Ivan Klasnic - The unlucky one: the Croatian played for Werder for seven years before rejecting the contract extension on offer, largely because of the club doctors. In April 2008 he filed suit against team doctors Goetz Dimanski and Manju Guha for failing to detect his poor kidney values in time. Klasnic, who underwent a kidney transplant in 2007 and became the only active professional footballer in the world playing with a transplanted kidney, demanded damages and compensation totaling 1.5 million euros.
He said years of treatment with painkillers had further damaged his kidneys. In 151 Bundesliga matches he scored 49 goals for Werder and won the 2004 double, but even an improved contract offer could not persuade him to stay. His mistrust of the club doctors outweighed everything else, and to this day Klasnic has not forgiven the club for the failures in his treatment.