Ulf Kirsten (born 4 December 1965) is a German former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''Der Schwatte'' (dialect for ''Der Schwarze'', 'The Black One'), he is the first player in history to reach a total 100 caps playing with two different national teams (first for East Germany, then Reunified Germany). Kirsten's biggest success was the victory of the

1992–93 DFB-Pokal The 1992–93 DFB-Pokal was the 50th season of the annual German football cup competition. 83 teams competed in the tournament of seven rounds which began on 18 August 1992 and ended on 12 June 1993. In the final Bayer Leverkusen defeated the se ...

Club career

Dynamo Dresden

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 in

Bezirk Dresden The Bezirk Dresden was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany that lasted from 1952 to 1990. Dresden would be reabsorbed back into Saxony after the reunification of Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Dresden. History The dist ...

. It was also the most successful club in East Germany at the time. Kirsten made his professional debut for Dynamo Dresden in the 1983-84 DDR-Oberliga season. Kirsten played 154 matches and scored 57 goals for Dynamo Dresden in the DDR-Oberliga. He won the DDR-Oberliga with Dynamo Dresden in two consecutive seasons: 1988-88 and 1989-90. 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 theefore 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. The playing style was often compared to that of

Gerd Müller Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional footballer. A striker renowned for his clinical finishing, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalsco ...

. In addition, despite his small height, Kirsten was also a feared header.

Bayer Leverkusen

upKirsten in 1997 Kirsten was one of the first East German footballers to enter 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 ...

after the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

. In the German Bundesliga he played 350 matches for

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

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 either Bayern Munich or

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 footb ...

. He stayed there until his retirement in 2003. He also played in the

2002 UEFA Champions League Final The 2002 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League, Europe's primary club football competition. The show-piece event was contested between Bayer Leverkusen of Germany and Real Madrid of Spain at Hamp ...

. 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 by

Braun Braun is a common surname, originating from the German word for the color brown. The name is the 22nd most common family name in Germany. Many German emigrants to the United States also changed their name to ''Brown'' (''see Brown (surname)'') ...

, who used him to advertise their electrical shavers.

International career

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1986-1119-031, Leipzig, Mannschaftsfoto DDR-Nationalmannschaft

Kirsten's 100 caps are almost evenly split: 49 for

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 ...

and 51 for the re-unified

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 ...

in a career which spanned 15 years from 1985 until 2000, with the reunified team being formed in late 1990. 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 the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and 1998 World Cups and

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

Personal life

Kirsten's son

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

is also a footballer, and has played as 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 ...

for Dynamo Dresden and

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

Career statistics

Club

*¹ Including 1 match and 1 goal in 1993 DFB-Supercup. *² Including 1 match and 1 goal in 1997 DFB-Ligapokal. *³ Including 2 matches and 1 goal in 1998 DFB-Ligapokal. *⁴ Including 2 matches and 2 goals in 1999 DFB-Ligapokal. *⁵ Including 1 match and 1 goal in

2000 DFB-Ligapokal The 2000 DFB-Ligapokal was the fourth edition of the DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of ...

. *⁶ Including 1 match in

2001 DFB-Ligapokal The 2001 DFB-Ligapokal was the fifth edition of the DFB-Ligapokal. Hertha BSC won the competition, beating Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is ...

. *⁷ Including 1 match in

2002 DFB-Ligapokal The 2002 DFB-Ligapokal was the sixth edition of the DFB-Ligapokal. Hertha BSC won the competition for the second consecutive year, beating Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 ...

International

International goals for East Germany :''Score and results list East Germany's goal tally first.'' International goals for Germany :''Score and results list Germany's goal tally first.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

Dynamo Dresden * DDR-Oberliga (2): 1988–89, 1989–90 *

FDGB-Pokal The FDGB-Pokal (Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Pokal or Free German Trade Union Federation Cup) was an elimination football tournament held annually in East Germany. It was the second most important national title in East German football af ...

(2): 1984–85, 1989–90 Bayer Leverkusen *

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 considere ...

: 1992–93

Individual

East German Footballer of the Year The title Footballer of the Year (German: ''Fußballer des Jahres'') has been awarded in Germany since 1960. Eligible are German players as well as non-German players playing in Germany. In 1996, the title Women's Footballer of the Year (German ...

(1): 1989–90 * Bundesliga top scorer (3): 1992–93, 1996–97, 1997–98 * UEFA Cup Winners' Cup top scorer (1): 1993–94 * UEFA Cup top scorer (1): 1994–95 *''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

Team of the Season (2): 1996–97, 1998–99

References

External links

*
Ulf Kirsten profile
at Leverkusen.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirsten, Ulf 1965 births Living people People from Riesa German footballers East German footballers Footballers from Saxony Germany international footballers Association football forwards Dynamo Dresden players Dynamo Dresden II players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Kicker-Torjägerkanone Award winners Bundesliga players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players East Germany international footballers Dual internationalists (football) FIFA Century Club German football managers DDR-Oberliga players People of the Stasi People from Bezirk Dresden

Club career

Dynamo Dresden

Bayer Leverkusen

International career

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

Individual

See also

References

External links