Jurgen Klinsmann

Jürgen Klinsmann, born 30 July 1964, is a German former striker and manager. He played for clubs such as VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich, and was part of the West German squad that won the 1990 World Cup, as well as the unified German team that claimed the 1996 European Championship. As a manager, he led Germany to third place at the 2006 World Cup and later coached Bayern Munich and the United States national team.

Klinsmann is regarded as one of Germany’s top forwards of the 1990s. He found the net in every major international tournament he played in for Germany, from Euro 1988 through the 1998 World Cup. In 1995, he finished third in the FIFA World Player of the Year voting, and in 2004 he was included in the FIFA 100 list of the 125 greatest living footballers. In 2016, he became the fifth player to be named honorary captain of Germany.

His youth career began at age eight with TB Gingen, where he scored 16 goals in one match six months later. At ten, he moved to SC Geislingen. When he was 14, his father bought a bakery in Stuttgart, and Klinsmann continued playing for SC Geislingen while also being spotted in a Württemberg youth selection. That same year, he signed with Stuttgarter Kickers, turning professional two years later, but first completed an apprenticeship as a baker in the family business in 1982.

Klinsmann’s professional career started in 1982 at second-division Stuttgarter Kickers. By the 1983–84 season, he had scored 19 goals. Under sprint coach Horst Allman, he improved his 100-meter time from 11.7 to 11.0 seconds. In 1984, he moved to first-division VfB Stuttgart, where he scored 15 goals in his first season and was joint top scorer. Over the next two seasons, he netted 16 goals each year and scored in the 1986 DFB-Pokal final loss to Bayern Munich. In 1987–88, he scored 19 goals, including a famous overhead kick against Bayern, and became the Bundesliga’s top scorer. He was named German Footballer of the Year in 1988. After reaching the 1989 UEFA Cup final with Stuttgart, he joined Inter Milan.

At Inter, Klinsmann scored 13 goals in his first Serie A season under Giovanni Trapattoni, and became popular for learning Italian. He won the UEFA Cup with Inter the following season, scoring 14 league goals. But a poor 1991–92 season, with only seven goals, led to his departure. After Euro 1992, he moved to Monaco, helping the club finish second in Ligue 1. Monaco reached the Champions League semi-finals in 1993–94, losing to eventual winners Milan. The next season, Monaco finished ninth, and Klinsmann left with a year left on his contract.

In 1994, Klinsmann joined Tottenham Hotspur for £2 million. Fans and media were initially critical due to his reputation as a diver, but he won them over by scoring a winning header on his debut and celebrating with a self-deprecating dive. A Guardian journalist who had written “Why I Hate Jürgen Klinsmann” later wrote “Why I Love Jürgen Klinsmann.” Klinsmann won the 1995 Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award. Over 150,000 of his shirts were sold, and he became a legend at the club.