 17 league games and scored 9 goals. Galatasaray started the
2011–12 season well and were top of the league in January, having won eight consecutive league matches. Baroš did not start a match for his club for four weeks, but scored an important goal against
Samsunspor in the eighth match of the streak. He returned from injury in a February match against
Antalyaspor, coming on as a substitute, but was on the field of play just 15 minutes before receiving a
red card. His dismissal resulted in a three-match suspension. Baroš scored his last goal for the club in April 2012 in the last match of the regular season against
Manisaspor. In 2012, Baroš was told by then-coach
Fatih Terim that he would not play for the club any more. He played no competitive football after Euro 2012 and finally left the club in February 2013. Under the terms of the contract, his salary was donated to support the youth club of the team. He scored a hat-trick in Ostrava's 3–0 league victory against
Hradec Králové on 9 March 2013, his first hat-trick in the top flight of Czech football.
Antalyaspor On 16 July 2013, Baroš agreed a one-year contract with Turkish club Antalyaspor. He made his club debut in August, appearing as a substitute in a 0–0 Süper Lig draw against
Kayseri Erciyesspor. He scored his first goal for Antalyaspor against
Bursaspor in August, then his second against
Rizespor in October. He suffered damage to his
anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in December 2013, ruling him out of action for the rest of the season. Baroš returned to the Czech Republic for treatment in January 2014.
Return to the Czech league On 24 September 2014, Baroš re-joined Ostrava, signing a contract until the end of the 2014–15 season. Following the end of the 2014–15 season, Baroš left Ostrava and signed a two-year contract with
Mladá Boleslav. Following the end of the 2015–16 season, Baroš left Mladá Boleslav and signed a two-year contract with Slovan Liberec. He only spent one of the two years at Liberec before returning to Baník Ostrava in 2017. On 3 July 2020, 38-year-old Baroš announced that he would retire from professional football at the end of the Czech season, due to persistent injuries. Later that year, he joined his boyhood club Vigantice in the lower-league divisions. ==International career==