Claudio Pizarro

• DFL Honorary Award Recipient
• Bundesliga record goal scorer for SV Werder Bremen
• “Bundesliga Legend”

In 2019, Claudio Pizarro, born in 1978, was the first non-German and the first active Bundesliga player ever to become an Ehrenpreisträger (Honorary Award Recipient). At the time, the striker, capped 85 times by Peru (scoring 20 goals), had been playing in the Bundesliga for exactly 20 years, alternating between SV Werder Bremen (1999–2001, 2008–2012 and 2018–2020) and FC Bayern München (2001–2007 and 2012–2015), along with a spell at 1. FC Köln (2017–2018). While at FC Bayern München and SV Werder Bremen, he won the Bundesliga title and the DFB-Pokal six times each, along with the Intercontinental Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Champions League at FC Bayern.

A Bundesliga fan, who had just a short stint at FC Chelsea – and a phenomenon: when Claudio Pizarro finally hung up his boots aged 41, he had set a remarkable record: he was the oldest goalscorer in Bundesliga history. Furthermore, he scored at least one Bundesliga goal in 21 straight calendar years and is SV Werder Bremen’s all-time record goalscorer in the Bundesliga.

^{Photo: Valeria Witters}