Germany national football team's reputation in the world of football is indeed very high. The 'Uber Allez' team has won a lot of prestigious titles, ranging from titles at the European level to the international level titles. One factor that makes the German national team is greatly feared among by other teams is the great quality of their brilliant strikers.
In this article, I want to discuss in detail about 15 best German strikers of all time. They are not only famous for their great goal scoring abilities, but has important role in making football become one of the most popular sports in the history of humanity.
15. Mario Gomez
Mario Gomez is a German striker of Spanish descent. His debut as a professional footballer started in 2003 with Stuttgart. Gomez played quite brilliantly and helped Stuttgart to be the champion of Bundesliga in the 2006-2007 season. His great performance made Bayern Munich sign him for a fee of 35 million euros. One of the best individual achievement ever earned by Gomez is when he became the Bundesliga's top scorer in 2011 with 28 goals.
14. Ulf Kirsten
Ulf Kirsten is one of the best Bayer Leverkusen strikers of all time. He played for 13 years for Leverkusen and scored 182 goals from 350 appearances. Kirsten also briefly played for the German national team in the 1985-2000 period, with a total record of 39 goals from 110 appearances. This player is known as a very effective striker in the penalty box, and his goals made Leverkusen establish a reputation as one of Germany's most respected clubs in the 1990s.
13. Fredi Bobic
Fredi Bobic is a former German striker of Yugoslavian descent. His career as a striker started to shine when he played for VfB Stuttgart in 1994. In 1996, he became the Bundesliga's top scorer with 17 goals. Together with Krassimir Balakov and Giovanni Elber, Bobic formed a deadly trident that scored many goals for Stuttgart. In German national team, Bobic played 37 times and scored 10 goals.
12. Klaus Allofs
The striker played for Germany in the period 1978-1988. He began his career as a playmaker, but then it turned out that Allofs is more suitable to be played as a center forward. Allofs' best performances occurred in 1980, where he was able to bring West Germany to be the Euro 1980 champion and also became the top scorer of the tournament. Throughout his career, Allofs also became the top scorer of Bundesliga twice.
11. Martin Max
Martin Max was a very brilliant striker, who unfortunately did not get much opportunity to play for German national team. Max became the top scorer of Bundesliga twice with TSV 1860 München. The only appearance that he made for the German national team was in a friendly match against Argentina, where he played as a substitute in the 84th minute. Throughout his career, Max scored a total of 122 goals.
10. Thomas Muller
Muller is a striker who can play as a winger or attacking midfielder. This player is an original product of Bayern Munich youth academy and started to get a place in the first team in 2009. His best moment as a player was when he led German national team to reach third place in World Cup 2010. In the tournament, Muller scored five goals and named as one of the best players. As a Munich player, he won two Bundesliga titles and one Champions League trophy.
9. Oliver Bierhoff
Bierhoff is a former striker who always remembered because of his expertise in scoring goals from headers. The tall striker is also known as the super-sub who often scores dramatic goals for the German national team. Bierhoff was a vital figure who helped Germany win Euro 1996. Throughout his career as a national team player, Bierhoff scored 37 goals from 70 appearances. He was also the top scorer of Serie A in the 1997-1998 season when he played for Udinese.
8. Lukas Podolski
Fast, explosive, and dangerous. Podolski is a striker who can also play as an attacking midfielder or winger. So far, he has played 111 times for the German national team and scored 46 goals. His career started to shine when he played for infamous Bundesliga club, FC Koln in 2003. Although the team was relegated, Podolski was able to show good performance. In the next season, he was bought by Bayern Munich. Podolski's one of the best individual achievement was when he was elected as the Best Young Player in World Cup 2006.
7. Fritz Walter
Fritz Walter is a legendary German striker who spent 22 years of his career as a professional player for only one club, Kaiserslautern. This player had a very big role when he led the West German national team win World Cup 1954. He also twice won the Bundesliga title as a Kaiserslautern player. Throughout his career, Walter scored 380 goals in 411 appearances. In 1985, Kaiserslautern's supporters and management decided to change the club's stadium name into "Fritz Walter Stadium" in order to honor the player.
6. Uwe Seeler
Just like Fritz Walter, Uwe Seeler is also known as a very loyal striker. He played for Hamburger SV for 19 years. During his career, Seeler scored 406 goals in 477 appearances. He also presented a German league title and a DFB Pokal trophy to Hamburger SV. Although he did not win any prestigious trophy for German national team, Seeler recorded pretty impressive record, in which he scored 43 goals from 72 appearances.
5. Rudi Voller
Rudi Voller is an example of a German striker who achieved great success out of his country. He spent five-year career with AS Roma and two years with Marseille, before returning to play in the German league with Bayer Leverkusen in 1994 and retired two years later. Voller achieved the highest achievement in 1990, where he managed to bring West Germany won the World Cup competition. As a coach, Voller successfully helped Germany national team to be the World Cup 2002 finalist.
4. Miroslav Klose
Miroslav Klose is a German striker who has Polish descent. He is known as a very good poacher. One of Klose's most memorable performances is when he scored five goals in a single match of World Cup 2002, and he scored all of those five goals with his head. For German national team, Klose played 130 times and scored 68 goals. Throughout his career, Klose won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich twice, and became the top scorer of the Bundesliga when he played for Werder Bremen.
3. Jurgen Klinsmann
In his prime, Klinsmann was known as a very fast and effective striker. He was part of the German national team when they won the World Cup 1990 and Euro 1996. Throughout his career with Der Panzer, Klinsmann scored 38 goals from 80 matches. Despite having brilliant individual skills, Klinsmann's only won few club trophies. He only ever won one Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich, and one UEFA Cup trophy with Inter Milan.
2. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is one of the Bundesliga's best strikers of all time. The player who is identical with the jersey number 11 is the central figure who led West Germany national team win the Euro 1980 and became the runner-up in the World Cup in 1982 and 1986. His career with Bayern Munich was quite impressive, where he became the league top scorer three times and won two Champions League trophies.
1. Gerd Muller
In terms of quality and quantity of goals, Gerd Muller is the most appropriate player to be crowned with the title of the best German striker of all time. Throughout his career, the player scored 487 goals in 555 matches. He also scored 68 goals from 66 appearances with German national team. In addition to bringing Germany won the World Cup 1974, Muller also won three Champions League trophies, four Bundesliga titles, and seven times became German league's top scorer.
