Oliver Kahn

Oliver Kahn (born June 15, 1969 in Karlsruhe,
Germany) is a Germany|German football
(soccer)|football goalkeeper. He stars for the
Germany national football team|German national
team (since 1995) and Bayern Munich|Bayern
München (since 1994). He is known as King Kahn or
Kahn, the Titan for his prowess in the game.

Kahn started his career at Karlsruher SC, and was
transferred to Bayern Munich in 1994 for the
(then) huge sum of 4.8 million Deutschmark,
roughly 2.5 million Euro. Although suffering a
rupture of his cruciate ligament in the next
season, he developed into a most formidable
goalkeeper.

In 2002, he won the adidas Golden Ball for best
player and the Yashin Award for top goalkeeper of
the Wc|2002. He also started for his country at
Ec2|2000 and Ec2|2004.

He was married to Simone, but  split up in 2004,
after  he was  connected to former barwoman Verena
Kerth, with whom he is a couple  ever since.

== Player profile ==
Kahn is a player obsessed by perfection, and
trains fanatically, similar to Michael Jordan. He
is hyper-competitive and always demands 100% from
himself and his teammates. On the pitch, he is a
charismatic, dominant presence who leads his
defense and intimidates the opposition. His
reflexes are stellar, his control of the box is
excellent, and he excels in 1-vs-1-situations.

However, approaching age (and overcoming private
problems), his game has declined slowly. He hit a
nadir when he allowed a jaw-dropping howler goal
against Real Madrid in 2004, but since then, has
recovered to become a worldclass keeper once
again.He plans to remain the No 1 Goalie under the
posts of the german National Team and reach so the
world Cup 2006 in his homeland Germany, although
trainer Jurgen Klinsmann's choices, with him
playing alternatively with Jens Lehmann and Timo
Hildebrand , make the enterprise difficult for
him. Kahn believes he can play at top level for 3
or 4 more years to come.

== Ridicule ==
In 1996, popular German comedian Harald Schmidt
lip-synced Kahn, when he angrily shouted at
colleague Andreas Herzog, by using ape noises
("Uh-uh-uh'). This became a cult, and from that
moment on, fans of the opposing team would taunt
him by making ape noises and throwing bananas at
him. But since his stellar performance in the 2002
World Cup, this has mostly ceased.

== Trivia ==
He demands financial rights for whatever use of
his image, therefore, he does not allow his name
to be used in some football simulation games such
as Football Manager, where he instead appears as
Jens Mustermann (Mustermann being the fictitious
name used in sample IDs and passports, Jens as
provocation, because it is the first name of his
biggest rival, Jens Lehmann).