Bundesliga
Pizarro named Bayern ambassador
Claudio Pizarro has been named as a club ambassador for Bayern Munich, where he lifted six Meisterschale across two spells with the record champions.
The 41-year-old Peru forward retired from playing in June having helped Werder Bremen retain their Bundesliga status with 18 league appearances last season.
Clearly uninterested in putting his feet up in retirement, Pizarro now takes on his new role with former club Bayern alongside fellow ambassadors Giovane Elber, Lothar Matthäus and Bixente Lizarazu.
Pizarro scored 125 goals in 327 appearances as a Bayern player from 2001-07 and 2012-15 and as well as his six Bundesliga titles with Bayern, he also lifted five DFB Cups, as well as the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League trophy and 2013 FIFA Club World Cup.
Watch: Claudio Pizarro - A legend's career comes to an end
“I am very happy to return to Bayern as an ambassador,” Pizarro told Bayern’s official website.
“It's a dream to be back in Munich. FC Bayern is always referred to as a family, and that's exactly how it feels. In my new role I will give everything for this club again - as I used to do as a player.”
Pizarro’s 490 Bundesliga appearances are more than any other non-German player in the league’s history, while only Bayern behemoth Robert Lewandowski has more goals than Pizarro’s 197 by a foreign national in the German top-tier.
It is this incredible prowess that makes him, as Bayern head of marketing Andrea Jung says, “a perfect representative” for the club.
“We are happy to have Claudio Pizarro as ambassador for FC Bayern,” added Jung. “Claudio was a crowd favourite as a player and is extremely valued by our fans.”