Martin Max (born 7 August 1968) is a German former professional

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 striker. One of the oldest winners of the

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 ...

's top scorer crown, at the age of 32 and 34, he represented four teams in his country of adoption.

Club career

Born in

Tarnowskie Góry Tarnowskie Góry (German: ''Tarnowitz''; szl, Tarnowske Gōry) is a town in Silesia, southern Poland, located in the Silesian Highlands near Katowice. On the south it borders the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a megalopolis, the greater Si ...

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

, Max started to play football in the youth of Rodło Górniki Bytom, and in 1982, he emigrated with his parents as ethnic Germans (''Aussiedler'') from Poland and went to Germany, where the family settled in Recklinghausen in the

Ruhr region The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

(''Ruhrgebiet''). In Recklinghausen, he joined the youth team of Blau-Weiß Post Recklinghausen, and in 1985, he transferred to the offspring of the 1. FC Recklinghausen. At Schalke, Max revived his career, netting 23 goals in his first two seasons combined, adding three in the victorious UEFA Cup campaign, and his

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

attempt in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

He joined

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

in 1999, and was crowned league topscorer in his first season, with 19. In 2001–02, he added 18 for a second individual accolade, tied with

Márcio Amoroso Márcio Amoroso dos Santos (born 5 July 1974) is a Brazilian football pundit and former professional player who mainly played as a forward. He played for several teams in his home country as well as in Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece ...

. Already at 35, Max moved to

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

, and contributed massively to the former

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

side's comfortable league position, as he netted 20 goals and ranked third in the goal charts. He retired at the end of the season with a total of 396 matches, with 126 first division goals. After retiring, Max began running a soccer camp for youths.

International career

Courtesy of his stellar TSV performances, Max earned his only cap for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, on 17 April 2002, coming on as a substitute during the 84th minute in a 1–0 loss in a friendly in the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion (today MHPArena) in Stuttgart against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. He was subsequently named on stand-by for that summer's

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

Personal life

His son,

Philipp Philipp is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: "Philipp" has also been a shortened version of Philippson, a German surname especially prevalent amongst German Jews and Dutch Jews. Surname * Adolf Philipp (1864 ...

, is also a footballer.

Career statistics

Honours

Borussia Mönchengladbach *

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 ...

: 1994–95 Schalke 04 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 1996–97 Individual *

top goalscorer: 1999–2000, 2001–02

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Max, Martin 1968 births Living people People from Tarnowskie Góry German people of Polish descent Polish people of German descent Polish emigrants to West Germany German men's footballers Men's association football forwards Germany men's international footballers Bundesliga players Borussia Mönchengladbach players FC Schalke 04 players TSV 1860 Munich players FC Hansa Rostock players Kicker-Torjägerkanone Award winners UEFA Cup winning players West German men's footballers Footballers from Silesian Voivodeship People from Recklinghausen Footballers from Münster (region)