Kevin Kurányi

Football player infobox
playername = Kevin Kurányi


fullname = Kevin Dennis Kurányi
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1982|3|2
cityofbirth = Rio de Janeiro
countryofbirth = Brazil
height = height|m=1.90
currentclub = Schalke
clubnumber = 22
height = height|m=1.90
position = Striker
youthyears = 1988–1993
1993–1994
1995
1996
1996
1997
1997–2001
youthclubs = Serrano FC
Las Promesas
Sporting 89 San Miguelito
Serrano FC
Las Promesas
Serrano FC
VfB Stuttgart
years = 2001–2003
2001–2005
2005–
clubs = Stuttgart II
Stuttgart
Schalke
caps(goals) = 033 (10)
099 (40)
103 (44)
nationalyears = 2002–2003
2003–
nationalteam = Germany U-21
Germany
nationalcaps(goals) = 006 0(2)
052 (19)
pcupdate = October 5 2008
ntupdate = September 6 2008

Kevin Dennis Kurányi (born March 2, 1982 in Rio de Janeiro) is a German football player who currently plays for the German Bundesliga team Schalke 04. He is a striker who possesses aerial ability and finishing skills.

He was born to a German-Hungarian [cite web |url=http://www.skysports.com/football/euro2008/player-profiles/0,23132,12023_92950,00.html |title=Kevin Kurányi |accessdate=2008-06-09 |accessmonthday= |accessdaymonth= |accessyear= |author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work=Sky Sports |publisher= |pages= |language= |doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] 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 [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3590697.stm |title=Kevin Kurányi |accessdate=2008-06-09 |accessmonthday= |accessdaymonth= |accessyear= |author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=2004-05-25 |year= |month= |format= |work=BBC Sport |publisher= |pages= |language= |doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] .

Career

Club career

Kuranyi started his career 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 only one year before going back to Serrano FC. Kuranyi returned to Las Promesas in 1996 for another 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 was considered for VfB's professional team and, in 2001, signed his first professional contract.

After 33 matches (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 and scored 10 goals. In the 2002-2003 season of the Bundesliga, he was the best German goal-scorer and was one of the main reasons Stuttgart finished second in the league. In this particular season, VfB and its "Junge Wilde" ("wild young ones") – Timo Hildebrand, Andreas Hinkel, Alexander Hleb, Philipp Lahm and Kuranyi – delighted the fans in Germany with superb attacking football.

He left Stuttgart during the 2005 summer transfer window to join Schalke, signing until 2009-2010. At Gelsenkirchen, he finished top goalscorer for the team from 2005-08, while the team achieved three consecutive UEFA Champions League berths.

On April 15, 2008, Kuranyi scored 4 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 Kuranyi also netting.

International career

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

In 2006-2007 he regained his form. After an absence of 15 months he was therefore recalled to play for the national team, scoring during Germany's 3-1 win against Switzerland on February 7, 2007, in a friendly in Düsseldorf. In Germany's Euro 2008 qualifying match against the Czech Republic on March 24, 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 help the Germans 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.

International goals

::"Scores and results table. Germany's goal tally first:"

References

External links

* [http://www.kevin-kuranyi.de/ The Kevin Kurányi Official Website] de icon en icon pt icon
* [http://fussballdaten.de/spieler/kuranyikevin/ Career stats at fussballdaten.de] de icon