Oliver Bierhoff: biography, rating, statistics, football player profile

The German soccer team is often compared to a perfectly fine-tuned mechanism: clear interaction between players of all lines, thought-out tactics, excellent functional preparation and coordination, psychological stamina and belief in victory - all this ensures success for German football players. In many respects it is precisely the well-known pedantry and scrupulousness in everything, inherent in the Germans, that guarantee the attainment of any set goal. One of those outstanding athletes who brought the main football squad of the German land is not one trophy, became Oliver Bierhoff, whose biography will be considered in this article.

Birth and the first steps in sports

The legendary football player was born on the first day of May 1968 in a city called Karlsruhe. Oliver Bierhoff began his football career in the children's teams of Jurdingen and Essen. Already in this period the coaches noted his tremendous work capacity and physical strength, but he did not shine with obvious successes and was not considered too promising a football player. However, fate has prepared for him a great future ...

Start

In the 1980s, Oliver Bierhoff was not one who could be confidently said that he would become a legendary person. Some of his well-wishers in general told him that he does not shine in the international arena and he is an absolute loser.

For the first four seasons in the Bundesliga, the striker scored just 10 goals in 73 games at the gate of his opponents. Of course, this is extremely small for the striker at such a high level. Therefore, it was quite logical then that he was associated with such an extremely unpleasant word as "futility". This situation led to the fact that the German was in a rather disrespectful, from a football point of view, Austria in the unattractive team "Salzburg". It was in this club that the football player could be fully realized: he scored 23 goals in 32 matches. Such success was immediately noticed in football Europe, and he received an invitation to Milan.

Moving to the Apennines

In the courtyard of 1991, and the Germans in Italy are very revered, because they are the current world champions. Needless to say, this state of affairs proved to be in Oliver's favor, and he finds himself in Inter, whose owner bought the scorer for only $ 170,000 and immediately gave it to a little-known Ascoli. And all because in the Milan club then the main violin was Klintzmann. Ahead was a thorny and difficult path ...

The period of failure

Lease in the provincial club, as Oliver Bierhoff himself says, was an extremely unfortunate period in his life, full of all hardships and trials. In 1992, the team flies from the first league, and the president tells the German that he is no longer needed and can be released. However, Oliver is not the person who surrenders, and he decides to continue training with the team, for which he was eventually rewarded. During this period, there is a change of head coach, and Birkhoff gets a place in the base, becoming after some time the best scorer. But it still did not save the club from relegation to the lower division, and the player was forced to look for a new team.

Games for "Udinese"

In this football team, Oliver Bierhoff revealed himself as a striker and started to score a lot and often, which quite logically led to the success of the team. She slowly began to make her way into the elite of Italian football. Stably high-quality performances at a high level led to the fact that the German was invited to the ranks of the national team, which was led at that time by the world-famous Berti Vogts.

The debut in the main German team for Bierhoff turned out to be more than successful: the Germans won with a score of 2: 1. And already in the next game Oliver made a double.

Enchanting spectacle on Euro-96

Oliver Bierhoff, whose photo is below, became the savior for the German national team at the 1996 European Championships. Let's take a closer look at this episode of his career.

All matches before the final match, Oliver held in reserve. However, in the final fight with the Czechs he had a great chance to show his skills. It's hard to say if Vogts put him in the game, if not for the full hospital with injured players. And I must say that the newcomer fully justified the trust he had given, literally returning the German team from the other world.

At the 69th minute Oliver came on the field, replacing the wonderful technician and ingenious raspasovschika Mehmet Shol. At that time, his team lost 0: 1. The tall Bierhoff fell to the court, because his ability to play with his head and insert his foot in time gave the desired result.

Oliver spent just a few minutes on the field and scored such a wanted, expected by many fans of the ball. As a result, teams begin to play an exhausting, from a physical point of view, overtime.

Immediately note that the tournament in England for the first time in history was held with the rule of the "golden ball".

On the 5th minute of the extra time Oliver Bierhoff (Berti Vogts's wife, by the way, had a significant influence not her husband when selecting players for the Euro) takes the ball, standing with his back to the opponent's goal and processing it, causing a quick and bouncy kick from under the defender. As a result, the Czech goalkeeper reacts rather late to the attack, and the ball slowly rolls into the gate, ricocheting from his hands. Thus, the victory for Germany - 2: 1.

Completion of the player's career

In early 2002, Bierhoff was in the "Monaco". In the same year, in the summer, he performs at the World Championships, where he scores a goal against the Saudi national team. In the final match, the Germans are inferior to the Brazilians, and this game was the last for Oliver for the national team. In all, he played 70 matches for the main team of the German land and scored 37 goals. It can not be said that this is an impressive result, but many of his goals were crucial and decisive.

After a while, he again finds himself in Italy, where he tries to get hold of the Chievo. We should pay tribute to the player, because it was his experience and ability that allowed the little-known team to take the seventh line of the series A at the end of the season. Having scored seven goals in 35 games for the season, the footballer completes his career.

The rating of the striker, according to many authoritative publications, is as follows: in the German national team, it occupies the 60th position in its history, among all the attackers - 408th position.

Personal life

To date, Oliver Bierhoff and Clara Shalanci - a happy married couple. At one time, Olga's wife met with Drazhen Petrovich, but eventually married to our hero. In 2010, their family experienced a terrible tragedy: the wife of Oliver had a miscarriage in the eighth month of pregnancy. Now the couple is fine. The former sportsman has three daughters. The eldest was born in 2007.

New life

Starting July 29, 2004, Oliver Bierhoff, whose children did not follow in his footsteps, becomes the sports manager of the German national team. By the way, this post was invented specially for him. In addition, the former footballer comments on the Champions League matches. Also, the legendary sportsman managed to get an economic education, which he does not regret and successfully applies sometimes in practice.