Ivan Klasnić

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Personal information
Ivan Klasnić

Date of birth	29 January 1980
Place of birth	Hamburg, Germany
Height	1.86 m
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Werder Bremen
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-2001 2001-present	St. Pauli Werder Bremen	95 (26) 135 (42)
National team²
2001 2004-present	Croatia U-21 Croatia	3 (1) 26 (8)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 December 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 7 October 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Ivan Klasnić [ˈiʋan ˈklasnitɕ] (born January 29, 1980) is a German-born Croatian football player who currently plays for Bundesliga side Werder Bremen. He is considered as one of Croatia's brightest young talents. Speedy and a telling figure in the air, Ivan Klasnić is also a tricky customer on the floor, where he has a knack for scoring from unpromising situations.

As of January 21, 2007 he was linked in a deal with SL Benfica.

As of late January, Klasnić is awaiting a kidney transplantation. On January 27, 2006. his body rejected the kidney his mother Šima had donated. He is currently awaiting for a new operation and a suitable kidney.

On March 23, 2007 he underwent surgery to replace the rejected kidney. After speculation that the donor would be his brother Josip, it was released that actually the donor was his father. The player released the following statement "Thank God, the transplant went very well. My body accepted my father's kidney and we're both doing well. The doctors already told me I would be able to continue playing football".

[edit] Player's profile

Klasnić was born in Hamburg, Germany, to a family of Croat gastarbeiters hailing from Bosnia. He started his professional career playing for local side St. Pauli and impressed as a striker in the three and half seasons he played for the club in the Second Bundesliga since becoming a professional in January 1998. Prior to his spell at St. Pauli, he has played for less known amateur sides Union 03 Hamburg and TSV Stellingen.

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 German Cup 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.

Klasnić turned down an invitation from Rudi Völler to play for Germany. He also turned down an invitation from Blaž Slišković to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina and chose to play for Croatia instead as he 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.

He was selected to play for Croatia in the 2004 European Football Championship. 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.

Participating in the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League season, Klasnić scored 5 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 advance to the first knock-out stage of the competition before losing to strong French side Olympique Lyonnais, who crushed them 10-2 on aggregate.

In the Croatian national team, however, his performance during the same two years was 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.

In May 2006, he was expectedly named to the Croatian 23-man squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany and displayed really good shape throughout the month as he first scored four goals in three Bundesliga matches for Werder Bremen, ending the 2005-06 Bundesliga season with a total of 15 goals scored, and then netted a brace for the national team in a World Cup preparation friendly against Austria on May 23, where they easily won 4-1. However, as the World Cup approached his good shape started to fade and he did not manage to score any further goals in the remaining three preparation matches as well as in all three group matches at the tournament, where Croatia exited the competition in the first round with two draws and a defeat.

His start in the 2006-07 season was not very successful either and he had to make seven Bundesliga appearances before finally scoring his first league goal of the season in Werder Bremen's quite disappointing 1-1 draw against underdogs Energie Cottbus at home. He has also lost his place in Croatia's starting 11 after giving two modest performances in the opening two qualifying matches for the 2008 European Football Championship, where he nevertheless managed to score one goal in the 7-0 crushing of minnows Andorra. In the following two matches, against England and Israel, he was left an unused substitute.

[edit] External links

	Croatia squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Pletikosa \| 2 Srna \| 3 Šimunić \| 4 R. Kovač \| 5 Tudor \| 6 Vranješ \| 7 Šimić \| 8 Babić \| 9 Pršo \| 10 N. Kovač \| 11 Tokić \| 12 Didulica \| 13 Tomas \| 14 Modrić \| 15 I. Leko \| 16 J. Leko \| 17 Klasnić \| 18 Olić \| 19 N. Kranjčar \| 20 Šerić \| 21 Balaban \| 22 Bošnjak \| 23 Butina \| Coach: Z. Kranjčar

SV Werder Bremen - Current Squad
1 Reinke \| 3 Pasanen \| 4 Naldo \| 5 Wome \| 6 Baumann \| 7 Vranješ \| 8 Fritz \| 9 Rosenberg \| 10 Diego \| 11 Klose \| 14 Hunt \| 15 Owomoyela \| 16 Andreasen \| 17 Klasnić \| 18 Wiese \| 19 Polenz \| 20 D. Jensen \| 22 Frings \| 23 Almeida \| 24 Borowski \| 26 Mohr \| 27 Schulz \| 29 Mertesacker \| 30 K. Jensen \| 32 Schachten \| 33 Vander \| 34 Harnik \| 37 Rockenbach \| 38 Bischoff