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 Kirsten in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1965-12-04)4 December 1965 (age 59) | ||
| Place of birth | Riesa,East Germany | ||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1972–1978 | BSG Chemie Riesa | ||
| 1978–1979 | BSG Stahl Riesa | ||
| 1979–1983 | Dynamo Dresden | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983–1990 | Dynamo Dresden | 154 | (57) |
| 1990–2003 | Bayer Leverkusen | 350 | (181) |
| Total | 504 | (238) | |
| International career | |||
| 1984–1986 | East Germany U21 | 10 | (4) |
| 1985–1990 | East Germany | 49 | (14) |
| 1990–2000 | Germany | 51 | (20) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2003–2005 | Bayer Leverkusen (assistant) | ||
| 2005–2011 | Bayer Leverkusen II | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ulf Kirsten (born 4 December 1965) is a German former professionalfootballer who played as astriker.[1] NicknamedDer Schwatte (dialect forDer Schwarze, 'The Black One'), he is the first player in history to reach a total 100 caps playing with two different national teams (first forEast Germany, thenReunified Germany). Kirsten's biggest success was the victory of the1992–93 DFB-Pokal.
Kirsten began playing football for local team BSG Chemie Riesa in 1972. He joined BSG Stahl Riesa in 1978 before joining the youth academy of Dynamo Dresden in 1979. Dynamo Dresden was a center of excellence (German:Leistungszentrum) and the most prominent club inBezirk Dresden. It was also the most successful club in East Germany at the time. Kirsten made his professional debut for Dynamo Dresden in the1983–84 DDR-Oberliga season.
Kirsten played 154 matches and scored 57 goals for Dynamo Dresden in theDDR-Oberliga. He won the DDR-Oberliga with Dynamo Dresden in two consecutive seasons:1988–88 and1989–90. Kirsten became the Footballer of the Year in East Germany in 1990.
Kirsten had an unusual build: measuring only 172 cm (5'8"), but weighing 81 kg (179 lbs). He therefore had an unusually low centre of gravity, which enabled him to protect the ball in the box against much bigger defenders and turn around quickly for close-range shots. His playing style was often compared to that ofGerd Müller. In addition, despite his small height, Kirsten was also a feared header.
Kirsten was one of the first East German men's footballers to enter theBundesliga after theGerman reunification. In the German Bundesliga he played 350 matches forBayer 04 Leverkusen and scored 182 goals (ranked #7 in the all-time top scorer list). He established himself as one of the most dangerous strikers in the Bundesliga, but Bayer Leverkusen regularly ended as runner-up to eitherBayern Munich orBorussia Dortmund. He stayed there until his retirement in 2003. He also played in the2002 UEFA Champions League Final, although his team lost toReal Madrid. In the 1999–2000 season, Kirsten won the EFFIFU award for being the most efficient striker in the league.
Off the pitch, Kirsten was famous for his strong beard growth, which earned him a sponsorship byBraun, who used him to advertise their electrical shavers.
Kirsten's 100 caps are almost evenly split: 49 forEast Germany and 51 for the re-unifiedGermany in a career which spanned 15 years from 1985 until 2000, with the reunified team being formed in late 1990.[2]
Kirsten scored a total of 34 international goals, 14 of them for East Germany. His only major tournaments came late in his career; Kirsten played for his country at the1994 and1998 World Cups andEuro 2000.
Kirsten's sonBenjamin is also a footballer and has played as agoalkeeper for Dynamo Dresden andNEC Nijmegen.[3]
Along with several other teammates, Kirsten was allegedly implicated as anStasi informant during his time at Dynamo Dresden through files recovered from the security service's archives after the fall ofEast Germany.[4][5]
| Club | Season | League | DFB-Pokal | DFB-Ligapokal | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Bayer Leverkusen | 1990–91 | Bundesliga | 32 | 11 | 2 | 2 | — | 5[a] | 2 | — | 39 | 15 | ||
| 1991–92 | 23 | 12 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | 24 | 13 | |||||
| 1992–93 | 33 | 20 | 7 | 3 | — | — | — | 40 | 23 | |||||
| 1993–94 | 28 | 12 | 3 | 1 | — | 4[b] | 5 | 1[c] | 1 | 36 | 19 | |||
| 1994–95 | 27 | 15 | 1 | 0 | — | 9[a] | 10 | — | 37 | 25 | ||||
| 1995–96 | 29 | 8 | 3 | 2 | — | 2[d] | 1 | — | 34 | 11 | ||||
| 1996–97 | 29 | 22 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 30 | 22 | |||||
| 1997–98 | 27 | 22 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9[e] | 2 | — | 40 | 27 | |||
| 1998–99 | 31 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3[a] | 2 | — | 38 | 24 | |||
| 1999–2000 | 27 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6[e] | 4 | — | 35 | 23 | |||
| 2000–01 | 29 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | — | 36 | 17 | |||
| 2001–02 | 32 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 14[e] | 4 | — | 52 | 18 | |||
| 2002–03 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | ||||
| Career total | 350 | 181 | 31 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 56 | 33 | 1 | 1 | 446 | 237 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Germany | 1985 | 7 | 1 |
| 1986 | 10 | 2 | |
| 1987 | 9 | 4 | |
| 1988 | 10 | 0 | |
| 1989 | 11 | 4 | |
| 1990 | 5 | 3 | |
| Total | 52 | 14 | |
| Germany | 1992 | 3 | 0 |
| 1993 | 6 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 4 | 3 | |
| 1995 | 4 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 7 | 5 | |
| 1998 | 16 | 5 | |
| 1999 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 5 | 3 | |
| Total | 51 | 20 | |
| Career total | 103 | 34 | |
| No. | Team | Cap | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  East Germany | 3 | 14 August 1985 | Ullevaal Stadion,Oslo, Norway |  Norway | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly | [7] |
| 2 | 10 | 19 February 1986 | Estádio 1º de Maio,Braga, Portugal |  Portugal | 2–0 | 3–1 | Friendly | [8] | |
| 3 | 16 | 29 October 1986 | Sportforum Chemnitz,Chemnitz, East Germany |  Iceland | 2–0 | 2–0 | UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying | [9] | |
| 4 | 23 | 23 September 1987 | Stadion der Freundschaft,Gera, East Germany |  Tunisia | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly | [10] | |
| 5 | 24 | 10 October 1987 | Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark,East Berlin, East Germany |  Soviet Union | 1–0 | 1–1 | UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying | [11] | |
| 6 | 25 | 28 October 1987 | Ernst Grube Stadium,Magdeburg, East Germany | Norway | 1–0 | 3–1 | UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying | [12] | |
| 7 | 3–1 | ||||||||
| 8 | 37 | 13 February 1989 | Cairo International Stadium,Cairo, Egypt |  Egypt | 1–0 | 4–0 | Friendly | [13] | |
| 9 | 3–0 | ||||||||
| 10 | 42 | 20 May 1989 | Zentralstadion,Leipzig, East Germany |  Austria | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification | [14] | |
| 11 | 43 | 23 August 1989 | Steigerwaldstadion,Erfurt, East Germany |  Bulgaria | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly | [15] | |
| 12 | 50 | 28 March 1990 | Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark,Berlin, Germany |  United States | 1–0 | 3–2 | Friendly | [16] | |
| 13 | 2–0 | ||||||||
| 14 | 3–1 | ||||||||
| 15 |  Germany | 4 | 14 April 1993 | Ruhrstadion,Bochum, Germany |  Ghana | 1–1 | 6–1 | Friendly | [17] |
| 16 | 6 | 13 October 1993 | Wildparkstadion,Karlsruhe, Germany |  Uruguay | 4–0 | 5–0 | Friendly | [18] | |
| 17 | 10 | 27 April 1994 | Al Nahyan Stadium,Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates |  United Arab Emirates | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly | [19] | |
| 18 | 11 | 16 November 1994 | Arena Kombëtare,Tirana, Albania |  Albania | 2–1 | 2–1 | UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying | [20] | |
| 19 | 12 | 14 December 1994 | Republican Stadium,Chișinău, Moldova |  Moldova | 1–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying | [21] | |
| 20 | 17 | 6 September 1995 | Frankenstadion,Nuremberg, Germany |  Georgia | 3–1 | 4–1 | UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying | [22] | |
| 21 | 20 | 2 April 1997 | Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes,Granada, Spain | Albania | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | [23] | |
| 22 | 2–1 | ||||||||
| 23 | 3–1 | ||||||||
| 24 | 23 | 6 September 1997 | Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany | Portugal | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | [24] | |
| 25 | 24 | 10 September 1997 | Westfalenstadion,Dortmund, Germany |  Armenia | 4–0 | 4–0 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | [25] | |
| 26 | 28 | 25 March 1998 | Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion,Stuttgart, Germany |  Brazil | 1–1 | 1–2 | Friendly | [26] | |
| 27 | 32 | 5 June 1998 | Carl-Benz-Stadion,Mannheim, Germany |  Luxembourg | 1–0 | 7–0 | Friendly | [27] | |
| 28 | 4–0 | ||||||||
| 29 | 40 | 14 October 1998 | Republican Stadium, Chișinău, Moldova | Moldova | 1–1 | 3–1 | UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying | [28] | |
| 30 | 2–1 | ||||||||
| 31 | 44 | 4 June 1999 | BayArena,Leverkusen, Germany | Moldova | 2–0 | 6–1 | UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying | [29] | |
| 32 | 48 | 26 April 2000 | Fritz-Walter-Stadion,Kaiserslautern, Germany |  Switzerland | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly | [30] | |
| 33 | 49 | 7 June 2000 | Dreisamstadion,Freiburg, Germany |  Liechtenstein | 5–2 | 8–2 | Friendly | [31] | |
| 34 | 7–2 |
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
| Bayer Leverkusen II | 1 July 2005 | 30 June 2011 | 209 | 72 | 50 | 87 | 292 | 313 | −21 | 034.45 |
| Total | 209 | 72 | 50 | 87 | 292 | 313 | −21 | 034.45 | ||
Dynamo Dresden
Bayer Leverkusen
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| People | |
