Oliver Kahn
Oliver Kahn (born 15 June 1969 in Karlsruhe, Germany) is a German football goalkeeper. He plays for the German national team (since 1995) and Bayern München (since 1994). He is known as King Kahn or Kahn, the Titan for his prowess in the game.
Kahn began his football odyssey in 1976, in his native town, Karlsruhe. A year later, he was playing for Karlsruher SC’s youth team. He worked his way up through the youth teams but never quite made it into the international youth set-up. He subsequently made his Bundesliga debut in the autumn of 1990 and left an indelible stain from the outset. It took him only three seasons to establish himself as one of the best last lines of defence in the Bundesliga and his excellent displays were rewarded with a call-up to the national team in October 1993. He was drafted into the German squad at the 1994 World Cup as reserve keeper to Bodo Illgner, but never made the starting line-up.
He was signed by Bayern Munich at the beginning of the 1994/95 season, and has gone on to win many honors, both at domestic and international level. The 2.5 million euros paid by the Bavarian club was a record fee for a goalkeeper at the time, and from the very beginning Kahn was made Bayern’s first-choice. Although suffering a rupture of his cruciate ligament in the next season, he developed into a most formidable goalkeeper.
His international debut came in a match against Switzerland on June 23, 1995. He had to still make do with being the reserve keeper at Euro 96 in England. At the 1998 World Cup in France he had to play second fiddle for the third successive major international tournament. It was not until Andreas Köpke announced his retirement at the end of the tournament that Oliver Kahn was finally given his chance as the unquestionable German number one.
In 2002, he won the adidas Golden Ball for best player and the Yashin Award for top goalkeeper of the 2002 World Cup, after allowing only two out seven national sides to score on him: the Republic of Ireland and the ultimate champions Brazil. Despite being beaten only three times overall, he was widely blamed for losing the final after allowing the first goal to Brazilian striker Ronaldo. He also starred for his country at Euro 2000 and Euro 2004.
He and his wife Simone split in 2003 after he was romantically linked to former barmaid Verena Kerth; he and Kerth have been in a relationship since then. He has two children.
Popular culture
Kahn is the subject of the song Olli Kahn by the German pop group Die Prinzen, which was recorded during the 2002 World Cup. The song was later covered by Die Toten Hosen, another popular German band.
Video Game Pseudonyms
Due to Kahn holding the rights to his name, some video games have been forced to create pseudonyms. On the football game Pro Evolution Soccer 6, Kahn is named Kalm. In the Football Manager series Kahn is known as Jens Mustermann; Mustermann translates from German into English as Sample Man and is a common placeholder name in Germany and Austria, while Jens is a reference to Jens Lehmann, Kahn’s main international goalkeeping rival. In the LMA Manager Series, Kahn is referred to as Daniel Schmidt.
Career statistics
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Germany | League | DFB-Pokal | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 1987–88 | Karlsruhe | Bundesliga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | |
| 1988–89 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | |||
| 1989–90 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1990–91 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 22 | 0 | |||
| 1991–92 | 37 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 39 | 0 | |||
| 1992–93 | 34 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | 39 | 0 | |||
| 1993–94 | 31 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 44 | 0 | ||
| 1994–95 | Bayern Munich | Bundesliga | 23 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 1995–96 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 46 | 0 | ||
| 1996–97 | 32 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 0 | ||
| 1997–98 | 34 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 50 | 0 | ||
| 1998–99 | 30 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 51 | 0 | ||
| 1999–00 | 27 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
| 2000–01 | 32 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 52 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | 32 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 51 | 0 | ||
| 2002–03 | 33 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
| 2003–04 | 33 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 46 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | 32 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 49 | 0 | ||
| 2005–06 | 31 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 44 | 0 | ||
| 2006–07 | 32 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 44 | 0 | ||
| 2007–08 | 26 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 42 | 0 | ||
| Total | Germany | 557 | 0 | 82 | 0 | 142 | 0 | 781 | 0 | |
| Career Total | 557 | 0 | 82 | 0 | 142 | 0 | 781 | 0 | ||
1 Includes German Super Cup
| Germany national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1995 | 2 | 0 |
| 1996 | 3 | 0 |
| 1997 | 3 | 0 |
| 1998 | 7 | 0 |
| 1999 | 6 | 0 |
| 2000 | 10 | 0 |
| 2001 | 10 | 0 |
| 2002 | 15 | 0 |
| 2003 | 9 | 0 |
| 2004 | 11 | 0 |
| 2005 | 7 | 0 |
| 2006 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 86 | 0 |
Autobiographies
- Nummer eins, Droemer/Knaur 2004, ISBN 3426273462
- Ich. Erfolg kommt von Innen, riva premium Verlag 2008, ISBN 3936994994
Honours
Bayern Munich
- Bundesliga (8): 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008
- German Cup (6): 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008
- DFB-Ligapokal (6): 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2007
- UEFA Cup (1): 1996
- UEFA Champions League (1): 2001
- Intercontinental Cup (1): 2001
International
- UEFA European Championship: 1996
- FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place: 2005
- FIFA World Cup Second Place: 2002
- FIFA World Cup Third Place: 2006
Individual
- UEFA Champions League Man of the Match: 2001
- UEFA Fair-Play Award: 2001
- German Footballer of the Year: 2000, 2001
- Runner Up FIFA World Player of the Year: 2002
- IFFHS World’s Best Goalkeeper: 1999, 2001, 2002
- Best European Goalkeeper: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
- European Footballer of the Year Bronze Ball: 2001, 2002
- UEFA Club Football Awards – Best Goalkeeper: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
- Best Bundesliga Keeper: 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
- FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 2002
- Yashin Award: 2002
- FIFA World Cup awards: All-Star Team 2002
- FIFA 100