Oliver Kahn Century and Best Goalkeeper of the Past 25 Years elections. From 1994 to 2006, Kahn was part of the German national team, in which he played as a starter after the retirement of Andreas Köpke; he was an unused member of the squad that won the 1996 UEFA European Championship. In the 2002 FIFA World Cup, although Germany was not among the tournament favourites, Kahn's prowess in goal was key to reaching the final, where Germany lost 0–2 to Brazil and Kahn made a mistake on Brazil's first goal, nonetheless he received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.
Oliver Kahn season, for the at that time record fee of DM4.6 million (€2.385 million) for his position, and was established as Bayern's starting goalkeeper. Although suffering a rupture of his cruciate ligament, which kept him off the field for almost six months, Kahn made his debut match for the German national team two months after his return. Bayern defeated Bordeaux 3–1 in the 1996 UEFA Cup Final. In the 1996–97 Bundesliga season, Kahn achieved his first German championship with Bayern Munich, the German League Cup, and was named German Goalkeeper of the Year for the second time in his career (the