Ivan Klasnić

FC St. Pauli

Born in Hamburg, West Germany, Klasnić started his professional career with local side FC St. Pauli, and impressed as a striker in the three and a half seasons that he played for the club in the 2. Bundesliga since becoming a professional in January 1998. Prior to his spell at St. Pauli, he played for less known amateur sides Union 03 Hamburg and TSV Stellingen.

Werder Bremen

After helping St. Pauli to gain promotion to the first division with 10 goals scored for the club in the second division during the 2000–01 season, he made the switch to Werder Bremen in the summer of 2001 and finally made his mark in the first team in 2003 with some powerful performances in the Bundesliga. His first two seasons at the club had been marked by erratic form (he scored only three goals in 36 Bundesliga appearances) and two serious knee injuries, but he laid old ghosts to rest as he emerged a key figure in Werder Bremen's march to the Bundesliga title in the 2003–04 season, when he also won the DFB-Pokal with the club. He scored 13 goals and made another 11 for his Brazilian strike partner Ailton. His expiring contract caused a scramble for his signature at the beginning of the year before he eventually decided to stay at Bremen. Participating in the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League season, Klasnić scored five goals in the two group matches against Belgian side RSC Anderlecht, including a hat-trick in the 5–1 home victory for Werder Bremen, helping the team to…

Klasnić turned down an invitation from Rudi Völler to play for Germany and chose to play for Croatia instead as he had already won three caps and scored one goal for their under-21 team in the spring of 2001. He also played five times and scored one goal for the Croatian under-19 team in 1998 and 1999. By a quirk of fate, his international debut came against Germany in February 2004 in a friendly match where the Germans claimed a 2–1 victory.

Euro 2004

He was selected to play for Croatia in the UEFA Euro 2004. However, he was left on the substitutes bench throughout the tournament. Croatia did not advance past the group stage and the media often attributed that to the lack of inclusion of Klasnić, among other things.

2006 World Cup

Qualifying

In the Croatia national team, however, his performances during 2004–05 were rather modest as he only netted one goal in eight qualifying matches for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, being on target in the team's opening qualifier against Hungary in September 2004, which they easily won 3–0. In February 2005, he gave a good performance for the national team in a friendly match against Israel, scoring twice in a 3–3 draw. On the first day of March 2006, he was on target for Croatia once again as he netted their first goal in a 3–2 win over Argentina in another friendly match.

Tournament

In May 2006, he was expectedly named to the Croatia national 23-man squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in…

Club

International

Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Klasnić goal.

FC St. Pauli

2. Bundesliga Promotion: 2000–01 Werder Bremen

Bundesliga: 2003–04 DFB-Pokal: 2003–04 DFB-Ligapokal: 2006 Individual

DFB-Pokal top scorer: 2003–04 DFL-Ligapokal top scorer: 2006 kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2005–06 kicker Man of the Year: 2007