Oliver Bierhoff

Oliver Bierhoff
Oliver Bierhoff.jpg
Personal information
Full name Oliver Bierhoff
Date of birth May 1, 1968 (1968-05-01) (age 42)
Place of birth    Karlsruhe, West Germany
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position Striker
Senior career1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1986–1988
1988–1990
1990
1990–1991
1991–1995
1995–1998
1998–2001
2001–2002
2002–2003
1986–2003		 Bayer Uerdingen
Hamburger SV
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Austria Salzburg
Ascoli
Udinese
AC Milan
AS Monaco
Chievo Verona
Total		 031 00(4)
034 00(6)
008 00(0)
032 0(23)
117 0(48)
086 0(57)
091 0(38)
018 00(5)
026 00(7)
443 (188)   
National team
1996–2002 Germany 070 0(37)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Oliver Bierhoff (born May 1, 1968 in Karlsruhe) is a retired German former football striker, who scored the first golden goal in the history of major international football, for Germany in the Euro 96 final.

Contents

Club career

The son of a German utility magnate, Bierhoff played for nine different clubs, in four different leagues. He scored a total of 103 goals in Serie A, one of the best totals for a non-Italian in the league's history. In 1997-98 season, he led Serie A in goals with 27.

Bierhoff, however, was never a success in the Bundesliga. After failing to shine in Germany, he got his chance in the Austrian Bundesliga. That gave him the chance at Ascoli in Italy. But it was at Udinese, under Alberto Zaccheroni, that Bierhoff found success and won his place in fame and in the German national team. He never returned to prove himself in his home country, like, for example, Jürgen Klinsmann did when he joined Bayern Munich in 1995. In his last ever game, he scored a hat-trick for Chievo Verona in a 3-4 defeat to Juventus. [1]

International career

Bierhoff made his debut for the German national team in a friendly against Portugal on February 21, 1996. In his second appearance on March 27, 1996, he managed to score his first two international goals in his country's 2-0 win over Denmark. Altogether Bierhoff scored 37 goals in 70 caps, including both goals in the 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in the Euro 1996 final after having come on as a substitute.[2]

In an important qualification match on August 20, 1997, Germany trailed Northern Ireland, 0-1, with 20 minutes left when the manager of the national team, Berti Vogts, decided to substitute Thomas Häßler and Oliver Bierhoff. Within seven minutes the former provided the latter with three assists, which Bierhoff turned into three goals, scoring the fastest hat-trick in the history of the German national team.[3]

Bierhoff also played in Euro 2000, and both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. He made his last appearance for his country when he was brought on during the second half of the World Cup 2002 final against Brazil, but was unable to help the Germans score in the 0-2 loss.

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Germany League DFB-Pokal Premiere Ligapokal Europe Total
1986-87 Uerdingen Bundesliga 19 3
1987-88 12 1
1988-89 Hamburger SV Bundesliga 24 6
1989-90 10 0
1989-90 Borussia Mönchengladbach Bundesliga 8 0
Austria League Austrian Cup League Cup Europe Total
1990-91 Austria Salzburg Bundesliga 33 23
Italy League Coppa Italia League Cup Europe Total
1991-92 Ascoli Serie A 17 2
1992-93 Serie B 35 20
1993-94 32 17
1994-95 33 9
1995-96 Udinese Serie A 31 17
1996-97 23 13
1997-98 32 27
1998-99 Milan Serie A 34 20
1999-00 30 11
2000-01 27 6
2001-02 0 0
France League Coupe de France Coupe de la Ligue Europe Total
2001-02 Monaco Division 1 18 4
Italy League Coppa Italia League Cup Europe Total
2002-03 ChievoVerona Serie A 26 7
Total Germany 73 10
Austria 33 23
Italy 320 149
France 18 4
Career total 444 186

Managerial career

Bierhoff's current involvement with football is as the manager of the German national team, a new position created as part of Jürgen Klinsmann's acceptance of the coaching job. Essentially the duties revolve around the public relations aspect of the team as opposed to the coaching responsibilities.

Personal life

Bierhoff is married to Klara Szalantzy, a former model and basketball player from Munich. She gave birth to a daughter on January 27, 2007.

Honours

Milan

International

Individual

References

  1. ↑ http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=65770&cc=5739
  2. ↑ Lawton, Matt (2000-10-07). "Bierhoff back for more glory". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/4773162/Bierhoff-back-for-more-glory.html. 
  3. ↑ "Key player - Oliver Bierhoff". BBC Sport. May 3, 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_80000/newsid_85600/85622.stm. Retrieved May 20, 2010.