Oliver Bierhoff

Oliver Bierhoff Biography

Oliver Bierhoff is a retired German footballer, born on 1 May 1968 in Karlsruhe, West Germany. He played as a target man in the center-forward role. He is mostly renowned for his excellent abilities in the air and had scored several critical goals in the air throughout his career, for both club and country.

Background

Bierhoff started his senior career in 1986 by joining Bayer Uerdingen Football Club and had made several transfers since then. He represented nine different clubs throughout his career.

In 1988, he made his debut for West Germany U21 and scored 7 goals in his 10 appearances.

Debut

Bierhoff played his first match for the German national team against Portugal in February 1996. In his second appearance on 27 March 1996, he made his first two international goals and contributed in his country's 2–0 win over Denmark.

In 1998, he was appointed as the captain of the national team after the retirement of Jurgen Klinsmann.

Rise to Glory

Bierhoff was not much successful in the Bundesliga and failed to shine in Germany. Later he got chance in the Austrian Bundesliga where he again failed to do something worth remembering.

It was at the Italian club Udinese, under Alberto Zaccheroni, that Bierhoff found success and won his place in the German national team.

In 1996, Bierhoff earned huge fame and came into the international limelight when he played his career-defining performance by hitting the first golden goal in the history of major international football for Germany in the 95th minute against the Czech Republic in the Euro 96 final.

On 20 August 1997, Bierhoff had scored the fastest hat-trick in the history of the German national team in a match against Northern Ireland. Germany trailed Northern Ireland 0–1 when he was called as a substitute with 20 minutes left. Oliver scored three goals within seven minutes and won the game for his team.

Oliver’s Record in Numbers

In the 1997-98 season, he was the top scorer for Udinese Calcio with a total of 27 goals in Serie A.

In the following season, he became Italian Champion while playing for AC Milan. He was also declared as the Footballer of the Year in 1998. He scored a total of 103 goals in Series A, one of the highest totals for a non-Italian in the league's history.

Retirement

In his last appearance, he was unable to help the Germans win against Brazil when he was brought on during the second half of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final.

Chievo Verona is the last club he played for before he took retirement in July 2003. Bierhoff currently works as the Business Manager of the German men's national team.