Ivan Klasnić

Ivan Klasnić

Personal information
Full name	Ivan Klasnić
Date of birth	29 January 1980 (1980-01-29) (age 31)
Place of birth	Hamburg, West Germany
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Bolton Wanderers
Number	17
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–2001	St. Pauli	95	(26)
2001–2008	Werder Bremen	151	(49)
2008–2010	Nantes	33	(10)
2009–2010	→ Bolton Wanderers (loan)	27	(8)
2010–	Bolton Wanderers	1	(0)
National team‡
2001	Croatia U21	3	(1)
2004–	Croatia	38	(12)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:21, 9 May 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 October 2009

Ivan Klasnić (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈiʋan ˈklasnitɕ]; born 29 January 1980 in Hamburg, West Germany) is a Croatian footballer who currently plays for Bolton Wanderers of the Premier League. He is a Croatian international.^[1]

Club career

St. Pauli

Klasnić started his professional career with local side St. Pauli, and impressed as a striker in the three and half seasons he played for the club in the Second Bundesliga since becoming a professional in January 1998.^[2] Prior to his spell at St. Pauli, he has played for less known amateur sides Union 03 Hamburg and TSV Stellingen.

Werder Bremen

After helping St. Pauli to gain promotion to the first division with 10 goals scored for the club in the second division during the 2000–01 season, he made the switch to Werder Bremen in the summer of 2001 and finally made his mark in the first team in 2003 with some powerful performances in the Bundesliga. His first two seasons at the club had been marked by erratic form (he scored only three goals in 36 Bundesliga appearances) and two serious knee injuries, but he laid old ghosts to rest as he emerged a key figure in Werder Bremen's march to the Bundesliga title in the 2003–04 season, when he also won the German Cup with the club. He scored 13 goals and made another 11 for his Brazilian strike partner Ailton. His expiring contract caused a scramble for his signature at the beginning of the year before he eventually decided to stay at Bremen.

Participating in the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League season, Klasnić scored five goals in the two group matches against Belgian side RSC Anderlecht, including a hat-trick in the 5–1 home victory for Werder Bremen, helping the team to advance to the first knock-out stage of the competition before losing to strong French side Olympique Lyonnais, who crushed them 10–2 on aggregate.

His start in the 2006–07 season was not very successful either and he had to make seven Bundesliga appearances before finally scoring his first league goal of the season in Werder Bremen's quite disappointing 1–1 draw against underdogs Energie Cottbus at home. However, Klasnić suffered a kidney failure in early 2007 (see Illness and possible end of career) and was out for more than ten months. In April 2008 he claimed that Werder's club physicians could have already detected the illness in 2002 and thus sued them in Landgericht Bremen. He also stated that he would not prolong his expiring contract with Werder since it would mean to be treated by the same medical personnel who had not detected his illness in time.

On 14 May 2008, Werder Bremen confirmed that Klasnić was leaving the club.

Nantes

On 8 July 2008, Klasnić moved to FC Nantes where he was loaned, then he signed a four-year contract.^[3] After one very difficult season with just six goals in 28 games for him, FC Nantes was relegated in French Ligue 2. The next season, he scored four goals in just five games.

Bolton Wanderers

Klasnić signed for Bolton Wanderers on transfer deadline day of the 2009–10 season on a year-long loan deal, becoming Gary Megson's last signing for the club.

"Ivan is a player who we have been tracking for quite a while. His goalscoring record is very good and he has an excellent pedigree at international level with Croatia and domestically in Europe." – Gary Megson.

On 12 September 2009, Klasnić made his debut for Bolton in their 3–2 win over Portsmouth after coming on as a substitute for Sam Ricketts. One of his first contributions was to be involved in the move which lead to the winning goal by Gary Cahill. His first goal for the club came in the 3-2 win against Everton on 25 October. He finished the season with eight Premier League goals.

On 4 August 2010, Klasnić signed permanently for Bolton on a two year contract following his loan spell with the club.^[4] and scored the first goal of his second spell in the 1-0 Carling Cup victory at Southampton on 24 August.^[5]

International career

Klasnić turned down an invitation from Rudi Völler to play for Germany and chose to play for Croatia instead as he already won three caps and scored one goal for their under-21 team in the spring of 2001. He also played five times and scored one goal for the Croatian under-19 team in 1998 and 1999. By a quirk of fate, his international debut came against Germany in February 2004 in a friendly match where the Germans claimed a 2–1 victory.

Euro 2004

He was selected to play for Croatia in the UEFA Euro 2004. However, he was left on the substitutes bench throughout the tournament. Croatia did not advance past the group stage and the media often attributed that to the lack of inclusion of Klasnić, among other things.

2006 World Cup

Qualifying

In the Croatian national team, however, his performances during 2004–05 were rather modest as he only netted one goal in eight qualifying matches for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, being on target in the team's opening qualifier against Hungary in September 2004, which they easily won 3–0. In February 2005, he gave a good performance for the national team in a friendly match against Israel, scoring twice in a 3–3 draw. On the first day of March 2006, he was on target for Croatia once again as he netted their first goal in a 3–2 win over Argentina in another friendly match.

Tournament

In May 2006, he was expectedly named to the Croatian 23-man squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany and displayed really good shape throughout the month as he first scored four goals in three Bundesliga matches for Werder Bremen, ending the 2005–06 Bundesliga season with a total of 15 goals scored, and then netted a brace for the national team in a World Cup preparation friendly against Austria on 23 May, where they easily won 4–1. However, as the World Cup approached his good shape started to fade and he did not manage to score any further goals in the remaining three preparation matches as well as in all three group matches at the tournament, where Croatia exited the competition in the first round with two draws and a defeat.

Euro 2008

Qualifying

In the 2006–07 season, he lost his place in Croatia's starting XI after giving two modest performances in the opening two qualifying matches for the UEFA Euro 2008, where he nevertheless managed to score one goal in the 7–0 crushing of minnows Andorra. In the following two matches, against England and Israel, he was left an unused substitute.

Tournament

At Euro 2008, Klasnić was an unused substitute in Croatia's Group B opening two games; however he started the final group match on 16 June vs. Poland and scored a goal in 53rd minute thus, sending his side with a perfect group stage score into the next round. In the quarter-finals match against Turkey, Klasnić was again on the bench but was given the chance to play at the start of the first extra time in substitution of teammate Ivica Olić. In the 118th (with just two minutes to play plus injury time), Klasnić headed an elevated pass provided by Luka Modrić and scored a crucial goal for Croatia. However, Croatia was to be eliminated from the tournament as Semih Şentürk equalised with a goal just two minutes later and Turkey won the subsequent penalty shoot-out. Ivan was remembered for his efforts which saw him become the only player to ever participate at a major tournament after a kidney transplant, also scoring two goals during his campaign.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	28 April 2004	Skopje City Stadium, Skopje, Macedonia	Macedonia	0 – 1	0–1	Friendly
2.	4 September 2004	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Hungary	2 – 0	3–0	2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
3.	9 February 2005	Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem, Israel	Israel	0 – 1	3–3	Friendly
4.	9 February 2005	Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem, Israel	Israel	2 – 3	3–3	Friendly
5.	1 March 2006	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Argentina	0 – 1	2–3	Friendly
6.	23 May 2006	Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	0 – 1	1–4	Friendly
7.	23 May 2006	Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	1 – 2	1–4	Friendly
8.	7 October 2006	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Andorra	5 – 0	7–0	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
9.	16 June 2008	Hypo-Arena, Klagenfurt, Austria	Poland	1 – 0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2008
10.	20 June 2008	Ernst Happel Stadion, Wien, Austria	Turkey	1 – 0	1–1(1–3 pen)	UEFA Euro 2008
11.	1 April 2009	Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Andorra	0 – 1	0–2	2010 FIFA World Cup Qual.

Illness and possible end of career

In January 2007, it was reported that Klasnić suffered kidney failure. On 25 January 2007, he received a kidney transplantation from his mother Šima, but soon it was reported that his body rejected the new organ.^[6]

On 23 March 2007, he underwent surgery to replace the rejected kidney, this time receiving a kidney from his father. The second transplantation was a success, and Klasnić stated that his doctors told him that he "would be able to continue playing football."

However, in August 2007, the doctors at Werder Bremen forbade him to train due to inability of his body to withstand heavy physical strain.

In September 2007, doctors finally allowed Ivan Klasnić to attend full training after he was absent for about 6 months. He then joined the team and made a couple of appearances in the club's cup activities and also appeared in a few matches for the second team.

Finally, on 24 November 2007, he was selected to start for Werder for the first time since December 2006, and played 65 minutes for his team in a Bundesliga match against Energie Cottbus. Klasnić completed his comeback on 15 December 2007, scoring twice in Bremen's 5–2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen, playing 85 minutes.

In March 2008, Ivan was recalled to the national team after a year of absence. He became the first player ever to participate at a major tournament after a kidney transplantation when he played at Euro 2008 and scored against both Poland in the group stage and against Turkey in the quarter-finals.

References

External links

• Official website
• Career stats at Fussballdaten.de (German)
• Become A Croatia Fan Player Profile
• Ivan Klasnić career stats at Soccerbase

Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Vasilj • 2 Tokić • 3 Šimunić • 4 Tomas • 5 Tudor • 6 Živković (c) • 7 Rapaić • 8 Srna • 9 Pršo • 10 Niko Kovač • 11 Šokota • 12 Butina • 13 Šimić • 14 Neretljak • 15 Leko • 16 Babić • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 Mornar • 20 Roso • 21 Robert Kovač • 22 Bjelica • 23 Didulica • Coach: Otto Barić

Croatia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa • 2 Srna • 3 Šimunić • 4 R. Kovač • 5 Tudor • 6 Vranješ • 7 Šimić • 8 Babić • 9 Pršo • 10 N. Kovač (c) • 11 Tokić • 12 Didulica • 13 Tomas • 14 Modrić • 15 I. Leko • 16 J. Leko • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 N. Kranjčar • 20 Šerić • 21 Balaban • 22 Bošnjak • 23 Butina • Coach: Z. Kranjčar

Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Pletikosa • 2 Šimić • 3 Šimunić • 4 R. Kovač • 5 Ćorluka • 6 Vejić • 7 Rakitić • 8 Vukojević • 9 Kalinić • 10 N. Kovač (c) • 11 Srna • 12 Galinović • 13 Pokrivač • 14 Modrić • 15 Knežević • 16 Leko • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 Kranjčar • 20 Budan • 21 Petrić • 22 Pranjić • 23 Runje • Coach: Bilić