Oliver Bierhoff

Oliver Bierhoff
Personal information
Full name Oliver Bierhoff
Date of birth (1968-05-01) 1 May 1968
Place of birth Karlsruhe, West Germany
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Germany (Business manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1988 Bayer Uerdingen 31 (4)
1988–1990 Hamburger SV 34 (6)
1990 Borussia Mönchengladbach 8 (0)
1990–1991 Austria Salzburg 32 (23)
1991–1995 Ascoli 117 (48)
1995–1998 Udinese 86 (57)
1998–2001 Milan 91 (37)
2001–2002 Monaco 18 (5)
2002–2003 Chievo 26 (7)
Total 443 (188)
National team
1988–1990 West Germany U21 10 (7)
1996–2002 Germany 70 (37)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Oliver Bierhoff (German pronunciation: [ˈbiːɐ̯hɔf]; born 1 May 1968) is a retired German former footballer who scored the first golden goal in the history of major international football, for Germany in the Euro 96 final. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, he was mostly renowned for his excellent abilities in the air, and as a target man, being able to deliver pin-point headers towards goal.[1]

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 highest totals for a non-Italian in the league's history. In the 1997–98 season, he was the Serie A top scorer with 27 goals for Udinese.

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 then transferred to Milan in 1998, winning the Serie A title in his first season there. After three seasons there, he moved to French Ligue 1 side Monaco in 2001 for one year, before moving back to Serie A to play for Chievo Verona, where he retired at the end of the 2002–03 season. In his last ever game, he scored a hat-trick for Chievo Verona in a 3–4 defeat to Juventus.[2]

International career

Bierhoff made his debut for the German national team in a friendly against Portugal on 21 February 1996. In his second appearance on 27 March 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.[3]

In an important qualification match on 20 August 1997, Germany trailed Northern Ireland, 0–1, with 20 minutes left when the manager of the national team, Berti Vogts, decided to send in Thomas Häßler and Oliver Bierhoff. Within seven minutes the former provided the latter with three assists, meaning Bierhoff had scored the fastest hat-trick in the history of the German national team.[4]

In 1998, he was appointed captain of the national team after the retirement of Jürgen Klinsmann.[5]

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

International goals

[6]

Style of play

A large and prolific striker, Bierhoff was a strong, physical, and powerful player, who played mainly as a target man in the centre-forward role.[1] Known in particular for his aerial ability, he was able to execute headers with extreme precision, having scored several critical goals in the air throughout his career, for both club and country.[7]

Managerial career

Bierhoff's current involvement with football is as the manager of the German men's 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.[8]

Personal life

Bierhoff married Klara Szalantzy on 22 June 2001, Klara was a model from Munich and former girlfriend of basketball player Dražen Petrović. She was behind the wheel in the fatal car crash that claimed Petrović's life.[9] Bierhoff and his wife had a daughter on 27 January 2007. Bierhoff is a Roman Catholic.

Bierhoff features in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he features in the FIFA 14 Ultimate-Team Legends.[10] Bierhoff is a member of the A.C. Milan Hall of Fame.[1] Bierhoff was one of several celebrities in 2015 who endorsed the tabloid newspaper Bild's petition against anti-Islamisation group PEGIDA.[11]

Honours

Club

Milan[12]

International

Germany[12][13]

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "A.C. Milan Hall of Fame: Oliver Bierhoff". acmilan.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "Juventus 4–3 Chievo Verona". ESPN FC. 24 May 2003. Archived from the original on 5 June 2003. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  3. ↑ Lawton, Matt (7 October 2000). "Bierhoff back for more glory". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  4. ↑ "Key player – Oliver Bierhoff". BBC Sport. 3 May 1998. Archived from the original on 23 March 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  5. ↑ "Vogts names Bierhoff Germany's captain". CNN. 1 September 1998. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "Oliver Bierhoff – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  7. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/01/news/01iht-thom.t.html
  8. ↑ Tommaso Maschio (13 March 2015). "UFFICIALE: Germania, Bierhoff fino al 2020. Coordinerà il settore giovanile". tuttomercatoweb.com (in Italian). Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Forever Shattered - Crash that killed Drazen Petrovic 18 years ago crushed the dreams of one broken passenger". New York Daily News. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "FIFA 14 Ultimate Team Legends: Oliver Bierhoff". futhead.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "Germany Pegida protests: 'Islamisation' rallies denounced". BBC News. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Oliver Bierhoff Forward". eurosport.yahoo.com. Eurosport. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Bierhoff: We have to play our own game". fifa.com. FIFA. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "Italy – Serie B Top Scorers". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "(West) Germany – Footballer of the Year". rsssf.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  16. ↑ FIFA XI´s Matches - Full Info
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oliver Bierhoff.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Jürgen Klinsmann		 Germany captain
1998–2001 		Succeeded by
Oliver Kahn
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