Kevin Dennis Kurányi is a German-Brazilian former professional footballer of Hungarian and Panamanian descent. He played as a striker and possessed great aerial ability and finishing skills. From 2003 to 2008, Kurányi was part of the German national team, for which he scored 19 goals in 52 games. He participated in two UEFA Euro and one Confederations Cup.
Kurányi began playing football 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 one year before going back to Serrano FC. Kurányi returned to Las Promesas in 1996 for a further year.
In 1997, Kurányi 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 signed his first professional contract for VfB in 2001. Following on from his 33 matches and 10goals for the amateur team, Kurányi played 99 matches for VfB Stuttgart's professional team, scoring 40 goals. He also took part in 22 European team championship games, scoring 10 goals. In the 2002–03 season of the Bundesliga, he was the top German goal-scorer and one of the main reasons for Stuttgart's second-place finish in the league. That year, VfB and its "Junge Wilde", comprising Timo Hildebrand, Andreas Hinkel, Alexander Hleb, Philipp Lahm, Imre Szabics and Kurányi, delighted Stuttgart fans with superb attacking football.
Kurányi left Stuttgart during the 2005 summer transfer window to join Schalke, signing to 2009–10. At Gelsenkirchen, he finished top goalscorer for the team from 2005–08, while the team achieved three consecutive UEFA Champions League berths. On 15 April 2008, Kurányi scored four goals in Schalke's 5–0 win over 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 Kurányi also netting.
On 9 May 2010, it was announced that Kurányi would move to Dynamo Moscow on 1 July 2010 and signed a three-year contract. After renewing his contract with Dynamo until 2015, he became captain of the team in July 2012. He netted two goals for Dynamo on 9 December 2012, to lift the capital club to a 2–1 victory over Terek Grozny.
After his contract with Dynamo expired in the summer of 2015, Kurányi returned to Germany and signed for 1899 Hoffenheim on 24 July 2015, on a one-year deal. Kurányi announced his retirement on 24 March 2017.
International career
Kurányi made his debut for Germany during the Euro 2004 qualifier against Lithuania on 29 March 2003. In his sixth appearance, the young striker netted Germany's final qualifying goal in their 3–0 defeat of Iceland. He played for his adopted country at the tournament's finals and at the 2005 Confederations Cup but was not selected for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. In 2006–07, Kurányi regained his touch and after an absence of 15 months, he was recalled to the national team, scoring during Germany's 3–1 win against Switzerland on 7 February 2007, in a friendly in Düsseldorf. In Germany's Euro 2008 qualifying match against the Czech Republic on 24 March, 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 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. On 11 October 2008, Kurányi was left out of the 18-man squad to face Russia. After watching the first half from the stands with other unselected players, he left the stadium during the half-time interval and failed to return to the German team hotel. After this incident, German team coach Joachim Löw said that he would never again select Kurányi for the national team. One of his advisors said of the incident to reporters "He decided what he for himself found to be right, which was to say I’m going home."
Personal life
Due to his mixed descent, Kurányi holds German, Panamanian and Brazilian citizenships. Kurányi has stated that he is an avid supporter of his favorite team, Brazilian side Flamengo. Apart from his native Brazilian Portuguese and German, Kurányi also speaks conversational Spanish, English, Russian, and Hungarian. Kurányi's wife, Viktorija Peličić, is Croatian. They married on 28 April 2007 in Stuttgart. On 27 September 2005, Kurányi and his wife had their first child, a son named Karlo. Their second child, a daughter named Vivien Carmen, was born on 6 January 2008.
