Diego Fernando Klimowicz (born 6 July 1974) is an Argentine former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. He started and finished his 18-year professional career with Instituto, but competed mostly in Spain and Germany, notably amassing

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

totals of 213 games and 71 goals in the latter country.

Club career

Born in

Quilmes, Buenos Aires Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the south east of the Greater Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and it is the seat of the eponymous county. With a population of 230,810, it is located south of the ...

, Klimowicz started his career at

Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba (commonly referred to as Instituto de Córdoba) is an Argentine sports club from the city Córdoba, whose professional football team currently plays in the Primera Nacional, the second division of the Argenti ...

in the

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, in English "National B Division", and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 37 team ...

. He was sold to

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

in 1996, scoring 11 goals in his first season but being relegated to Segunda División; the latter club was later banned from buying or selling foreign players, for failing to pay the accorded sum of 240 million pesetas. Klimowicz returned to the Spanish top division in December 1997, when he signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club c ...

. After netting just seven times across all competitions during his spell at the Estadio José Zorrilla, however, he returned to his country in 1999 and joined

Club Atlético Lanús Club Atlético Lanús () is an Argentine sports club from the Lanús district of Greater Buenos Aires. Founded in 1915, the club's main sports are football and basketball. In both sports, Lanús plays in Argentina's top divisions: Primera Divis ...

. Klimowicz was transferred to

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

in December 2001, going on to remain in Germany – and its

– for the better part of the following decade. He netted a career-best 15 goals in the 2003–04 campaign, helping his team finish in tenth place. In May 2007, Klimowicz moved to fellow league side

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

on a two-year deal. On 25 August, his brace was crucial to the hosts' 3–0 home defeat of

FC Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

. He added four goals in their runner-up run in the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

, being booked as a second-half substitute in the decisive match, lost 2–1 to FC Bayern Munich after extra time. In the 2008–09 winter transfer window, Klimowicz signed with

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seasons in the Bundeslig ...

. On 2 March 2010, the 35-year-old announced his retirement from professional football due to a hip injury; Klimowicz decided to come back from retirement on 24 December 2010, and re-joined his first team Instituto on a one-year contract.

International career

In 2001, there were talks of Klimowicz playing either for the

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

or the Ukraine national teams, but at the end nothing became materialised.

Personal life

Klimowicz's younger brother,

Javier Javier may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Javier, in video game ''Advance Wars: Dual Strike'' * Javier Rios, a character in the Monsters, Inc. franchise. * Javier (album), ''Javier'' (album), a 2003 album by the American singer Javier ...

, was also a footballer, as well as his other sibling Nicolás; a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, Javier won

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. Klimowicz's grandfather was born in

before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, in a territory that later became part of

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. His son Mateo was also involved in the sport.

Career statistics

Honours

Borussia Dortmund *

runner-up: 2007–08

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klimowicz, Diego 1974 births Living people Footballers from Quilmes Argentine people of Polish descent Argentine people of Ukrainian descent Argentine men's footballers Men's association football forwards Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba footballers Club Atlético Lanús footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Rayo Vallecano players Real Valladolid players Bundesliga players VfL Wolfsburg players Borussia Dortmund players VfL Bochum players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany