Klaus Allofs

Klaus Allofs Biography

Born on 5 December 1956 at Dusseldorf in West Germany, Klaus Allofs is a former left footed German striker who played as a centre-forward.

He played for Germany’s national team for a decade (1978-1988) and has been a part of various prestigious clubs across the globe, like Fortuna Dusseldorf, FC Koln, Marseille, Bordeaux and Werder Bremen.

Allofs also won some prominent accolades such as Bundesliga Top Scorer Award in 1978-79 and 1984-85 and UEFA Cup top goalscorer Award in 1985-86.

Background

Klaus Allofs, former veteran striker of the Germany, was a model of consistency during his career.

Born and raised in a middle-class German family, Klaus, along with his younger brother, Thomas Klaus, learnt the know-hows of football while playing in the suburbs of West Germany.

The unyielding will to win and unrivalled skill and composure, eventually made Allofs brothers a well-known name of the country.

Debut

Klaus played for a local club TuS Gerresheim in his youth and began playing professional football in 1975 for his home team Fortuna Dusseldorf in the Bundesliga.

He made 12 appearances in his debut season but failed to score in any. However, his overall stats for Dusseldorf are pretty impressive. He played 169 games and scored 71 goals.

He made his international debut for Germany in 1978. He made 3 appearances in the season but was unfortunate to end up with no goals.

Club Career

Klaus joined FC Koln for a whopping transfer fees of £1.04m.

It was just the change in team, not in his attitude and he continued scoring at an excellent rate in Bundesliga. In 177 appearances for Koln in 6 years, he scored 88 times.

He then went on to play for French clubs like Olympique de Marseille and FC Girondins de Bordeaux for a duration of 3 years. He made 53 appearances for the former in two seasons in which he scored 20 times, and 38 for the latter one, scoring 14 times.

In a free transfer in 1990-91, he signed for Werder Bremen and continued to play for further 3 seasons. He played 78 games for the team and scored 18 goals.

Rise to Glory

After having 3 mediocre seasons, Klaus finished as the Bundesliga’s top scorer in 1978-79 and gave the glimpse of his abilities.

He also scored three in nine games in Fortuna's UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup runner-up run, including one in the final, an extra time loss against FC Barcelona.

Allofs showcased his abilities at the international level, when he got featured in the nation’s victory in UEFA Euro 1980, Euro 1984 and 1986 FIFA World Cup.

In 1985-86, he again finished as the League’s top scorer of the season while playing for Koln. His 70 meter range goal against Bayer Leverkusen in the tournament was truly a treat to the eyes.

In the 1991-92 Winners’ Cup, he netted in the final against AS Monaco FC in an eventual 2–0 win.

Retirement

Allofs lifted trophies galore over the course of an illustrious career. His graceful career ended in June 1993 at nearly 37, after 3 seasons with SV Werder Bremen. In his departing year, he played 16 games without scoring – the only time it happened in his career, save for his rookie campaign – as Werder won the league. Sharing his goal scoring record with Dieter Muller, he left the game as the league's all-time seventh scorer.

Allofs was indeed a clever, sharp goal scorer who had won 56 caps for West Germany and scored 17 international goals.

Post Retirement

In 1999, Allofs again joined his home team Fortuna Dusseldorf, but this time as a coach, to nurture young lads. A year later he left for another old acquaintance, Werder Bremen, going on to work for over a decade as general manager. His tenure was successful as they won the German Cup and reached the UEFA Cup finals in 2009.

In November 2012, Allofs left Bremen to join VfL Wolfsburg as their new sporting director. Allofs and the club board clash after only 2 wins in 14 games, resulted in his contract being terminated with immediate effect on 12 December 2016.