Jürgen Klinsmann German Footballer From Göppingen

Early life

Jürgen Klinsmann was born on 30 July 1964 in Göppingen, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. His family ran a bakery, and when he was a teenager they moved to Stuttgart, where the business continued in the Botnang district. He began playing organised football at the amateur club TB Gingen as a boy and moved to SC Geislingen, for whom he played from 1974 to 1978. In 1978 he joined Stuttgarter Kickers. His parents wanted him to learn a trade first, so he completed a baker's apprenticeship in 1982 while his football career was starting. His schooling is listed as the vocational school Im Hoppenlau.

Career

Playing. Klinsmann turned professional with Stuttgarter Kickers, then in the second division, and moved to VfB Stuttgart of the Bundesliga in 1984. He stayed until 1989 and finished the 1987-88 season as the league's top scorer. He also took part in the 1989 UEFA Cup final with the club. He then went abroad, playing for Inter Milan from 1989 to 1992, where he won the UEFA Cup in 1991, and for AS Monaco from 1992 to 1994. In 1994 he joined Tottenham Hotspur in England, scoring 20 league goals in his first season there, and in 1995 he moved to Bayern Munich. At Bayern he won the UEFA Cup in 1996 and the Bundesliga title in 1997. The last stretch of his club career included a short spell with Sampdoria in 1997-98 and a return to Tottenham in 1998, where his goals helped the club avoid relegation. In 2003 he played for the amateur side Orange County Blue Star in the United States.

For the national team he debuted on 12 December 1987 against Brazil and represented West Germany and then Germany until 1998. He was part of the squad that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup, won the European Championship in 1996, and took bronze at the 1988 Olympic Games. He scored in each of the six major tournaments he played in, from the 1988 European Championship through the 1998 World Cup.

Coaching. Klinsmann became head coach of the German national team in July 2004. He brought in a younger group of players and a more attacking approach, and the team finished third at the 2006 World Cup on home soil. He stepped down shortly afterwards. He coached Bayern Munich from the summer of 2008 until April 2009. In 2010 he served as a technical consultant for Toronto FC, and from July 2011 until November 2016 he was head coach of the United States national team. Under him the team won the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup and reached the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup. He later spent a short period at Hertha BSC in Berlin, from late November 2019 to February 2020, and was appointed head coach of South Korea in February 2023, a position he held until February 2024.

His screen credits are limited to the documentary Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen (2006), about the German team at that World Cup.

Recognition

Klinsmann was named German Footballer of the Year in 1988 and again in 1994, and was voted German Football Manager of the Year in 2006. His state honours include the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg (1999) and the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2006), together with the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt.

Public roles

In 1995 Klinsmann and several friends founded Agapedia, a children's charity foundation. In 1997, as captain of the German team, he visited the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel with the national coach. He is also a board member of an educational initiative focused on teaching young people about the Holocaust. In May 1999 he gave the proceeds of his farewell match in Stuttgart, more than one million US dollars, to children's charities. He has also worked as a television analyst for ESPN and the BBC around several World Cups.

Personal life

Klinsmann lives in California and holds United States citizenship. He speaks English, Italian and French in addition to German and is a certified commercial helicopter pilot. His son Jonathan Klinsmann is a professional goalkeeper.