Ulf Kirsten was a compact, ruthless striker whose goalscoring made him one of the most prolific forwards in Bundesliga history. After beginning in East Germany with Dynamo Dresden, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen following reunification and became a scoring machine, twice finishing as the league’s top marksman.
He represented both East Germany and, after reunification, the unified national team, straddling one of football’s more unusual historical transitions.