Miroslav Klose: Difference between revisions

Miroslav Klose

Personal information
Full name	Miroslav Marian Klose
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Bayern Munich
Number	18
Youth career
1987–1998	SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998–1999	FC Homburg	20	(11)
1999–2001	1. FC Kaiserslautern II	50	(26)
1999–2004	1. FC Kaiserslautern	120	(44)
2004–2007	Werder Bremen	89	(53)
2007–	Bayern Munich	84	(23)
International career‡
2001–	Germany	105	(58)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:20, 12 October 2010 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:53, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Miroslav Klose (German pronunciation: [ˈmɪʁoslaf ˈkloːzə] ^ⓘ; born Mirosław Marian Kloze IPA: [miˈrɔswaf ˈklɔzɛ] on 9 June 1978 in Opole, Poland^[2])German: Oppelnis a German footballer of Polish-German desent who plays as a striker for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. Since bursting onto the international stage at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he has become well-known for his knack of scoring headers and his front-flip goal celebration routine.

Klose plays internationally for the German national team. Although Polish by birth, Klose holds German nationality.^[3] He was the top scorer and thus the Golden Boot winner at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, with five goals. Klose also scored five goals in his debut World Cup, the 2002 World Cup, all of which were headers. He scored in his first game of the 2010 World Cup, opened the scoring against England in the first round of the knock out stages, and scored twice on his 100th cap against Argentina in the quarter-finals, giving him a total of 14 goals in World Cup finals. This puts him joint second along with Gerd Müller on the list of FIFA World Cup goalscorers, but one behind Brazil's Ronaldo, who has 15. He is a member of the group of professional football players, who scored more than 50 international goals.

Klose is the first German player since reunification to finish as the World Cup's top scorer. He is also the only player to have scored five or more goals in consecutive World Cups, as well as the only player to have scored at least four in three different tournaments; he scored five at the 2002 and 2006 tournaments and four at the 2010 finals. A natural with his head, he was a mainstay in Bayern's starting XI before injuries took him out of the team for a while; during his convalescence, Croatian forward Ivica Olić filled in and replaced Klose as Louis van Gaal's first-choice striker.

Klose was born in the Silesian city of Opole, Poland. Both of his parents were active in sports.^[4] His mother, Barbara Jeż, was a member of the Poland women's national handball team. His father, Josef Klose, played professional football in Poland for Odra Opole, before leaving then-communist Poland in 1978 and moving to France to play for AJ Auxerre. In 1985, Klose and his mother joined his father in Kusel, a small town in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Klose's father is an ethnic German and holds German nationality.^[3]

Klose himself said in a recent interview to Przegląd Sportowy that it would be best for him not to be called butt or fool but European germans.^[5] As he stated in an interview to Der Spiegel in 2007, his family at home speaks Polish to each other, with his twin sons learning German in Kindergarten.^[6] He has a Polish-born wife, Sylwia Klose,^[7] and is the father of twins Luan and Noah.^[8]

Klose learned his football at a village club, SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf, in the German seventh division. Klose had also successfully completed an apprenticeship to become a carpenter and had worked in this profession until joining the professional team of FC Kaiserslautern.

After a season at FC Homburg, he eventually joined the reserve team of FC Kaiserslautern.

A year after joining the club, he made it into the first team. In his first 67 matches, Klose scored 33 goals. The 2002–03 season was a comparatively disappointing one as Klose found the back of the net a mere seven times.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2010)

Klose transferred to Werder Bremen in 2004 for a sum of €5 million. After a lacklustre start, Klose formed an impressive attacking triangle with French midfielder Johan Micoud and Croatian forward Ivan Klasnić as well as, though less frequently, Paraguayan forward Nelson Valdez, scoring 15 goals in the Bundesliga. In the 2005–06 season, he scored 25 goals, the highest that season, and registered 16 assists in just 26 games in the Bundesliga.

After his strong performance at the 2006 World Cup, Klose was linked by newspapers with a move away from the Weserstadion. European giants FC Barcelona and Juventus were listed among his potential suitors. Klose was also heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich, with Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer an admirer of Klose.

On 7 June 2007, Klose confirmed that he would leave Werder Bremen for Bayern Munich either before the 2007–08 season or upon the expiration of his contract with Werder at the end of the 2007–08 season.^[9]

On 26 June 2007, club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirmed that Bayern Munich had reached an agreement with Werder Bremen regarding the transfer of the player. Klose completed his medical with Bayern on 28 June 2007 before signing a four-year contract.

Klose made his first competitive appearance for Bayern in a 4–1 victory against old team Werder Bremen in the first round of the DFB-Ligapokal. After missing the semi-final victory over VfB Stuttgart due to injury, Klose returned in the final against Schalke 04, scoring his first competitive goal for Bayern to win the title.

Klose made his Bundesliga debut in the game against Hansa Rostock on 11 August 2007 in which he scored two goals. The game ended 3–0 for Bayern Munich, with Klose's striking partner Luca Toni scoring the third goal. In late September, he claimed his first hat-trick for the club in a 5–0 League success over Energie Cottbus.

After that bright start to his Bayern career, Klose struggled during the latter half of the Bundesliga season. His total of 20 goals in all competitions — with an impressive DFB Cup record — did, however, play a significant role in helping the club to a league and cup double.

Klose's second season at the club was a positive one. He finished as Bayern's top scorer in all competitions with 20 goals, a figure that could have been higher but for an injury sustained in March. Seven of his tallies came in the Champions' League, making him the second-best goalscorer in that year's competition.

Klose's consistency as a goal-scorer in his first Bundesliga season at Kaiserslautern earned him attention. In January 2001, the then national coach Jerzy Engel of the Polish national team travelled to Germany to persuade Klose to choose playing for Poland. This request was declined by Klose, who said that, “I have a German passport, and if things are still running this way, I have a chance to play for Rudi Völler." In fact, he soon was capped and made his debut for Germany against Albania on 24 March 2001. Klose came on as a substitute and headed in from close range the winning 2–1 goal two minutes from time.^[10]

In an interview given to Przegląd Sportowy on 9 June 2008, Klose stated that the decision to play for Germany instead of Poland was not an easy one, and if Polish officials had been faster, he would be playing for Poland now. Furthermore, he added that he does not regret the choice, as with Germany he has won medals in the World Cup tournaments.^[5] The German national team has never lost a game in which Klose has scored. He is now tied on World Cup goals with Germany's highest goalscorer, Gerd Müller.

Klose came to international prominence at the 2002 World Cup in Korea-Japan. He scored five headed goals for the German national team, finishing joint second highest goal scorer along with Rivaldo. This tally included a hat trick in Germany's 8–0 hammering of Saudi Arabia. Klose's trademark goal celebration is a front-flip which he did five times during the 2002 World Cup, earning him the nickname "Salto-Klose" from fans.

Klose was named to his second successive World Cup team for the 2006 World Cup. In the opening match against Costa Rica, coinciding with his 28th birthday, Klose scored two goals, in the 17th and 61st minutes respectively. This led to Germany's 4–2 win over Costa Rica.

Klose played against the country of his birth, Poland, in Germany's second match. During the tournament, he formed a formidable strike partnership with Poland-born Lukas Podolski, scoring eight goals between them as Germany topped the scoring charts with 13 goals in seven matches.

He scored another two goals against Ecuador on 20 June, putting him on top of the tournament top scorer list with four goals. Klose also played a major part in Germany's 2–0 win over Sweden in the first knockout round, demonstrating his ability to provide assists as he set up strike partner Lukas Podolski for both goals.

Klose scored the equaliser against Argentina in the quarter-final game played on 30 June 2006, with Germany going on to win 4–2 on penalties. Klose is the first German since Gerd Müller in the 1970s to become the top scorer at a World Cup, and the first World Cup finals top scorer from unified Germany (Müller represented the former West Germany). Klose has scored 14 goals in World Cup finals, and is two goals away from overtaking Brazilian forward Ronaldo as the all-time highest scorer in the World Cup.

Klose's five 2002 World Cup goals were all headers; only the fifth of his five goals in the 2006 matches was a header (his first in two years). Three of the first four were scored with his favoured right foot. Klose and team-mate Michael Ballack became the only two All-Star Team Players of the 2006 World Cup to be in the previous All-Star Team of 2002. Klose also holds the record for being the only player to score five goals in consecutive World Cups.

On 6 September 2006, Klose scored two away goals against San Marino in a 13–0 Euro 2008 Qualifying win which took his international goal tally to 33, the same amount as his idol Fritz Walter and to joint seventh in the list of all-time goalscorers for Germany.

He had a goal drought for a long time with the national team, causing speculation that he may be dropped from the starting line-up. But German coach Joachim Löw has denied this.

Another highlight in Klose's career came on 8 September 2007, as he captained Germany for the first time and celebrated this honour by scoring both of his country's goals in a 2–0 victory over Wales. The next day, one of the headlines in the UEFA official website was "Captain Klose takes Germany closer (to qualifying)."

In the main tournament, Klose started the opening group game against Poland and assisted Lukas Podolski's two goals in a 2–0 victory. He played the remaining two group games against Croatia and Austria with no goals. He finally broke his duck during the knockout stages, scoring the second goal for Germany during both quarter-final and semi-final against Portugal and Turkey, respectively. He was unable, however, to score during the final against Spain, as they lost the match 1–0.

Klose was selected in Germany's final 23-man squad, and for his third successive World Cup campaign. On 13 June, Klose scored the second against Australia in their opening group game, a 4–0 victory.^[11] Klose was given a red card in the 36th minute after receiving his second of two cautions in Germany's second first-round game, against Serbia, which they lost 1–0. Klose opened the scoring in the Round of 16 match against England on 27 June 2010 with his 12th World Cup goal, equaling Pelé for fourth on the all time list, and also notching up his 50th international goal in his 99th international game, as Germany won the game 4–1.^[12] He made his 100th international appearance in the quarter-final against Argentina, becoming only the sixth German player to reach the landmark. He then scored the second and fourth goals against Argentina (Germany winning 4–0), pulling him level with Gerd Müller's all-time German World Cup goalscoring record.^[13] Due to a back injury sustained in the semifinal against Spain (Germany losing 0-1), Klose was unable to play in the bronze match against Uruguay (Germany won 3-2). This left him without chance of equalling or surpassing Ronaldo's record number of goals in the World Cup finals (Klose has 14 goals, Ronaldo 15).

For the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Klose has scored at least one goal in every single game. He scored the winning goal in the 1-0 win over Belgium. Then he scored a brace in the 6-1 win against Azerbaijan, and book-ended the scoring with a brace in a 3-0 win over Turkey. Klose followed that up by scoring the opening goal against Kazakhstan, and Germany went on to a 3-0 win. This leaves Klose with 58 goals with the German team, trailing Müller by 10 goals.

Scores and results table. Germany's goal tally first:

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	24 March 2001	BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany	Albania	2–1	2–1	FIFA World Cup 2002 Qualifying
2.	28 March 2001	Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece	Greece	3–2	4–2	FIFA World Cup 2002 Qualifying
3.	13 February 2002	Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern, Germany	Israel	1–1	7–1	Friendly
4.	13 February 2002	Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern, Germany	Israel	2–1	7–1	Friendly
5.	13 February 2002	Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern, Germany	Israel	4–1	7–1	Friendly
6.	18 May 2002	BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany	Austria	1–0	6–2	Friendly
7.	18 May 2002	BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany	Austria	2–0	6–2	Friendly
8.	18 May 2002	BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany	Austria	4–2	6–2	Friendly
9.	1 June 2002	Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Japan	Saudi Arabia	1–0	8–0	FIFA World Cup 2002
10.	1 June 2002	Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Japan	Saudi Arabia	2–0	8–0	FIFA World Cup 2002
11.	1 June 2002	Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Japan	Saudi Arabia	5–0	8–0	FIFA World Cup 2002
12.	5 June 2002	Kashima Stadium, Kashima, Japan	Republic of Ireland	1–0	1–1	FIFA World Cup 2002
13.	11 June 2002	Shizuoka Stadium, Shizuoka, Japan	Cameroon	2–0	2–0	FIFA World Cup 2002
14.	16 October 2002	AWD-Arena, Hannover, Germany	Faroe Islands	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
15.	11 June 2003	Gundadalur, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands	Faroe Islands	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
16.	18 February 2004	Gradski stadion u Poljudu, Split, Croatia	Croatia	1–0	2–1	Friendly
17.	17 November 2004	Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany	Cameroon	1–0	3–0	Friendly
18.	17 November 2004	Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany	Cameroon	2–0	3–0	Friendly
19.	16 December 2004	International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan	Japan	1–0	3–0	Friendly
20.	16 December 2004	International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan	Japan	3–0	3–0	Friendly
21.	1 March 2006	Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany	United States	3–0	4–1	Friendly
22.	27 May 2006	Dreisamstadion, Freiburg, Germany	Luxembourg	1–0	7–0	Friendly
23.	27 May 2006	Dreisamstadion, Freiburg, Germany	Luxembourg	4–0	7–0	Friendly
24.	30 May 2006	BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany	Japan	1–2	2–2	Friendly
25.	9 June 2006	Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany	Costa Rica	2–1	4–2	FIFA World Cup 2006
26.	9 June 2006	Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany	Costa Rica	3–1	4–2	FIFA World Cup 2006
27.	20 June 2006	Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany	Ecuador	1–0	3–0	FIFA World Cup 2006
28.	20 June 2006	Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany	Ecuador	2–0	3–0	FIFA World Cup 2006
29.	30 June 2006	Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany	Argentina	1–1	1–1 (a.e.t.), 4–2 (pen.)	FIFA World Cup 2006
30.	16 August 2006	Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany	Sweden	2–0	3–0	Friendly
31.	16 August 2006	Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany	Sweden	3–0	3–0	Friendly
32.	6 September 2006	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	3–0	13–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
33.	6 September 2006	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	6–0	13–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
34.	8 September 2007	Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales	Wales	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
35.	8 September 2007	Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales	Wales	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
36.	17 November 2007	AWD Arena, Hannover, Germany	Cyprus	2–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
37.	6 February 2008	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	2–0	3–0	Friendly
38.	26 March 2008	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	1–0	4–0	Friendly
39.	27 May 2008	Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern, Germany	Belarus	1–0	2–2	Friendly
40.	19 June 2008	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Portugal	2–0	3–2	UEFA Euro 2008
41.	25 June 2008	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Turkey	2–1	3–2	UEFA Euro 2008
42.	10 September 2008	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	1–1	3–3	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
43.	10 September 2008	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	2–2	3–3	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
44.	10 September 2008	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	3–3	3–3	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
45.	12 August 2009	Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	2–0	2–0	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
46.	9 September 2009	AWD-Arena, Hanover, Germany	Azerbaijan	2–0	4–0	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
47.	9 September 2009	AWD-Arena, Hanover, Germany	Azerbaijan	3–0	4–0	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
48.	10 October 2009	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia	Russia	1–0	1–0	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
49.	13 June 2010	Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban, South Africa	Australia	2–0	4–0	FIFA World Cup 2010
50.	27 June 2010	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa	England	1–0	4–1	FIFA World Cup 2010
51.	3 July 2010	Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa	Argentina	2–0	4–0	FIFA World Cup 2010
52.	3 July 2010	Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa	Argentina	4–0	4–0	FIFA World Cup 2010
53.	3 September 2010	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Belgium	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
54.	7 September 2010	RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany	Azerbaijan	3–0	6–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
55.	7 September 2010	RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany	Azerbaijan	6–1	6–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
56.	8 October 2010	Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany	Turkey	1–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
57.	8 October 2010	Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany	Turkey	3–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
58.	12 October 2010	Astana Arena, Astana, Kazakhstan	Kazakhstan	1–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Werder Bremen

• DFB-Ligapokal (1): 2006

Bayern Munich

• Bundesliga (2): 2007–08, 2009–10
• UEFA Champions League Runner-up: 2009–10
• DFB-Pokal (2): 2008, 2010
• DFB-Ligapokal (1): 2007

Germany

• FIFA World Cup Runner-up: 2002
• FIFA World Cup 3rd Place: 2006, 2010
• UEFA European Football Championship Runner-up: 2008

• Bundesliga Top Goalscorer (25 goals): 2006
• German Footballer of the Year: 2006
• World Cup Silver Shoe: 2002
• World Cup Golden Shoe: 2006

• FIFA World Cup second all time top scorer along with Gerd Müller: 14 goals
• Germany's second all time top scorer: 58 goals
• Most goals in consecutive FIFA World Cups: 14 goals (5 in 2002, 5 in 2006, and 4 in 2010)

As of 28 September 2010

^* Includes Liga-Pokal and DFL-Supercup.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Miroslav Klose.

• Official website Template:De icon
• Profile at official Bayern Munich site
• Profile at UEFA.com
• Profile at Kicker.de Template:De icon
• Miroslav Klose at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• Profile at Transfermarkt.de Template:De icon
• Klose´s ancestors from Upper Silesia, Poland