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Danke Schön Oliver Kahn
Saturday sees the curtain come down on the career of legendary Bayern Munich keeper Oliver Kahn. He hasn’t earned the nickname ‘Titan’ for nothing, becoming arguably one of the best goalkeepers of all time during a glittering career spanning 22 years. Goal.com pays tribute to the legend that is Oliver Kahn.

Early Days

Oliver Kahn made his Bundesliga debut for Karlsruhe on 27th November 1987 away to Cologne in a far from promising start. Trainer Winfried Schäfer handed Kahn his debut but a 4-0 defeat was the outcome. At first he had to settle for a largely back up role to Alexander Famulla, but then made the number one jersey his own.

Kahn became an important member of a KSC side that established itself in the Bundesliga and had a memorable run in the 1993-94 Uefa Cup, reaching the semi finals.

Over the proceeding 6 seasons the young Kahn was to impress to such and extent that he earned a move to Southern giants Bayern Munich.

Bayern

Bayern signed Oli at the start of the 1994-95 season for what was then a record fee for a goalkeeper of €2.5 million and he was quickly installed as the number one at the Olympiastadion. After suffering a serious cruciate ligament injury in only his second season at the club, he returned to install himself as the best keeper in the Bundesliga providing an important last line of defence for Bayern.

In 1999 he suffered the agony that was the “Tragedy of the Nou Camp” when Bayern lost the Champions League final is such dramatic fashion to Manchester United. Two years later however he was the Man of the Match as Bayern won the Champions League for the fourth time in their history with a penalty shoot-out win over Valencia, in which he made some vital saves.

Kahn has seemed to get better and better with age and there are plenty who believe he could continue at the top level for a few years yet, if he so wanted.

He has made a massive 428 appearances for Bayern putting him right up there alongside the great Sepp Maier as Bayern’s greatest ever keeper.

Germany

It may seem that Oliver Kahn has been the German national team goalkeeper for ever, but he had to be patient before cementing himself as the undisputed number one. His debut for the ‘Nationalmannschaft’ came in June 1995 against Switzerland, and he was only the back up to Andreas Köpke during the European Championships finals in 1996 in which the German were victorious.

Kahn had to be content with a role as reserve again for the 1998 World Cup in France, before becoming the undisputed number one in time for Euro 2000. The tournament was a disaster for Germany as they were eliminated at the group stage, but the positive note for Oli Kahn was the fact that he was made team captain in the changes made after the tournament.

Hopes were not high for the Germans going into the 2002 World Cup in Japan/ South Korea, but thanks largely to Oliver Kahn’s form and leadership, Germany made it all the way to the final, where they lost to Brazil. Kahn won the Lev Yashin award for the best goalkeeper in the tournament and also won the Golden Ball for the best individual performance.

He was once again between the posts at Euro 2004, but then he had to settle for a sharing of the role with Jens Lehmann, with whom Kahn had a running personal feud. It was Lehmann however who got the nod from Jürgen Klinsmann to be the first choice keeper at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. With Germany eliminated at the semi final stage, Kahn made his final international appearance in the Third Place Play-off against Portugal.

His record for Germany stands at 86 caps with 49 of those as captain.

Glory

The honours won by the great Oliver Kahn seem to go on and on. He has picked up the Bundesliga title on no less than eight occasions with the latest to be delivered this weekend. The German Cup has been won six times with this season’s being achieved largely down to his penalty heroics in the first round against Burghausen.

The Uefa Cup was won in 1996, and the more prestigious Champions League was achieved in 2001 to make up for the loss in the Nou Camp two years earlier to Manchester United.

With the national team he was involved with the squad that won Euro 96 in England and a World Cup runner up in 2002, when his personal performances really deserved more. A bronze medal was added in 2006 on home soil.

He has come third on twice in the vote for the European Footballer of the Year and has been voted the World’s best goalkeeper three times (1999, 2001, 2002). The European goalkeeper of the year award has been taken four times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002).

Domestically, he has been honoured with the Bundesliga keeper of the year award seven times.

What now?

It is still not absolutely clear what Kahn will do with himself after so many years of football but one thing is for certain, he won’t be without offers. He has intimated that he will go out to Asia, where he will set up football schools to search for emerging young talent.

A career as a TV pundit seems extremely well suited to the outgoing and outspoken character of the man, with a role at ZDF there for the taking as and when Kahn says yes.

The future of the Bayern goalkeeping shirt is also seemingly clear with long-term understudy Michael Rensing to step into the hard to fill shoes of Oliver Kahn. 23 year old Rensing has been groomed as the successor to Kahn for a number of years now and he already has 22 appearances between the posts for the Bavarians.

During those 22 games Rensing has earned the impressive record of never having finished on the losing side. The longer that record holds up next season, the more likely we are to see Bayern Munich repeating, if not bettering the success of this season.

Should the plan to have Rensing seamlessly become Kahn’s heir not come off the way they hoped, Bayern will no doubt have a few targets already earmarked to come in.

Legacy

Following in the footsteps of Oliver Kahn will be no easy task, and is when you think about it impossible. He is arguably alongside Sepp Maier as the greatest goalkeeper the club has ever had, and you will not find a more driven or committed player in the Bundesliga today.

The retirement of Oliver Kahn will leave a big hole at both Bayern Munich and in German football. He has been such a big character for so many years that he will be sorely missed.

I think German football fans- and not just those of Bayern Munich will join in when today we say “Danke schön Oliver Kahn”.