Sports Nicknames - Flipper, Klinsi, The Diver

Jurgen Klinsmann was a superstar football player from the 1980s and 1990s, who won the World Cup and the European Cup with Germany and excelled in three major European leagues on the club level.



Jurgen Klinsmann was a physical striker who could shoot with either foot. He had pace and he was aggressive near the goal. Klinsmann had the ability to move through defenders and change games. He was a confident leader on the pitch.

Klinsmann made his name playing for VfB Stuttgart and announced his arrival into the spotlight with a spectacular acrobatic goal in a game against his future employer Bayern Munich. Jurgen also played for Inter Milan, Monaco and Tottenham Hotspur. Wherever he was, Klinsmann brought creativity into the game and adjusted his playing style to best fit in. Most importantly, he consistently scored goals, some of which are quite memorable.

Klinsmann is one of the most capped German players ever, only behind legends such as Lothar Matthaus, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller, Phillip Lahm and Manuel Neuer. He won the World Cup with Germany in 1990 and captained the team to Euro glory in 1996.

Over his career Jurgen was called "Flipper" by the fans, because of the way he sometimes clumsily received the ball. In German language this means pinball machine. There is also a partial reference to the, at the time, popular television show "Flipper", featuring a trick-performing dolphin. Klinsmann was also known as "The Diver" in England, for his tendency to exaggerate a foul with the aim of having the opposing player ejected from the game. Klinsmann took all the jokes at his expense with healthy humor and even celebrated his first goal for Tottenham with a diving celebration.

After his playing days, Jurgen Klinsmann became a football manager and has coached Bayern, the German national team and the USA national team. He is also called "Klinsi" by the fans and media.

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