Claudio Pizarro

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Pizarro began his professional career in Peru with Deportivo Pesquero and Alianza Lima before joining Werder Bremen in 1999. He signed for Bayern Munich in 2001, where he won multiple Bundesliga titles and domestic cups during two separate spells. He also had a stint with Chelsea F.C. in the Premier League and a season with 1. FC Köln before retiring in 2020 after a fifth spell at Werder Bremen. With the Peru national football team, Pizarro earned 85 caps and scored 20 goals. He captained Peru to third place at the 2015 Copa América and participated in the 2004 and 2007 editions of the tournament as well.

In Their Own Story

The narrative of Pizarro's return to the Bundesliga is steeped in immediate impact. After a brief and challenging spell at Chelsea where he scored only two Premier League goals against Birmingham City, he returned to Werder Bremen on loan in August 2008. His reintegration was swift; fans lined up for his jersey just seven years after his departure. He scored his first goal for the returnee side in a 3–2 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach and later netted in a stunning 5–2 away victory against his former club, Bayern Munich, on September 20, 2008. His clutch performance continued in European competition; on February 26, 2009, he scored a second-half brace to drag Werder Bremen back from a 2–0 deficit against A.C. Milan, securing a 3–3 aggregate win via the away goals rule. He further cemented his legacy by scoring a hat-trick against Hannover on May 4 and contributing a goal in the semi-final victory over Hamburg that sent them to the UEFA Cup Final. Although they lost the final 2–1 to Shakhtar Donetsk, Pizarro's decisive role in their run saw him score 17 goals in just 26 Bundesliga matches during this loan period.

Reader's Guide

Pizarro was born to Patricia Bosio and Claudio Pizarro Dávila, a naval officer, in Callao, Peru and raised in Santiago de Surco district of Lima, Peru. He started playing in his youth in the Academia Deportiva Cantolao in Callao. Pizarro has Italian ancestry; some of his paternal great-grandparents were from Brescia, while his maternal grandparents came from Frattaminore, near Naples. He started his professional career playing with Deportivo Pesquero at age 17. His first professional match was in 1996 against Alianza Lima. He scored his first two goals two weeks later against Atletico Torino. He finished the 1996 season with three goals in 16 appearances. At Alianza Lima, he scored 25 goals over two seasons and was part of the team that ended in second position in the Torneo Apertura of Peru in 1999. He also made seven appearances in Copa Libertadores. He joined Werder Bremen in summer 1999. His first Bundesliga match was on 28 August 1999, a 1–1 draw against Hertha BSC. In his second appearance on 12 September, he scored his first Bundesliga goal in a 5–0 victory over 1. FC Kaiserslautern. One week later, he made his first hat-trick in a 7–2 victory over VfL Wolfsburg. He ended his first Bundesliga season scoring 10 goals in 25 matches. He also made his UEFA Cup debut that season, scoring 3 times in 9 appearances. He signed for Bayern Munich on 7 June 2001. He started at Bayern with a goal in the fourth minute against Schalke 04 in the second match of the 2001–02 Bundesliga season. In his first season, he scored 15 goals in 30 Bundesliga and 4 German Cup appearances, 4 goals in 14 Champions League appearances, one appearance in the Intercontinental Cup, and one appearance in the UEFA Super Cup. He was a key player in Bayern's Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double in the 2002–03 season. His popularity with Bayern fans earned him the nickname 'Bomber of the Andes' and sometimes 'Inca God'. On 20 May 2007, Bayern announced Pizarro would be leaving. He finished the 2006–07 season with 12 goals in 45 appearances. On 1 July 2007, Chelsea officially signed Pizarro on a Bosman transfer, signing a four-year contract. He was the first Peruvian to sign for Chelsea. He was assigned number 14. His debut was against Manchester United in the 2007 FA Community Shield. He scored on the opening weekend of the 2007–08 Premier League season against Birmingham City. On 15 August 2008

Did You Know?

• Pizarro is the oldest player to score a goal in the Bundesliga, at over 40 years old.
• He is the all-time top scorer of SV Werder Bremen.
• He is the ninth top scorer in the history of Bayern Munich.
• He is the sixth top scorer in the history of the Bundesliga, with 197 goals in 490 appearances.
• He is the highest scorer and most successful Latin American football player in the history of German football.