The baker’s son from Botnang
Unless you are German, or very familiar with Germany, it’s highly unlikely you ever heard of Botnang. Well, it’s a district in Stuttgart, and it’s where Jurgen Klinsmann, one of Germany’s foremost strikers during the 1990s, is associated with, though he was born in Goppingen.
The family, which operates a bakery, moved to Botnang when Jurgen was a teenager. That explains the nickname by which Jurgen is sometimes affectionately known — “The baker’s son from Botnang.” He did in fact complete his apprenticeship as a journeyman baker.
Time catches up with all of us. Nevertheless it’s sobering to think that this famous former player who, in 2004 was named in the FIFA 100 list of the “125 Greatest Living Footballers”, is 57 now and lives in Huntington Beach, California. He is a naturalized US citizen.
He is married to Debbie Chin, an American former model. They have two children, and their goalkeeper son Jonathan has been capped at age group level for the USA Under 20 team.
Jurgen is fluent in English, Italian and French. I imagine that if he spent any appreciable time in Ireland, he’d have become fluent also in Gaeilge!
Jurgen (at 5 ft. 11 inches taller than he looked) scored in all six major international tournaments he played in from Euro 1988 to the 1998 World Cup. And in the FIFA World Player of the Year awards in 1995, he came in third.
Among the teams he played for were Spurs, Bayern Munich, Sampdoria and Orange County Blue Star. And of course he went on to manage Germany, Bayern Munich, the United States, and Hertha BSC
When we met we inevitably talked about his time with Spurs. He said he enjoyed playing at White Hart Lane, and had found it easy to blend in with the Spurs playing style of that time.
And as for the Euros then taking place in England, he was confident of Germany’s chances of winning the tournament. His confidence was of course well founded — they went ahead and won it.
Laid back and easy to talk to — that’s how I found him to be.
