1. Claudio Pizarro is currently serving as club ambassador for Bayern Munich.
56 Facts About Claudio Pizarro
1. 2.
Claudio Pizarro was captain of Peru's national football team, being its fifth highest scorer.
3.
Claudio Pizarro is the highest scorer and most successful Latin American football player in the history of German football.
4.
Claudio Pizarro is the all-time top scorer of SV Werder Bremen, the ninth top scorer in the history of Bayern Munich and the sixth top scorer in the history of the Bundesliga and its second top scorer in the 21st century.
5.
Claudio Pizarro is among the 20 top scorers in the history of UEFA club competitions and is the seventh highest South American scorer in European football history.
6.
Claudio Pizarro is the second highest foreign scorer and sixth all-time historic scorer in the Bundesliga.
7.
Claudio Pizarro is the Latin American football player with the most goals scored and titles won in the history of German football.
8.
Claudio Pizarro is the ninth all-time top scorer for the DFB-Pokal, top scorer for Werder Bremen, the ninth all-time top scorer for Bayern Munich, the tenth historical scorer of the UEFA Europa League and the fifth historical scorer of Peru's national football team.
9.
Claudio Pizarro is the foreign player with the most games played in the history of Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal.
10.
Claudio Pizarro is considered an idol by Bayern Munich's fans and a legend of Werder Bremen's, teams for which he scored more than 100 goals each.
11.
Claudio Pizarro participated in the 2004 and 2007 Copa America.
12.
Claudio Pizarro started playing in his youth in the Academia Deportiva Cantolao in Callao.
13.
Claudio Pizarro has Italian ancestry; some of his paternal great-grandparents were from Brescia, while his maternal grandparents came from Frattaminore, near Naples.
14.
Claudio Pizarro started his professional career playing with Deportivo Pesquero, a small provincial team in the city of Chimbote in the north of Peru, at the age of 17.
15.
Claudio Pizarro finished the 1996 season with three goals in 16 appearances.
16.
Claudio Pizarro scored 25 goals over two seasons with Alianza Lima and was part of the team that ended in second position in the Torneo Apertura of Peru in 1999.
17.
Shortly after his success at Alianza, Claudio Pizarro was sold to Werder Bremen in the German Bundesliga.
18.
Claudio Pizarro joined Werder Bremen for the first time in the summer of 1999 when he was only 20 years old.
19.
Claudio Pizarro ended his first Bundesliga season scoring 10 goals in 25 matches.
20.
In that season, Claudio Pizarro made his UEFA Cup debut, scoring 3 times in 9 appearances.
21.
Claudio Pizarro was protagonist in the third round tie against French rival Olympique Lyonnais.
22.
Claudio Pizarro had 7 Champions League and 1 League Cup appearances.
23.
Claudio Pizarro later rejected a contract extension offered by Bayern Munich's director Franz Beckenbauer.
24.
Claudio Pizarro demanded an increase in pay, which angered Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who was quoted saying that "anyone wishing to earn as much as Shevchenko had better start playing like Shevchenko".
25.
On 20 May 2007, Bayern Munich announced Claudio Pizarro would be leaving the club.
26.
On 1 July 2007, Chelsea officially signed Claudio Pizarro and confirmed that he had completed a medical evaluation and agreed on personal terms to join based on a Bosman transfer, signing a four-year contract.
27.
Claudio Pizarro was the first Peruvian to sign for Chelsea.
28.
Claudio Pizarro revealed that his decision was influenced by the advice of his national teammate Nolberto Solano, who played in England for Newcastle, Aston Villa and West Ham United, as well as Owen Hargreaves, who at the time played for Bayern Munich with Claudio Pizarro.
29.
Claudio Pizarro was assigned the number 14, the same number he has in the Peruvian National Team, and his former number at Bayern Munich, succeeding Geremi at Chelsea.
30.
Claudio Pizarro's debut was against Manchester United in the 2007 FA Community Shield, coming on as a substitute, but then missed the penalty shootout as Chelsea lost the match.
31.
Claudio Pizarro scored the only goal in a match against Birmingham.
32.
On 15 August 2008, Claudio Pizarro was loaned to Werder Bremen until the end of the season.
33.
On 18 August 2009, Claudio Pizarro signed permanently his return to Werder Bremen for an undisclosed amount after an impressing performance in the previous season.
34.
On 23 October 2010, Claudio Pizarro scored his 134th goal in the Bundesliga, making him the top foreign-born scorer in the league's history, after being tied with Giovane Elber.
35.
On 15 May 2012, Claudio Pizarro announced that he would leave Werder Bremen in the summer.
36.
Claudio Pizarro finished his final season with 18 goals in 29 appearances.
37.
On 26 May 2012, Claudio Pizarro signed a one-year contract with his former German team, Bayern Munich.
38.
Claudio Pizarro had 6 Champions League appearances, a German Super Cup appearance, and a FIFA World Club Cup appearance.
39.
Claudio Pizarro failed to score in any of his Bundesliga or Champions League matches during the rest of the season.
40.
On 7 September 2015, Claudio Pizarro joined Werder Bremen for the fourth time in his career, agreeing to a one-year contract.
41.
The then 37-year old Claudio Pizarro broke a record which stood for 31 years, becoming the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the Bundesliga.
42.
On 29 September 2017, Claudio Pizarro signed a one-year contract with 1.
43.
On 29 July 2018, Claudio Pizarro signed a one-year contract with Werder Bremen joining them for the fifth time in his career.
44.
On 16 February 2019, with his stoppage equaliser in the away match against Hertha BSC, Claudio Pizarro became the oldest scorer in the history of the Bundesliga at 40 years and 136 days of age.
45.
Claudio Pizarro broke the record previously held since August 1996 by Miroslav Votava.
46.
Claudio Pizarro's goal made him the first and only player to score in 21 consecutive calendar years in the Bundesliga.
47.
Claudio Pizarro was no longer considered in the team for the following 2 relegation playoff games.
48.
Claudio Pizarro has gone on to be a starting player at the 2004,2007 and 2015 Copa America tournaments, as well as the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns for the 2002,2006,2010,2014 and 2018.
49.
Claudio Pizarro was suspended 18 months from the national team starting on the day before the match.
50.
Since Claudio Pizarro claimed to be innocent, he started a trial against the Peruvian Football Federation.
51.
On 17 April 2009, Claudio Pizarro won a court victory over his national federation.
52.
The sentence quoted: "The facts put forward by in relation to Claudio Pizarro were not supported by concrete evidence", sport's highest court said in a statement.
53.
Claudio Pizarro expressed his rejoice with the final result, declaring: "I am very satisfied and feel vindicated",.
54.
Claudio Pizarro has a sister, Patricia, and a younger brother, Diego.
55.
Claudio Pizarro is married to his teenage sweetheart, Karla Salcedo, having two sons and a daughter.
56.
On 15 September 2020, Claudio Pizarro became an ambassador for Bayern Munich.