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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, being its fifth highest scorer. He is the highest scorer and most successful 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 and its second top scorer in the 21st century. He is also among the 20 top scorers in the history of UEFA club competitions and is the seventh highest South American scorer in European football history.
His professional debut came in 1996, with Deportivo Pesquero. In 1998, he joined Alianza Lima, where he won a Peruvian Primera División, being highlighted as the best player of the season. In 1999, he was signed by Werder Bremen from the Bundesliga. Just one year later, he was chosen as the newcomer player of the championship and was included in the ideal team of the 2000–01 season. In 2001, he signed for Bayern Munich and the following seasons he won one Intercontinental Cup, 2 Bundesligas, 4 (German Cups), 2 (German League Cups) and the DFL-Supercup (German Super Cup). In addition, he was the top scorer in the DFB-Pokal in the 2004–05 and 2005–06 editions.
In 2007, he signed for Chelsea F.C. scoring on his debut and achieving runner-up in the Premier League at the end of the season. In 2009, he returned to Bremen, where he was champion of the 2008–09 DFB-Pokal and the unofficial 2009 German Supercup, in addition to becoming top scorer in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. In 2012, he was hired again by Bayern Munich, winning the UEFA Champions League, the Club World Cup, the European Super Cup, the DFL-Supercup, three Bundesligas and two DFB-Pokale, thus becoming the foreign player with most titles in the history of Bayern Munich, a total of 18. In mid-2015, he returned to Werder Bremen. In 2017, he was hired by the 1. FC Köln, from which he separated a year later to return to Werder Bremen.
Pizarro is the Peruvian football player with the most goals scored and games played in Europe and in German football. He is the second highest foreign scorer and sixth all-time historic scorer in the Bundesliga (197 goals). He is also the Latin American football player with the most goals scored and titles won in the history of German football. He is the ninth all-time top scorer for the DFB-Pokal (34 goals), top scorer for Werder Bremen (153 goals), the ninth all-time top scorer for Bayern Munich (125 goals), the tenth historical scorer of the UEFA Europa League (24 goals) and the fifth historical scorer of Peru's national football team (20 goals). He is also the foreign player with the most games played in the history of Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal. 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. As well as being one of the players with the most seasons played in the history of the German league, Pizarro is also the oldest player to score a goal in the Bundesliga (at over 40 years old).
In international competitions, he is the fourth highest Latin American scorer in European Cups (Champions League, UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League) with 48 goals, ranking only behind Lionel Messi, Alfredo Di Stéfano and Sergio Agüero. With the Peru national football team he is the fifth highest scorer with 20 goals and the tenth with the most matches (85). With the senior team, he achieved the third place at the 2015 Copa América. He also participated in the 2004 and 2007 Copa América.
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 FC 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.
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's 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 FC, 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.
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.
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 Calcio 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 Hamburger SV 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.
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.
His contract wasn't renewed after the 2014–15 season, when he scored just one goal in 17 appearances. He failed to score in any of his Bundesliga or Champions League matches during the rest of the season.
On 16 February 2019, with his stoppage equaliser in the away match against Hertha BSC, Pizarro became the oldest scorer in the history of the Bundesliga at 40 years and 136 days of age. Pizarro broke the record previously held since August 1996 by Miroslav Votava ( then 40 years and 121 days of age). His goal also made him the first and only player to score in 21 consecutive calendar years in the Bundesliga. On 4 May 2019, he scored his fourth Bundesliga goal of the season, in a 2–2 equalizer of Werder Bremen against Borussia Dortmund. His fifth goal determined the 2–1 win against RB Leipzig, raising the record for the oldest scorer to 40 years 227 days of age.
On 20 July 2019, Pizarro announced that the 2019–20 season would be his last season before retiring from football activity. In that season, he played 18 Bundesliga matches without scoring a goal. In all of these, he entered as substitute, including his final appearance against Mainz 05 on 27 June 2020. He was no longer considered in the team for the following 2 relegation playoff games. In his career at the Bundesliga, Pizarro scored 197 goals in 490 matches.
On 23 August 2003, Pizarro scored the fastest ever goal in the history of the Peruvian national team, at 18 seconds of the match's start for a 3–1 win over Mexico at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. He was later shown a red card along with teammate John Galliquio and Mexicans Jared Borgetti and Omar Briceño.
At the 2004 Copa América, Pizarro suffered a fractured skull when he took an elbow to the side of his head in an on-field collision with the opponent's goalkeeper during a 3–1 win over Venezuela. The injury forced him out of the rest of the tournament and required extensive surgery in Germany. Under the management of Julio César Uribe, Pizarro captained Peru to the quarter-finals of the 2007 Copa América, scoring the two goals in the 2–2 draw against Bolivia in the final match of the group in Mérida.
On 18 June 2015, Pizarro scored the only goal of Peru's 1–0 win against Venezuela in the group stage of the 2015 Copa América. He won his last cap in March 2016.
On 17 April 2009, Pizarro won a court victory over his national federation. The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the $10,000 fine imposed by the Peruvian Football Association after the alleged November 2007 incident. The sentence quoted: "The facts put forward by (the federation) in relation to Pizarro were not supported by concrete evidence", sport's highest court said in a statement. Pizarro expressed his rejoice with the final result, declaring: "I am very satisfied and feel vindicated",. He further said. "My honor has been restored. My family and friends have always stood by me and knew that these were all just lies that were being spread about me. But this verdict will now also give certainty to everyone who had doubts that I have always told the truth."
Pizarro is married to his teenage sweetheart, Karla Salcedo, having two sons and a daughter. All three were born in Germany. Pizarro co-owns a Horse racing called 'Crying Lightning' with fellow professional footballer Joey Barton. In January 2011, the horse competed at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai.
On 15 September 2020, Pizarro became an ambassador for Bayern Munich.
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| 2000–01 | |
| 2002–03 | |
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| 2011–12 | |
| 2013–14 | |
| 2014–15 | |
| 2016–17 | |
| 2019–20 | |
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Peru | 3 |
| 0 | |
| 2 | |
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| + List of international goals scored by Claudio Pizarro |
| Friendly |
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| 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| Friendly |
| 3–0 |
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| 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2004 Copa América |
| Friendly |
| 2007 Copa América |
| 2–2 |
| Friendly |
| 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| Friendly |
| Friendly |
| 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2015 Copa América |
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