Jürgen Klinsmann

Jürgen Klinsmann

File:Klinsmann2006.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Jürgen Klinsmann
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Retired
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 3 2006

Olympic medal record
Men's Football
	Seoul 1988	Team Competition

Jürgen Klinsmann (sometimes written Juergen Klinsmann) a.k.a. Jay Goppingen (born July 30, 1964 in Göppingen, Germany) is a German football manager and former football player (part of the team which won the 1990 FIFA World Cup). He played as a striker. His blond hair and scoring ability earned him the nickname "Golden Bomber". He managed the German national team to a third-place finish in the 2006 World Cup. The third place in 2006 is widely regarded as a better achievement than the second place in the 2002 World Cup since the German Team "invented" a new attacking style in its game with young and hungry players contrary to the defensive system in 2002.

On 12th July 2006 Klinsmann officially announced that he has stepped down as Germany coach after two years in charge and been replaced by assistant coach Joachim Löw. Said Klinsmann, who is based in California, "My big wish is to go back to my family, to go back to leading a normal life with them." He continued "After two years of putting in a lot of energy, I feel I lack the power and the strength to continue in the same way."

Club career

Klinsmann was born in Göppingen, Baden-Württemberg. He was first introduced to football at the age of eight, playing every position in his youth, including goalkeeper. He started his professional career at the age of seventeen at Stuttgarter Kickers, which at the time was a second division club. In 1984 he joined the more prestigious Stuttgart club VfB Stuttgart, a perennial first division member.

Besides playing for German clubs VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich, Klinsmann played in many countries around Europe—at AS Monaco in Monaco playing the French "Ligue 1", Internazionale and Sampdoria in Italy, and twice at Tottenham Hotspur in England. During this time he was under the tutelage of such coaches as Arsène Wenger and Giovanni Trapattoni, among others. Whilst at Spurs he responded to claims about diving (fans of other teams called him the 'Submarine Commander' because of his alleged tendency to "Dive! Dive! Dive!" when challenged) by creating a goal celebration of "diving" onto the pitch on his front. This goal celebration is known in England as "doing a Klinsmann". During his second stint at Spurs, Klinsmann decided to retire from playing professional football in the summer of 1998 after the World Cup.

Under the pseudonym Jay Goppingen, Klinsmann made a comeback as a player in 2003 for Orange County Blue Star in the American Premier Development League. The 39-year-old was able to score five goals in eight appearances, helping his team to reach the playoffs. The name is taken from the town of Göppingen, where Klinsmann was born.

Club career summary

• 1982 – 1984 Stuttgarter Kickers
• 1984 – 1989 VfB Stuttgart
• 1989 – 1992 Internazionale Milano
• 1992 – 1994 AS Monaco
• 1994 – 1995 Tottenham Hotspur
• 1995 – 1997 FC Bayern Munich
• 1997 – 1997 Sampdoria Genoa
• 1998 – 1998 Tottenham Hotspur
• 2003 – 2003 Orange County Blue Star

Club career honours

• UEFA Cup 1991 (with Inter Milan), 1996 (with Bayern Munich)
• German Footballer of the Year 1994 and 1998
• English Footballer of the Year 1995
• Bundesliga Championship 1997

International career

Klinsmann had a fruitful international career, seeing his first Germany duty in 1987 and in the end collecting 108 caps along with 47 international goals. He participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal; the 1988, 1992 and 1996 European Championships, reaching the final in 1992 and becoming champion in 1996. He was also an important part of the German team in the World Cups of 1990 (in which he scored 3 goals), 1994 (5 goals), and 1998 (3 goals), winning the World Cup in 1990. He was the first player ever to score at least 3 goals in each of 3 World Cups, later joined by Ronaldo of Brazil.

In March 2004, he was named to the FIFA 100, Pelé's list of the 125 greatest living players announced as a part of FIFA's centenary celebration.

Management and Coaching

Upon retiring from active play, Klinsmann started his commercial career. He became the vice-president of a sports marketing consultancy based in the United States and was involved in Major League Soccer as part of the Los Angeles Galaxy team.

On 26 July 2004, he returned to Germany as the new coach of the national team, succeeding former teammate Rudi Völler. Klinsmann has since embarked on an aggressive program to revamp the management of the team. Bringing fellow German striker Oliver Bierhoff on board helped diffuse public relations duties of the previous combined post away from the actual coaching aspect of the position. Furthermore, he created a youth movement to breathe life into an aging squad on the heels of a disastrous showing at Template:Ec2. In the run up to the 2006 World Cup, Klinsmann attracted criticism from German fans and the media following poor results, such as the 4-1 loss to Italy. A particular subject of criticism was that Klinsmann commuted to Germany from the United States, which was the target of a campaign by the "Bild" tabloid. It should be noted that Klinsmann had previously eliminated some privileges Bild traditionally had with the national team, such as receiving the team lineup the day before a match, and 24/7 exclusive access to the team. His largely offensive tactics have irritated some, who complain that he ignores defensive football. He announced a squad of young players for the 2006 World Cup, basing his selection policy on performance, not reputation.

During the 2005 Confederations Cup, he regularly rotated his goalkeepers regardless of their performances, which drew the ire of Bayern Munich's Oliver Kahn. On April 7, 2006, Klinsmann finally decided to relegate Kahn to the bench and designated Arsenal's Jens Lehmann as his first choice goalkeeper. This choice followed Lehmann's performances in the 2006 Champions League in which his Arsenal team bowed out in the final against Barcelona.

In the 2006 World Cup, the performances of Klinsmann's team quieted his critics. The team recorded three straight wins against Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador in the group stage, earning Germany the first place in Group A. The first game of the knockout stage was a 2-0 victory over Sweden, and in the quarter-finals, Klinsmann's team defeated Argentina, winning 4-2 on penalties. The teams drew 1-1 for 120 minutes after an equalising goal from Miroslav Klose at the 80th minute.

In the semi-final on July 4th, Germany lost a close match with Italy 2-0 after goals in the final minutes of overtime from Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero. After the match, Klinsmann praised the performance of his young team. They beat Portugal 3-1 in the third place play-off, where he played Kahn instead of Jens Lehmann. The victory triggered a massive Berlin parade the following day where Klinsmann and the team were honoured by the public.

Afterward, Franz Beckenbauer, previously a strident critic of Klinsmann's, declared his desire to see Klinsmann continue as coach. There was also widespread public support for Klinsmann due to his team's spirit and attacking style of play. The team's strong performance is thought by some to have renewed national pride and restored Germany's reputation as a top footballing nation.

Despite this, Klinsmann declined to renew his contract, informing the DFB of his decision on July 11, 2006. The decision was officially announced by the DFB on the 12th of July 2006. Klinsmann's assistant Joachim Loew was appointed as the new head trainer at the same press conference.

Interest has been rumored on the part of both Klinsmann and US Soccer for Klinsmann to coach the USA Men's National Team following the departure of current US coach Bruce Arena. No official announcements have been released regarding this situation, however.

Personal life

Klinsmann Bakery in Stuttgart

Klinsmann's family operates a bakery in Stuttgart's Botnang district and consequently he is sometimes affectionately referred to as the "baker's son from Botnang". Klinsmann is in fact a trained baker. He is married to Chinese-American Debbie Chin, a former model. Klinsmann currently lives in Huntington Beach, California with his wife and two children, Jonathan (b. 1997) and Leila (b. 2001).

External links

• Official site
• Fan site
• Autograph Jürgen Klinsmann