Oliver Bierhoff

Oliver Bierhoff (German pronunciation: [ˈɔlɪvɐ ˈbiːɐ̯hɔf]; born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a striker. He currently serves as the national team director of the German Football Association.

Oliver Bierhoff
Bierhoff in 2011
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)
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Germany (director)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1988 Bayer Uerdingen 31 (4)
1988–1989 Hamburger SV 34 (6)
1989–1990 Borussia Mönchengladbach 8 (0)
1990–1991 Austria Salzburg 32 (23)
1991–1995 Ascoli 117 (48)
1995–1998 Udinese 86 (57)
1998–2001 Milan 91 (36)
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

A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierhoff 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]

Bierhoff scored the first golden goal in the history of major international football, for Germany in the Euro 96 final, a career-defining performance that vaulted him into the international limelight.

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 with the club, scoring 19 goals in the league and 21 in all competitions, including the match-winning goal in the final, title-deciding match of the season, a 2–1 away win over Perugia.[2] During the 1998–99 season, he set a Serie A record for most headed goals in a single season, with 15.[3] After three seasons there, he moved to 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 game, he scored a hat-trick for Chievo Verona in a 3–4 defeat to Juventus.[4]

International career
Bierhoff training with Germany, c. 1999

Bierhoff made his debut for the Germany 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.[5]

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.[6]

In 1998, he was appointed captain of the national team after the retirement of Jürgen Klinsmann.[7]

Bierhoff also played in Euro 2000, and both the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups. In Germany's opening match of the latter tournament at the Sapporo Dome on 1 June, he scored in an 8–0 win over Saudi Arabia.[8] He made his last appearance for his country on 30 June, 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.[9]

Style of play

A large and prolific striker, Bierhoff was a strong, physical, aggressive, and powerful player, who played mainly as a target man in the centre-forward role.[1][10] Although he was not particularly skilful with his feet from a technical standpoint, or a particularly good ball-player, he was known in particular for his aerial ability; in addition to his height, strength, and elevation, he was able to execute headers with power and precision, having scored several critical goals with his head throughout his career, for both club and country, which led him to be regarded as one of the best players in the world with his head and as a specialist in the air. In addition to scoring goals, Bierhoff was also capable of providing assists to his teammates with his head through knock-downs.[10][11][12][13][14] Although he was less adept at scoring with his feet,[10] he also possessed a powerful shot.[15]

Career statistics

Club
Club Season League Cup League Cup Supercup Europe Uefa Supercup Intercontinental Cup Total
Division AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Uerdingen 1986–87 Bundesliga 19344——42——279
1987–88 Bundesliga 12110—————131
Total 31454——42——4010
Hamburger SV 1988–89 Bundesliga 24631—————277
1989–90 Bundesliga 10010—————110
Total 34641—————387
Mönchengladbach 1989–90 Bundesliga 80——————80
Salzburg 1990–91 Austrian Bundesliga 3323——————3323
Ascoli 1991–92 Serie A 17220—————192
1992–93 Serie B 352021—————3721
1993–94 Serie B 321720—————3417
1994–95 Serie B 33910—————349
Total 1174871—————12449
Udinese 1995–96 Serie A 311721—————3318
1996–97 Serie A 231310—————2413
1997–98 Serie A 322732——42——3931
Total 865763——42——9662
Milan 1998–99 Serie A 341932—————3721
1999–2000 Serie A 301131—1062——4014
2000–01 Serie A 27651——102——429
Total 9136114—10164——11944
Monaco 2001–02 Division 1 1842032————236
Chievo 2002–03 Serie A 26720——20——307
Career totals 43618537133210268——503208

International
Germany national team[16]
YearAppsGoals
1996116
199787
1998178
199986
200083
200171
2002116
Total7037

International goals

[17]

Managerial career

Bierhoff was a manager of the German national football team from 2004 until December 2017, 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 coaching responsibilities.[18] On 1 January 2018, a structural reform in the German Football Association took place and Bierhoff was named the technical director of the German national team (officially Direktor Nationalmannschaften und Akademie, "director national teams and football development").[19][20]

Personal life

Bierhoff married Klara Szalantzy on 22 June 2001, Szalantzy 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.[21] Bierhoff and his wife had a daughter on 27 January 2007. He is a Roman Catholic.

Bierhoff features in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he features in the FIFA 14 Ultimate-Team Legends.[22]

He 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.[23]

Education

Bierhoff took a correspondence course and graduated in 2002 with a degree in business economics from the University of Hagen.[24][25]

Honours

Club
Milan[26]

International
Germany[26][27]

Individual

References
  1. "A.C. Milan Hall of Fame: Oliver Bierhoff". acmilan.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  2. "#TBT – 23 maggio 1999: Perugia-Milan 1-2, Scudetto e paratissima di Abbiati" (in Italian). PianetaMilan.it. 23 May 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  3. "Serie A: Pavoletti da record, nessuno come lui nei gol di testa". ilsole24ore.com (in Italian). 27 August 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  4. "Juventus 4–3 Chievo Verona". ESPN FC. 24 May 2003. Archived from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  5. Lawton, Matt (7 October 2000). "Bierhoff back for more glory". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  6. "Key player – Oliver Bierhoff". BBC Sport. 3 May 1998. Archived from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  7. "Vogts names Bierhoff Germany's captain". CNN. 1 September 1998. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  8. "Germany – Saudi Arabia". FIFA. 2002. Archived from the original on 15 June 2010.
  9. Murray, Scott (30 June 2002). "Brazil 2 - 0 Germany". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  10. Kuper, Simon (12 September 1999). "Chelsea face hero with feet of clay". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  11. Thomsen, Ian (1 July 1996). "Germany Wins Euro 96 With a 'Golden Goal'". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  12. Cohen, Roger (4 July 1998). "WORLD CUP '98; Germany Stays Resolute to End, Which Is When the Rally Comes". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  13. "La Germania ringrazia il solito Bierhoff". La Repubblica (in Italian). 29 June 1998. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  14. Bonifazi, Enrico (26 April 2013). "Oliver Bierhoff" (in Italian). DNAMilan.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  15. "Oliver Bierhoff". BBC Sport. 7 May 2002. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  16. "Bierhoff, Oliver". national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  17. "Oliver Bierhoff – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  18. Tommaso Maschio (13 March 2015). "UFFICIALE: Germania, Bierhoff fino al 2020. Coordinerà il settore giovanile". tuttomercatoweb.com (in Italian). Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  19. "Oliver Bierhoff wird Superminister". Welt (in German). Axel Springer SE. 20 October 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  20. "Germany technical director Oliver Bierhoff admits to mistakes in handling of Mesut Ozil's international retirement". First Post. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  21. "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.
  22. "FIFA 14 Ultimate Team Legends: Oliver Bierhoff". futhead.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  23. "Germany Pegida protests: 'Islamisation' rallies denounced". BBC News. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  24. Miles, Grant (9 October 2013). "Top FIVE footballers that graduated at University". Sports Gazette. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  25. "Oliver Bierhoff - Manager, Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V." Boardroom Insiders. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  26. "Oliver Bierhoff Forward". eurosport.yahoo.com. Eurosport. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  27. "Bierhoff: We have to play our own game". fifa.com. FIFA. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  28. "Italy – Serie B Top Scorers". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  29. "Juni 1996 - Bierhoff" (in German). Sportschau. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  30. "(West) Germany – Footballer of the Year". rsssf.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  31. FIFA XI´s Matches - Full Info
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Jürgen Klinsmann		 Germany captain
1998–2001		 Succeeded by
Oliver Kahn
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