Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German association football official and former player who played as a striker. He has previously served as the

technical director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. They are responsible for overseeing and coordinating all of the technical aspect ...

of the Germany national team. 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 The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

in the history of major international football, for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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 The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, 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 The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. After failing to shine in Germany, he got his chance in the

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

. That gave him the chance at Ascoli in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. 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 (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

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 Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

. 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 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

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 Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

International career

upBierhoff training with Germany, 1999 Bierhoff debuted for the Germany national team in a friendly against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

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 Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Bierhoff was not initially going to be selected by coach

Berti Vogts Hans-Hubert "Berti" Vogts (; born 30 December 1946) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga his whole professional club career and won the FIFA World Cup wi ...

for Germany's

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

, but Vogts's wife convinced him to take Bierhoff, saying, "he'll repay you." Bierhoff would come on as a substitute in the

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against the

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with Germany 1-0 down, and scored both the equaliser and the

in extra time to win the tournament. In an important qualification match on 20 August 1997, Germany trailed

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, 0–1, with 20 minutes left when the manager of the national team,

, 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 A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in the history of the Germany national team. In 1998, he was appointed

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the national team after the retirement of Jürgen Klinsmann.

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 The Germany national football team () represents Germany in men's international Association football, football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund''), founded ...

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 Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

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

of the Germany national team (officially ''Direktor Nationalmannschaften und Akademie'', "director national teams and football development"). After another early World Cup exit in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, 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 Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

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 The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. Bierhoff features in

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...

' ''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''

Honours

Ascoli *

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup (, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) was a European football competition. The competition was ...

runner-up: 1994–95 AC Milan *

: 1998–99 Germany *

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

runner-up:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Individual * Serie A top scorer: 1997–98 *Serie B top scorer: 1992–93 *

Goal of the Year (Germany) The Goal of the Year in Germany is, like the '' Goal of the Month'' ( Tor des Monats), the ''Goal of the Decade'' and ''Goal of the Century'', an individual football award selected by spectators of the '' Sportschau'' ( ARD German TV), among spect ...

: 1996 * Footballer of the Year (Germany): 1998 * FIFA XI (reserve): 1998FIFA XI´s Matches - Full Info
/ref> *AC Milan Hall of Fame

References

External links

at history-of-soccer.org Retrieved 30 June 2013
For 89–90 season with Mönchengladbach
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bierhoff, Oliver 1968 births Living people German Roman Catholics Footballers from Karlsruhe German men's footballers Men's association football forwards KFC Uerdingen 05 players Hamburger SV players Borussia Mönchengladbach players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players Udinese Calcio players AC Milan players AS Monaco FC players AC ChievoVerona players Bundesliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Serie A players Serie B players Ligue 1 players Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players 2002 FIFA World Cup players UEFA European Championship–winning players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Italy German expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco University of Hagen alumni 20th-century German sportsmen