Oliver Bierhoff net worth

Short introduction

Oliver Bierhoff is a former professional footballer who scored the two goals to win Germany in the European Championship final over the Czech Republic in 1996. He also became top scorer for Udinese Calcio in Serie A in Italy. In 2004 he became manager of the German national team, where he introduced many new marketing campaigns during his time. Since 2018 he has also been one of four DFB directors, before that he was responsible for planning the new DFB Academy.

Early life

The son of a board member of RWE, born in Karlsruhe, grew up in the south of Essen. Here, like his father, who played for the national youth team, he played football from an early age. His first two clubs were the Essener SG 99/06 and Schwarz-Weiß Essen. Here he played with Jens Lehmann, among others. In his youth, Oliver Bierhoff moved to the then Bundesliga club Bayer Uerdingen, where he made it into the professional squad in 1986. From then on, a changeable career as a player began.

Career

At first Bierhoff played two seasons with the then first division Bayer Uerdingen, in which he came up with 31 appearances in the Bundesliga and 4 goals. Then he moved to Hamburger SV for two years, where he also did not become a regular. A short phase at Borussia Mönchengladbach was followed by his first engagement abroad, at SV Austria Salzburg. Here, with 23 goals in 32 games, he was significantly more successful than at his previous stations. That is why clubs from Italy also became aware of him.

He initially spent four seasons with Ascoli Calcio, where Bierhoff, who was particularly dangerous as a header, scored 48 goals in 117 league games. All of this, however, in Serie B, the second-highest division in Italy. But then he moved to first division Udinese Calcio, where he stayed three seasons. There he was also top scorer in Serie A in the 1997/98 season with 27 goals. He was then bought by AC Milan, where Bierhoff was also a regular for three seasons. He then spent one season at AS Monaco and one at Chievo Verona before ending his career as a player in 2003.

During this time, he had first played a few international matches for Germany before he was also used in the senior national team from 1996 to 2002. Here he scored 37 goals in 70 international matches, including both goals for the 2-1 final victory at the 1996 European Championship over the Czech Republic. In 2002 Bierhoff became vice world champion in Japan and South Korea with the national team when he, as a substitute, could not avoid the 0-2 final loss to Brazil. The two goals in the 1996 final had suddenly made the Bierhoff, previously unknown in Germany, famous.

This was followed almost immediately by his work as manager of the national team in Germany. He was appointed by Jürgen Klinsmann, the new national coach. While he ended his job at the DFB in 2006 after the World Cup ended in his own country, Bierhoff stayed in this new position. Over the years, further tasks have been added to the DFB, in 2018 he even rose to become director of the DFB, gaining massive influence in the DFB. On the one hand, winning the 2014 World Cup coincided with Bierhoff’s time as manager of the national team, as did the first failure in the 2018 preliminary round, after which he was subjected to harsh criticism. Nevertheless, Bierhoff was able to keep his post at the DFB.

Career highlights

The biggest success was undoubtedly winning the 1996 European Championship with Germany. In 1999, he won the Italian championship with AC Milan. He was top scorer in Serie A in 1998, in Serie B in 1993. In 1998 he was also voted Germany’s Footballer of the Year.

Famous quotes

“As a player, I noticed that coaches often make the mistake of going off their lines when pressure comes from the public and from the club.”

“In England there is huge applause when you can dribble but the ball flies ten meters over the goal in the final shot; such a player is booed in Italy, dribbling no matter how great. ”

“Gates are the striker’s real bread.”

“I can still clearly remember the skepticism at the DFB when I deposited the name Joachim Löw as a possible successor for Jürgen Klinsmann. Not that they didn’t trust him – but the DFB was always used to big names like Beckenbauer, Völler or Klinsmann. ”

Amazing facts

In his youth Bierhoff was a member of the Essen Cathedral Boys’ Choir. In addition, during his time at Hamburger SV he was bullied by his teammates because of his elitist origins in relation to his father’s work.

Bierhoff is the father of a daughter with his wife Klara Szalantzy. In 2002 Bierhoff graduated from the Hagen Fernuniversität as a businessman. In addition to his career as a football professional, he needed 26 semesters for this.