Jürgen Klinsmann
Picking up the mantle from predecessors like Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller, Jürgen Klinsmann contributed heartily to Germany's storied soccer history. Twice named his country's player of the year, the striker helped West Germany claim the 1990 World Cup and captained a unified German side to victory at Euro 1996. Klinsmann starred on the club level as well, winning a pair of UEFA Cups and a league title during his time with Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. He then moved on to a successful coaching career, guiding Germany to a third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup and pushing an upstart American World Cup team out of the "group of death" stage in 2014.
Jürgen Klinsmann
Born on July 30th 1964 in Göppingen, Jürgen Klinsmann started his career in the second division club Stuttgart Kickers in 1982. When he two years later became topascorer in the division, the big club in the city, Vfb Stuttgart signed him. He would spend his next five seasons there and achived much success, both personally and with the team. 1988 was his first big year. He was topscorer of the Bundesliga and was voted "German Player of the Year". Only set-back was the defeat to Holland on homeground in the European Championship.
In the summer of 1989 Klinsmann went abroad. his new club was Inter Milan. He joined fellow countrymen Lothar Matthäus and Andreas Brehme in a great team that mopped up the Serie A title in their first season. Klinsmann was a continental player, who could easily adapt to new cultures. He played top level football in England, Italy, Germany and France. And France was to be his next destination as he signed for them in 1992. But two years before that, in 1990, he won the World Cup with West Germany in Italy. He played five of the games on his homeground in Milan which made the triumph even more special. Klinsmann was now established as one of the greatest strikers in world football and after two seasons in Monaco without winning any major trophies, it was time to defend Germany's title in the World Cup in America. "Klinsi" was now 30 years old and at the peak of his career. He scored five goals and personally had a great tournament, but the rest of the German heros from 1990 had become too old and failed to reach the standards required of winning a World Cup. Bulgaria won 2-1 in the quarterfinal, and Klinsmann's tears after the game summed it up.
His journey through Europe continued and England and Tottenham Hotspur was next stop. He became an instant hit at White Hart Lane, and was voted "English Player of the Year" in 1995. A year later he won the European Championship with Germany at Wembley. He captained the winning side, despite being injured and missed some games. After only one season at Tottenham he joined Bayern Munich, and later Sampdoria, before returning back to Spurs to save them from relegation in 1998. A mission he accomplished. Klinsmann announced he would retire after the World Cup in France 1998. He had been critisized in the press for being "over the hill". But in the World Cup he scored three goals as Germany once again bowed out in the quarterfinals, this time to Croatia. With 108 caps and nearly 50 goals, he is one of the legends in German football.
A Bundesliga and world football legend on the pitch, Jürgen Klinsmann has given his life to the beautiful game. But where did it all begin, what journey did he take and what don't you know about the World Cup and European Championship winner?
Let bundesliga.com tell you all you need to know about the Germany icon and now Hertha Berlin coach.
When Klinsmann turned professional at the age of 16, he turned his back on the family baking business to pursue his own career. After finishing his baker's apprenticeship, he was one of the brightest emerging talents at Stuttgart Kickers before joining city rivals VfB in the Bundesliga in 1984. Year by year, they helped hone his talents and moulded him, in spite of his size and slender frame, into one of the German game's most fearsome attacking propositions.
Ante Covic is no longer head coach of Hertha BSC. After intensive discussions, @michaelpreetz and @antecovic14 mutually agreed to terminate his contract. @J_Klinsmann will take over until the end of the season.
More herthab.sc/CovicKlinsmann
Klinsmann ranks fifth in the Germany national team's all-time top-scorers' classification, with 47 goals in a decorated decade of service for his country. The early days of his international career came when he fired his hometown club to the final of the UEFA Cup, where he would lose out to a Diego Maradona-inspired Napoli. Just a few years later, however, and Klinsmann would gain sweet revenge over Maradona's Argentina by lifting the FIFA World Cup in Rome with West Germany.
Rome was also where the 1987/88 Bundesliga's top goalcorer and Germany's Footballer of the Year would finally get his hands on the UEFA Cup, with Inter Milan. From there he was at Monaco for two seasons before arriving in England and marking his maiden outing with a goal.
Nineteen more league goals followed, and Klinsmann was everybody's darling as he won over the critics and was named England's Footballer of the Year. He may have fallen a step short of reaching Wembley that season, despite inspiring Spurs to a last-gasp victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals, and scoring a penalty in the 4-1 semi-final defeat to Everton, but he would return to the iconic stadium just 12 months later as his career reached another peak.
Now back in Germany with Bayern Munich, where he furthered his reputation as being the top-scorer of each team he had played in, Klinsmann picked up a second UEFA Cup with the Bavarians before returning to England for an unforgettable summer. Six years after winning the World Cup, Klinsmann got his hands on the European Championship as he finally got to climb those famous Wembley steps to lift a trophy aloft, to the appreciation also of many English fans who had been touched by his time on their shores.
Klinsmann wound down his playing career with a maiden Bundesliga title with Bayern in 1997, a second stint in Serie A with Sampdoria, and a successful swansong with Spurs, scoring a further nine league goals in 15 Premier League outings. At the 1998 World Cup, he pulled on a Germany shirt for one last time, although he would be seen wearing a DFB suit six years later, when he launched his coaching career with the ultimate of assignments.
Two years after replacing Rudi Völler as head coach of Germany, Klinsmann was wowing the fans again – this time on home soil – as Germany marched towards World Cup glory. Their dreams were dashed by eventual World champions Italy in the semi-final stage, but Klinsmann had succeeded in bringing enthusiasm back to German football, and his decision to step down after finishing third in his home city of Stuttgart was met with genuine tears of sadness across the country.
Watch: Klinsmann: Stuttgart's favourite son!
Several years analysing the game from his home in Huntington Beach, California recharged his batteries for a return to Germany, and a return to management at Bayern. He overhauled the club's Säbener Straße headquarters and introduced a philosophy at the Bavarian club which, while it may not have brought success on a personal level – Klinsmann was dismissed with five games remaining of a disappointing season – the legacy he left behind served as an inspiration behind how the record champions are now run.
Club coaching was not Klinsmann's cup of tea, however, and he turned down numerous offers until the right one came along, from US Soccer. In 2011, Klinsmann took the reins of his adopted home and led them, with his energy and enthusiasm, to a formidable friendly win in Italy in 2012.
Although keen to play down the expectations prior to the 2014 World Cup, the USMNT emerged from a difficult group behind eventual champions Germany but ahead of Portugal and Ghana. A 2-1 extra-time defeat to Belgium followed in the last 16, but the side had performed well against tough opposition, providing optimism for the future in the US.
However, Klinsmann's tenure as USMNT head coach ended during their ill-fated qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup. Nevertheless, the name Klinsmann remains inextricably linked with Bundesliga, German and US soccer - and will now return to the limelight after his appointment as Hertha head coach until the end of the 2019/20 season.