Oliver Bierhoff facts for kids

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Oliver Bierhoff

Bierhoff in 2018
Personal information
Date of birth	(1968-05-01) 1 May 1968 (age 56)
Place of birth	Karlsruhe, West Germany
Height	1.91 m
Playing position	Forward
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	33	(23)
1991–1995	Ascoli	117	(48)
1995–1998	Udinese	86	(57)
1998–2001	AC Milan	91	(36)
2001–2002	Monaco	18	(4)
2002–2003	Chievo	26	(7)
Total		444	(185)
National team
1988–1990	West Germany U21	10	(7)
1996–2002	Germany	70	(37)
Honours Men's football Representing  Germany UEFA European Championship Winner 1996 England FIFA World Cup Runner-up 2002 Korea/Japan
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association. 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.

He spent his early career playing for Bayer Uerdingen, Hamburger SV and Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga where he had modest success. After a season in the Austria Bundesliga for Austria Salzburg, he was signed by Ascoli in Serie A. Ascoli were relegated in his first season and Bierhoff played three seasons with them in the Serie B.

Bierhoff was signed by an Udinese team led by Alberto Zaccheroni in 1995 where he had great success and earned his first call-up to the Germany national team. 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.

He finished the 1997–98 season as Serie A top scorer. He was subsequently signed by AC 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. He set a Serie A record for most headed goals in a single season, with 15. After three years at AC Milan, Bierhoff had brief stints at Monaco and Chievo before retiring from playing in 2003.

Club career

The son of a German utility magnate, Bierhoff played for nine different clubs, in four different countries. He scored a total of 102 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 Germany national team. He then transferred to AC 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. During the 1998–99 season, he set a Serie A record for most headed goals in a single season, with 15. 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 ChievoVerona, where he retired at the end of the 2002–03 season. In his last game, he scored a hat-trick for Chievo in a 3–4 defeat to Juventus.

International career

Bierhoff training with Germany, c. 1999

Bierhoff debuted for the Germany national team in a friendly against Portugal on 21 February 1996. In his second appearance on 27 March 1996, he scored his first two international goals in his country's 2–0 win over Denmark. Bierhoff was not initially going to be selected by coach Berti Vogts for Germany's UEFA Euro 1996, but Vogts's wife convinced him to take Bierhoff, saying, "he'll repay you." Bierhoff would come on as a substitute in the final against the Czech Republic with Germany 1-0 down, and scored both the equaliser and the golden goal in extra time to win the tournament.

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, sent in Thomas Häßler and Oliver Bierhoff. Within seven minutes the former provided Bierhoff with three assists, meaning Bierhoff had scored the fastest hat-trick in the history of the Germany national team. In 1998, he was appointed captain of the national team after the retirement of Jürgen Klinsmann.

Bierhoff also played in Euro 2000, and both the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups. In Germany's opening match of the 2002 tournament at the Sapporo Dome on 1 June, he scored in an 8–0 win over Saudi Arabia. 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.

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. Although he was not particularly skilful with his feet from a technical standpoint, or a particularly good ball-player, he possessed good movement inside the box as well as strong hold-up play, but he was known in particular for his excellent 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. Although he was less adept at scoring with his feet, he also possessed a powerful shot.

Managerial career

Bierhoff was a manager of the Germany 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. On 1 January 2018, a structural reform in the German Football Association took place and Bierhoff was named the technical director of the Germany national team (officially Direktor Nationalmannschaften und Akademie, "director national teams and football development"). After another early World Cup exit in 2022, Bierhoff had his contract terminated by the DFB, which was supposed to run until 2024.

Personal life

Bierhoff married Klara Szalantzy on 22 June 2001, Szalantzy was a model of Hungarian ancestry 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. 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.

He is a member of the AC Milan Hall of Fame.

Bierhoff was one of several celebrities in 2015 who endorsed the tabloid newspaper Bild's petition against anti-Islamisation group PEGIDA.

Education

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

Career statistics

Club

International

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bierhoff goal

List of international goals scored by Oliver Bierhoff

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	27 March 1996	Olympic Stadium, Munich, Germany	Denmark	1–0	2–0	Friendly
2				2–0
3	4 June 1996	Carl-Benz-Stadion, Mannheim, Germany	Liechtenstein	3–0	9–1	Friendly
4	30 June 1996	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Czech Republic	1–1	2–1 (a.e.t.)	UEFA Euro 1996
5				2–1
6	4 September 1996	Górnik Stadium, Zabrze, Poland	Poland	1–0	2–0	Friendly
7	30 April 1997	Weserstadion, Bremen, Germany	Ukraine	1–0	2–0	FIFA World Cup 1998 qualifying
8	20 August 1997	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	1–1	3–1	FIFA World Cup 1998 qualifying
9				2–1
10				3–1
11	11 October 1997	Niedersachsenstadion, Hanover, Germany	Albania	2–1	4–3	FIFA World Cup 1998 qualifying
12				4–3
13	15 November 1997	Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, Germany	South Africa	2–0	3–0	Friendly
14	30 May 1998	Waldstadion, Frankfurt, Germany	Colombia	1–0	3–1	Friendly
15				2–0
16	5 June 1998	Carl-Benz-Stadion, Mannheim, Germany	Luxembourg	5–0	7–0	Friendly
17				6–0
18	21 June 1998	Stade Félix-Bollaert, Lens, France	Yugoslavia	2–2	2–2	FIFA World Cup 1998
19	25 June 1998	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier, France	Iran	1–0	2–0	FIFA World Cup 1998
20	29 June 1998	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier, France	Mexico	2–1	2–1	FIFA World Cup 1998
21	14 October 1998	Stadionul Republican, Chişinău, Moldova	Moldova	3–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
22	4 June 1999	BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany	Moldova	1–0	6–1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
23				4–0
24				6–1
25	4 September 1999	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	1–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
26				2–0
27	8 September 1999	Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany	Northern Ireland	1–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
28	3 June 2000	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg, Germany	Czech Republic	2–1	3–2	Friendly
29				3–2
30	7 June 2000	Dreisamstadion, Freiburg, Germany	Liechtenstein	1–0	8–2	Friendly
31	15 August 2001	Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	5–2	5–2	Friendly
32	13 February 2002	Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern, Germany	Israel	5–1	7–1	Friendly
33	27 March 2002	Ostseestadion, Rostock, Germany	United States	3–1	4–2	Friendly
34	9 May 2002	Dreisamstadion, Freiburg, Germany	Kuwait	2–0	7–0	Friendly
35				4–0
36				6–0
37	1 June 2002	Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Japan	Saudi Arabia	7–0	8–0	FIFA World Cup 2002

Honours

Ascoli

• Anglo-Italian Cup runner-up: 1994–95

AC Milan

• Serie A: 1998–99

Germany

• UEFA European Football Championship: 1996
• FIFA World Cup runner-up: 2002

Individual

• Serie A top scorer: 1997–98
• Serie B top scorer: 1992–93
• Goal of the Year (Germany): 1996
• Footballer of the Year (Germany): 1998
• FIFA XI (reserve): 1998
• AC Milan Hall of Fame

See also

In Spanish: Oliver Bierhoff para niños