Miroslav Klose
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 6/2014
Personal information
Full name:
Miroslav Josef Klose
Date of birth:
9 June 1978
Place of birth:
Opole, Poland
Height:
1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Playing position:
Striker
Club information
Current club:
Lazio
Number:
11
Youth career
SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf:
1987-1997
Senior career*
SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf:
1997-1998
FC 08 Homburg II:
1998-1999
15x apps / 10x goals
FC 08 Homburg:
1998-1999
18x apps / 1x goals
1. FC Kaiserslautern II:
1999-2001
50x apps / 26x goals
1. FC Kaiserslautern:
1999-2004
120x apps / 44x goals
Werder Bremen:
2004-2007
89x apps / 53x goals
Bayern Munich:
2007-2011
98x apps / 24x goals
Lazio:
2011-
80x apps / 35x goals
National team
Germany:
2001-
133x apps / 70x goals
* (appearances, national team caps and goals correct as of 22:50, 21 June 2014 / UTC)
Miroslav Josef Klose, born 9 June 1978) is a German professional footballer who plays as a striker for Lazio in the Serie A.
With 70 goals in 133 matches.
Klose is currently Germany's all-time top scorer having beaten the record previously held by Gerd Müller.
With five goals, he was the top scorer and Golden Boot winner at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the first German player to win the award since the reunification.
Klose also scored five goals in his debut World Cup, the 2002 World Cup, all of which were headers.
He scored four times in the 2010 World Cup, and has one time thus far in the 2014 World Cup, giving him a total of 15 World Cup goals.
This total tied Klose for the most goals scored in the FIFA World Cup with Ronaldo of Brazil.
Klose is also one of only two players, along with Peruvian Teófilo Cubillas, to have scored at least five goals in two different World Cups, as well as the only player to have scored at least four in three different tournaments.
Club career
Kaiserslautern
His career in the professional game began when he was 20 with a switch to the reserves at former Bundesliga outfit FC Homburg. Twelve months later, he moved to FC Kaiserslautern.
Werder Bremen
On 2 March 2004, Klose signed a four-year contract with German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen for a fee of €5 million ($6.2 million).
He made his league debut on 6 August 2004, as a substitute for Paraguayan striker Nelson Valdez in a 1:0 home win against Schalke 04.
On 29 August 2004, Klose scored his first goal, an equaliser, which Bremen lost 1:2 at home against Wolfsburg.
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.
Bayern Munich
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.
On 7 June 2011, with his contract about to expire, Klose did not reach an agreement with Bayern Munich, thus leaving the club at the end of the 2010-11 season.
Lazio (2011-12 season)
Klose signed a three-year contract with Lazio on 9 June 2011.
He scored his first goal for Lazio in UEFA Europa League 2012 Play-offs and also assisted four other goals.
Lazio won that game 6:0 and won the play-offs by 9:1 aggregate against Rabotnički.
On 9 September 2011, he made his league debut in a 2:2 draw against Milan and scored a goal in the 12th minute, which was the first Serie A goal of the season.
Despite only being at the club for a few months his coach Edy Reja has already underlined his importance to the team.
On 16 October 2011, Klose scored in the 93rd minute to win the Rome derby 2:1 for Lazio.
On 10 December 2011, Klose scored twice and assisted one for Lazio in an away game against Lecce, including an 87-minute goal that gave Lazio a 2:3 victory.
(2012-13 season)
On 2 September 2012, Klose scored his first Serie A goal of the season, scoring a brace in Lazio's 3:0 home defeat of Palermo.
On 26 September, Klose accidentally scored a goal with his hand against Napoli for Lazio, not seen by the referee.
However, Klose showed great sportsmanship by informing the referee and asking to discount the goal. The referee then reversed the decision and the goal was discounted.
On 2 December, Klose scored his ninth goal of the season, securing a 2:1 victory over Parma, lifting Lazio into fourth place in Serie A.
Two weeks later on 15 December, he scored a late goal to send his side to a 1:0 victory over second place Internazionale, reducing the gap between the two sides to one point.
On 5 May 2013, he scored five goals against Bologna before being substituted for Louis Saha in the 68th minute.
It was the first time since the 1984-85 season that a player scored five goals in the same game in Serie A.
On 26 May, he won the Coppa Italia beating Lazio's city rivals Roma 1:0, the sixth in Lazio's history and the first time in the history of the tournament to see a Lazio-Roma derby in the final.
International career
Klose's consistency as a goal-scorer in his first Bundesliga season at Kaiserslautern earned him attention.
In January 2001, the then coach of the Polish national team, Jerzy Engel, travelled to Germany to persuade Klose to choose to play 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." Klose's hopes were justified, as he would soon score for Germany.
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. The German national team has never lost a game in which Klose has scored.
2014 World Cup
Klose said that the 2014 World Cup will be his last one for Germany, stating that he would like one more shot at trying to win the World Cup with Germany.
On 6 June 2014, in Germany's final friendly before the World Cup against Armenia, Klose scored his 69th international goal, thus breaking Gerd Müller's record of 68 goals and becoming Germany's record goalscorer.
He scored his record-equalling 15th World Cup goal in Germany's 2:2 draw against Ghana on 21 June 2014.
This ties him with Ronaldo, who also scored 15 World Cup goals for Brazil. Interestingly, Ronaldo, of Brazil, scored his 15th World Cup goal against Ghana in Germany, whilst Klose, of Germany, scored his 15th World Cup goal against Ghana in Brazil.