Claudio Miguel Pizarro Bosio (; born 3 October 1978) is a Peruvian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently serving as club ambassador for Bayern Munich. He was captain of Peru's national football team, and was its fifth-highest scorer. He is the highest scorer and most successful Latin American football player in the history of German football. He 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, where he scored 197 goals in 490 appearances. He is also the oldest player to score a goal in the Bundesliga, at over 40 years old.
Pizarro began his professional career in Peru with Deportivo Pesquero and Alianza Lima before joining Werder Bremen in 1999. He signed for Bayern Munich in 2001, where he won multiple Bundesliga titles and domestic cups during two separate spells. He also had a stint with Chelsea F.C. in the Premier League and a season with 1. FC Köln before retiring in 2020 after a fifth spell at Werder Bremen.
With the Peru national football team, Pizarro earned 85 caps and scored 20 goals. He captained Peru to third place at the 2015 Copa América and participated in the 2004 and 2007 editions of the tournament as well.
Early years Pizarro was born to Patricia Bosio and Claudio Pizarro Dávila, a naval officer, in Callao, Peru and raised in Santiago de Surco district of Lima, Peru. He started playing in his youth in the Academia Deportiva Cantolao in Callao. Pizarro has Italian ancestry; some of his paternal great-grandparents were from Brescia, while his maternal grandparents came from Frattaminore, near Naples.
Club career
Deportivo Pesquero 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. His first professional match was in 1996 against Alianza Lima. He scored his first two goals two weeks later against Atletico Torino in the 2–1 victory of Deportivo Pesquero. He finished the 1996 season with three goals in 16 appearances.
Alianza Lima 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. He also made seven appearances in Copa Libertadores. Shortly after his success at Alianza, Pizarro was sold to Werder Bremen in the German Bundesliga. Later that year, he earned his first call-up for the Peru national football team.
Werder Bremen Pizarro joined Werder Bremen for the first time in the summer of 1999 when he was only 20 years old. His first match in the Bundesliga was on 28 August of that year, a 1–1 draw against Hertha BSC, joining as a second-half substitute. In his second appearance on 12 September, Pizarro scored his first Bundesliga goal in the 5–0 victory over 1. FC Kaiserslautern at home. One week later, Pizarro made his first hat-trick in the 7–2 victory over VfL Wolfsburg, establishing himself as one of the most promising talents. He ended his first Bundesliga season scoring 10 goals in 25 matches. In that season, Pizarro also made his UEFA Cup debut, scoring 3 times in 9 appearances. In his first ever match on 15 September, he scored 2 goals in the 5–0 home win over Norway's FK Bodø/Glimt. He was protagonist in the third round tie against French rival Olympique Lyonnais. After losing the first leg away 3–0, Pizarro helped Werder Bremen on one of the best comebacks in UEFA competition history. In the returning leg, he scored the fourth goal of a 4–0 win at Weserstadion. The result allowed Werder Bremen to move to the next round with a 4–3 on the aggregate.
Pizarro's 38 goals over 2 seasons for Werder Bremen made him the rising star of Peruvian football, coveted by managers of major European teams. After the 2000–01 season, Werder Bremen announced that it would not prevent Pizarro from moving out as the push to secure Pizarro's services intensified. The media indicated that Real Madrid and Barcelona, Inter Milan, and Werder Bremen's Bundesliga rival Borussia Dortmund were in to sign Pizarro. The most speculated transfer of a Peruvian footballer monopolized the interest of its local media. After seeming destined for Spain, Pizarro ended weeks of speculation by signing for Bayern Munich on 7 June 2001.
Bayern Munich
Pizarro started at Bayern with a goal in the fourth minute of the game against Schalke 04 in the second match of the 2001–02 Bundesliga season. In his first season, he scored 15 goals in 30 Bundesliga and 4 German Cup appearances, 4 goals in 14 appearances in the UEFA Champions League, one appearance in the Intercontinental Cup, and one appearance in the UEFA Super Cup.
Pizarro was a key player in Bayern Munich's Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double in the 2002–03 season. On 30 November 2002, Pizarro appeared in his 100th Bundesliga match in the 2–0 home win over Hertha BSC, thanks to a Michael Ballack brace. During the 2002–03 season, Pizarro scored 15 goals in 31 appearances in the Bundesliga, 2 goals in 6 DFB-Pokal appearances, 2 goals in 7 Champions League appearances. He also had 2 League Cup appearances.
During the 2003–04 season, he scored 11 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances and 1 goal in 4 DFB-Pokal appearances. He also had 7 Champions League and 1 League Cup appearances.
During the 2004–05 season, Pizarro scored 21 goals in 35 appearances.
During the 2005–06 season, he scored 11 goals in 26 Bundesliga appearances, 5 goals in 5 German Cup appearances, 1 goal in 6 Champions League appearances, and an appearance in the League Cup.
His popularity with Bayern fans earned him the nickname "Bomber of the Andes", a reference to his Peruvian origin as well as to the legendary Bayern striker Gerd Müller, nicknamed "Bomber". On some occasions, he was also called "Inca God" by the media.
Pizarro's contract with the German champions expired at the end of the 2006–07 season and negotiations on an extension were not making progress, with Sevilla, Benfica and Rangers ready to step in. Pizarro later rejected a contract extension offered by Bayern Munich's director Franz Beckenbauer. 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".
On 20 May 2007, Bayern Munich announced Pizarro would be leaving the club. He finished the 2006–07 season with 12 goals in 45 appearances.
Chelsea
On 1 July 2007, Chelsea officially signed 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. He was the first Peruvian to sign for Chelsea. Pizarro also 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 Pizarro.
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. His 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. Nevertheless, his season with Chelsea got off to a good start, scoring a goal on the opening weekend of the 2007–08 Premier League season against Birmingham City. After Chelsea's coach José Mourinho's departure and the signing of French striker Nicolas Anelka, Pizarro found himself surplus to the then new manager Avram Grant. Despite this, Pizarro did play an important role in Chelsea progressing to the fourth round of the 2008 FA Cup, by contributing to a rebound of QPR keeper Lee Camp that went into the net. He also scored the only goal in a match against Birmingham. This meant that his only two Premier League goals with Chelsea came in separate games against Birmingham City.
Werder Bremen (loan)
On 15 August 2008, Pizarro was loaned to Werder Bremen until the end of the season. Soon after the announcement, a large group of Werder Bremen fans lined up to buy the new Pizarro's jersey showing that he was still appreciated in Bremen seven years after leaving. He was assigned the number 24 and scored his first goal in his second appearance, Werder Bremen's first goal in a 3–2 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach on 30 August. Pizarro scored Werder Bremen's fourth goal in the club's impressive 5–2 away victory over Bayern Munich on 20 September at the Allianz Arena. Former Werder Bremen teammate Tim Borowski scored both of Bayern Munich's goals.
On 26 February 2009, Pizarro scored a second-half brace for Werder Bremen, coming back from 2–0 down to secure a 2–2 draw and a 3–3 aggregate win (away goals rule), to dump A.C. Milan out of the UEFA Cup in the Round of 32. In the second-leg of their UEFA Cup quarter-final match against Udinese on 17 April, Pizarro scored once and teammate Diego notched a brace as the teams played out an exciting 3–3 draw, with Werder Bremen advancing to the semi-finals with a 6–4 aggregate victory. He scored a hat-trick on 4 May as Bremen beat Hannover 4–1, keeping alive their push for a European place.
Pizarro's role was fundamental in the qualification of Werder Bremen to the UEFA Cup Final, scoring a goal in the 3–2 away victory over Hamburg on 7 May, completing a 3–3 aggregate victory over their German rivals in the semi-finals. However, with the absence of playmaker Diego in the final against Shakhtar Donetsk, Pizarro could not save the team from a 2–1 defeat after extra time to the Ukrainian champions on 20 May 2009 at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul.
Pizarro was decisive and important for Werder Bremen during his return, scoring 17 goals in just 26 Bundesliga appearances in the 2008–09 season.
Third stint at Werder Bremen On 18 August 2009, Pizarro signed permanently his return to Werder Bremen for an undisclosed amount after an impressing performance in the previous season. In his second season with Werder Bremen, he continued to be one of the top Bundesliga scorers with 16 goals. On 23 October 2010, 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 Élber. Pizarro finished the 2010–11 season with 14 goals in 29 appearances. On 15 May 2012, Pizarro announced that he would leave Werder Bremen in the summer. He finished his final season with 18 goals in 29 appearances.
Return to Bayern Munich
On 26 May 2012, Pizarro signed a one-year contract with his former German team, Bayern Munich. On 31 October, Pizarro scored 2 goals against Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal. In the Champions League match against Lille on 7 November, Pizarro scored a hat-trick within the first 33 minutes of the game as Bayern defeated their French opponents 6–1. On 30 March 2013, Pizarro scored 4 goals, his firsts in the Bundesliga season, and provided two assists in a 9–2 win of Bayern Munich against Hamburg. On 10 April 2013, Pizarro came off the bench to score a 90th-minute goal against Juventus in the quarter-final of the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League, which would end in a 0–2 win for Bayern Munich (0–4 in the aggregate). Pizarro scored twice more and provided a further two assists in Bayern Munich's 6–1 victory over Hannover 96 on 20 April. He finished the 2012–13 season with 13 goals in 28 appearances.
On 19 April 2014, Pizarro scored in Bayern Munich's 2–0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig, making him a scorer to every single Bundesliga team. During the 2013–14 season, he scored 10 goals in 17 Bundesliga appearances, 1 goal in 2 German Cup appearances. He also had 6 Champions League appearances, a German Super Cup appearance, and a FIFA Club World Cup appearance.