Biography
Bierhoff began his career at the age of 6 at the Essen club "ESG 99/06". Further stations in his career were "Schwarz-Weiß Essen" until 1985 and "Bayer Uerdingen" from 1985 to 1988. For the 1988/89 season he moved to "Hamburger SV" before signing with Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the 1990/91 season he was under contract for "SV Salzburg" in the first Austrian league. Oliver Bierhoff played for the Italian second division club "Ascoli Calcio" from 1991 to 1995 and was top scorer in the second Italian division. Bierhoff played for "Udinese Calcio" from 1995 to 1998. In 1997 he qualified for the UEFA Cup by finishing fifth in the championship. In the 1997/98 season, Bierhoff became top scorer in the Italian first league with 27 goals, ahead of Brazilian superstar Ronaldo. Oliver Bierhoff celebrated his greatest successes as a club footballer with "AC Milan" from 1998 to 2001. During this time he became Italian champion in 1999. He then moved to "AS Monaco" in the French first division from 2001 to 2002, before returning to the Italian Serie A in August 2002 as a striker for "Chievo Verona".
In 1994, Bierhoff was appointed to the DFB national team squad by national coach Berti Vogts. Two years later, in 1996, the German national team became European football champions for the third time thanks to Oliver Bierhoff's "Golden Goal". Germany defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 in the final. In 1998, Oliver Bierhoff took part in the World Cup in France, where the German team led by captain Jürgen Klinsmann was eliminated in the quarter-finals with a 3-0 defeat. In 2000 he played at the European Championships in the Netherlands and Belgium. After the 1998 World Cup, Bierhoff took over the position of team captain in the national team, which he handed over to Oliver Kahn in January 2002. In May of the same year he completed his studies in business administration at the Hagen Open University with a diploma. Participation in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, where Bierhoff was not part of the regular lineup, led the German team to the final, where team boss Rudi Völler's team lost 2-0 to Brazil. From March 2003, Oliver Bierhoff acted as international ambassador for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
On July 28, 2004, Oliver Bierhoff was appointed first team manager of the German national soccer team and in this role supported national coach Jürgen Klinsmann in preparing the German team for the World Cup. After the German national team won the World Cup on June 30, 2006 with a 5-3 victory. After reaching the semi-finals against Argentina, the team under captain Michael Ballack lost 0-2 goals in extra time against Italy on July 4, 2006. In the game for third place on July 8th in Stuttgart, the German team won 3-1 against Portugal. The triumph of the 2006 World Cup title went to Italy in the final on July 9th, to which France lost on penalties. In 2007 he became a member of the executive committee of the German Football Association. In 2014, Bierhoff won the world championship title with the German national team. After a structural reform of the DFB (2017), he became one of four DFB directors on January 1, 2018. In May 2018, the DFB announced the early extension of Bierhoff's contract until 2024.
