Kevin Kurányi

Kevin Kurányi

Personal information
Full name	Kevin Dennis Kurányi
Date of birth	2 March 1982 (1982-03-02) (age 28)
Place of birth	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	FC Dynamo Moscow
Number	22
Youth career
1988–1993	Serrano
1993–1994	Las Promesas Panama
1995	Sporting 89
1996	Las Promesas Panama
1996–1997	Serrano
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2003	Stuttgart II	33	(10)
2001–2005	Stuttgart	99	(40)
2005–2010	Schalke 04	162	(71)
2010–	Dynamo Moscow	4	(3)
National team
2002–2003	Germany U-21	06	(2)
2003–2008	Germany	52	(19)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:09, 29 August 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Kevin Dennis Kurányi (born 2 March 1982) is a German footballer who plays in Russia for Dynamo Moscow.^[1] He is a striker who possesses aerial ability and finishing skills.

Early life

He was born in Brazil to a German-Hungarian^[2] father and a Panamanian mother. He eventually opted to play for the German national football team after being qualified to play for Brazil, Hungary and Panama.^[3]

Career

Club career

Kurányi began playing football in 1988 for Petrópolis-based Serrano FC in Brazil, when he was six years old. In 1993 he transferred to Panamanian club Las Promesas, where he played for one year before going back to Serrano FC. Kurányi returned to Las Promesas in 1996 for a further year. In 1997 he moved to Germany, enlisting at VfB Stuttgart's B youth team. After playing a few games in the Germany national under-21 football team, he signed his first professional contract for VfB in 2001.

Following on from his 33 matches and 10 goals for the amateur team, he played 99 matches for VfB Stuttgart's professional team, scoring 40 goals. He also took part in 22 European team championship games, scoring 10 goals. In the 2002–03 season of the Bundesliga, he was the top German goal-scorer and one of the main reasons for Stuttgart's second place finish in the league. That year, VfB and its "Junge Wilde" ("wild young ones"), comprising Timo Hildebrand, Andreas Hinkel, Alexander Hleb, Philipp Lahm and Kurányi, delighted Stuttgart fans with superb attacking football.

He left Stuttgart during the 2005 summer transfer window to join Schalke, signing to 2009–10. At Gelsenkirchen, he finished top goalscorer for the team from 2005–08, while the team achieved three consecutive UEFA Champions League berths.

On 15 April 2008, Kurányi scored four goals in Schalke's 5-0 defeat of Energie Cottbus in a league match, the other being an own goal. Three days earlier, incidentally, Schalke were beaten 5-1 at Werder Bremen, with Kurányi also netting.

On 9 May 2010, it was announced that Kurányi would move to Dynamo Moscow on 1 July 2010^[4] and signed a three year contract.^[5]

International career

Kurányi made his debut for Germany during the Euro 2004 qualifier against Lithuania on 29 March 2003. In his third appearance, the young striker netted Germany's final qualifying goal in their 3-0 defeat of Iceland. He played for his adopted country at the tournament's finals and at the 2005 Confederations Cup but, because of his poor form in the 2005–06 season, was not selected for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

In 2006–07, he regained his touch and after an absence of 15 months, he was recalled to the national team, scoring during Germany's 3-1 win against Switzerland on 7 February 2007, in a friendly in Düsseldorf. In Germany's Euro 2008 qualifying match against the Czech Republic on 24 March, he scored both goals in the 2-1 victory. He was brought on during the second half of the Euro 2008 final against Spain for Thomas Hitzlsperger, but was unable to score in the 0-1 loss, receiving a yellow card in the process. Incidentally, the appearance in the final marked his 50th cap for Germany.

On 11 October 2008, Kurányi was left out of the 18-man squad to face Russia. After watching the first half from the stands with other unselected players, he left the stadium during the half-time interval and failed to return to the German team hotel. After this incident, German team coach Joachim Löw said that he would never again select Kurányi for the national team.^[6] One of his advisors said of the incident to reporters "He decided what he for himself found to be right, which was to say I’m going home."^[7]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	11 October 2003	AOL Arena, Hamburg, Germany	Iceland	3-0	3-0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
2.	31 March 2004	RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany	Belgium	1-0	3-0	Friendly
3.	2 June 2004	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	1-0	2-0	Friendly
4.	2 June 2004	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	2-0	2-0	Friendly
5.	18 August 2004	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	1-0	3-1	Friendly
6.	18 August 2004	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	2-1	3-1	Friendly
7.	18 August 2004	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	3-1	3-1	Friendly
8.	8 September 2004	Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany	Brazil	1-1	1-1	Friendly
9.	17 November 2004	Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany	Cameroon	1-0	3-0	Friendly
10.	21 December 2004	Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	Thailand	1-0	5-1	Friendly
11.	21 December 2004	Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	Thailand	2-0	5-1	Friendly
12.	9 February 2005	LTU Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany	Argentina	2-1	2-2	Friendly
13.	15 June 2005	Waldstadion, Frankfurt, Germany	Australia	1-0	4-3	FIFA Confederations Cup 2005
14.	21 June 2005	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg, Germany	Argentina	1-0	2-2	FIFA Confederations Cup 2005
15.	7 February 2007	LTU Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany	Switzerland	1-0	3-1	Friendly
16.	24 March 2007	Stadion Eden, Prague, Czech Republic	Czech Republic	1-0	2-1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
17.	24 March 2007	Stadion Eden, Prague, Czech Republic	Czech Republic	2-0	2-1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
18.	2 June 2007	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg, Germany	San Marino	1-0	6-0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
19.	22 August 2007	Wembley Stadium, London, England	England	1-1	2-1	Friendly

Personal life

Kurányi holds German, Panamanian, and Brazilian citizenship. Kurányi's favorite team is Brazilian club Flamengo.^[8] He can speak German, Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Hungarian.

His wife Viktorija Peličić is Croatian. They married on 28 April 2007 in Stuttgart. On 27 September 2005 Kurányi and his wife had their first child, a son named Karlo. Their second child, a daughter named Vivien Carmen, was born on 6 January 2008.

Statistics

As of 22 August 2010 (2010 -08-22)^[update]

References

External links

• Kevin Kurányi's Official Website (German) (English) (Portuguese) (Russian)
• Career stats at fussballdaten.de (German)

Germany Squad Germany squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Kahn(c) • 2 Hinkel • 3 Friedrich • 4 Wörns • 5 Nowotny • 6 Baumann • 7 Schweinsteiger • 8 Hamann • 9 Bobic • 10 Kurányi • 11 Klose • 12 Lehmann • 13 Ballack • 14 Brdarić • 15 Kehl • 16 Jeremies • 17 Ziege • 18 Ernst • 19 Schneider • 20 Podolski • 21 Lahm • 22 Frings • 23 Hildebrand • Coach: Völler Germany squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place 1 Kahn (c) • 2 Hinkel • 3 Friedrich • 4 Huth • 5 Owomoyela • 6 Engelhardt • 7 Schweinsteiger • 8 Frings • 9 Hanke • 10 Deisler • 11 Brdarić • 12 Lehmann • 13 Ballack • 14 Asamoah • 15 Ernst • 16 Hitzlsperger • 17 Mertesacker • 18 Borowski • 19 Schneider • 20 Podolski • 21 Schulz • 22 Kurányi • 23 Hildebrand • Coach: Klinsmann Germany squad – UEFA Euro 2008 Runners-up 1 Lehmann • 2 Jansen • 3 Friedrich • 4 Fritz • 5 Westermann • 6 Rolfes • 7 Schweinsteiger • 8 Frings • 9 Gómez • 10 Neuville • 11 Klose • 12 Enke • 13 Ballack(c) • 14 Trochowski • 15 Hitzlsperger • 16 Lahm • 17 Mertesacker • 18 Borowski • 19 Odonkor • 20 Podolski • 21 Metzelder • 22 Kurányi • 23 Adler • Coach: Löw