Miroslav “Miro” Klose (born Mirosław Marian Kloze on June 9, 1978 in Opole, Silesia, Poland) is a German striker for the German national football team. He currently plays for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.

He is the top scorer and thus the Golden Boot winner of the 2006 World Cup hosted by his native Germany, with 5 goals. Klose also scored 5 goals in his debut World Cup, the 2002 World Cup hosted jointly by the Korea Republic and Japan, giving him a total of 10 goals in World Cup finals. He is the first player representing unified Germany to finish as a World Cup finals top scorer, and the only player to have scored 5 or more goals in consecutive World Cup finals.

Player Profile

Miroslav Klose's mother, Barbara Jeż, was a member of the Polish national handball team (appearing in 82 international matches), and his father, Józef Kloze, was a footballer. In 1981, the Klozes escaped Soviet-dominated socialist Poland, moving first to France, then, in 1987, to Kusel in Germany, as his father is half-German. Shortly after settling in Germany, the Klozes changed their surname to Klose (pronounced similarly to RP "closer"). Klose was the surname of his German grandfather Erwin Klose born in 1910.

Klose learned his football at a village club, Blaubach-Diedelkopf, in the German seventh division. Eventually he joined the amateur division of FC Kaiserslautern. He used to watch the pros from the stands.

A year after joining the club he made it into the first team. In his first 62 matches, Klose scored 25 goals. His consistency as a goal-scorer earned him his first international cap and he made his debut against Albania on March 24, 2001. Germany won the match 2-1, with Klose scoring Germany's second goal.

In the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea-Japan, he scored five goals for the German national team, finishing as one of the highest scorers of the tournament. This tally included a hat trick in Germany's 8-0 win over Saudi Arabia.

The 2002-2003 season was a comparatively disappointing one as Klose found the back of the net a mere 7 times.

He 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, less frequently, Paraguayan forward Nelson Valdez), scoring 15 goals in the Bundesliga.

Despite his relatively slender frame, Klose is one of the best headers of the ball in the Bundesliga. Moreover, he combines a natural killer instinct inside the box with excellent technical ability, and is equally lethal with the ball at his feet. By 2005, the introverted Klose had established himself as one of Germany's top forwards, if not the best. In the 2005/06 season he scored 25 goals and registered 16 assists in just 26 games in the Bundesliga.

Klose was named to his second successive World Cup team for Germany 2006. In the opening match against Costa Rica, coinciding with his 28th birthday, Klose scored two goals for Germany, in the 17th and 61st minutes. This led to Germany's 4-2 win over Costa Rica. He scored another two goals against Ecuador on June 20, 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 quarterfinal game played on June 30, 2006, with Germany going on to win 4-2 on penalties. With a total of 5 goals at the 2006 world cup he won the Adidas Golden Boot award for the highest scorer. Klose is the first German since Gerd Müller in 1970 to become the top scorer at a World Cup finals, and the first World Cup finals top scorer from unified Germany (Müller represented the former West Germany). Klose has scored 10 goals in World Cup finals, and is 6 goals away from overtaking Brazilian forward Ronaldo as the all-time highest scorer in World Cup finals.

The Spanish sports newspaper AS reported on 11 July 2006 that Klose is a target of Spanish club Real Madrid following his heroics at the World Cup. His club Werder Bremen have responded by declaring that Klose will not be sold for less than 20 million British pounds.

Trivia

• In January 2001 the national coach Jerzy Engel of Poland travelled to the Pfalz, to persuade him to play for the Polish national team, since Klose still has the Polish nationality. But he declined: "I have a German passport, and if things are still running this way, I have a chance to play for Rudi Völler." It worked out, and how. Klose went his successful way and is today an idol in the Pfalz.http://www.miroslav-klose.de/lebenslauf.html
• Miro's trademark goal celebration is a front-flip which he did five times during the 2002 World Cup.
• He was the highest scorer in the Bundesliga season 2005/06 with 25 goals scored.
• His five 2002 World Cup goals were all headers; only the fifth of his five goals in the 2006 matches was one. The first four were scored with his right foot.
• He is the only player to score at least 5 goals in consecutive World Cups (2002 and 2006). Peruvian great Teófilo Cubillas achieved it in non-consecutive editions (1970 and 1978).
• Miroslav and his wife Sylwia have two twin sons, Luan and Noah, who were born on January 30th 2005.
• He owns a doberman.
• He enjoys listening to rap and hip-hop music.

Honours

• World Cup: Runner-up 2002, Third 2006
• DFB Liga-Pokal: Runner-up 2004
• World Cup Golden Shoe: 2006, Silver Shoe 2002

Career stats

References