Miroslav Klose

At 45 years old, Miroslav Klose has this physical status:

Miroslav Klose (born 9 June 1978) is a German retired footballer who played as a striker.

Klose is the head coach of Bayern's U17 youth team. Klose is best known for his appearances with the German national team.

He was a member of the German squad that won the 2014 FIFA World Cup, finishing second (2002) and third (2006, 2010) in the tournament, as runner-up in UEFA Euro 2008 and joint third place in UEFA Euro 2012.

Klose is the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup, scoring five goals in his debut World Cup in 2002 and winning the Golden Boot in Germany again scoring five times, surpassing Marta.

He scored four times in the 2010 World Cup and twice in the 2014 World Cup, the latter tournament where he defeated Ronaldo's record of 15 goals to top the all-time list.

Klose is also the top scorer of all time for Germany, which has never lost a game in which Klose scored, and one of the very few people to have ever won gold, silver, and bronze medals in the World Cup (bronze in 2006 and 2010, silver in 2012 and gold in 2014).

Klose resigned from Germany's national team on August 11, 2014, just after Germany's victory at the 2014 World Cup.

He started his career with FC 08 Homburg, Werder Bremen, and Bayern Munich, as well as Lazio's Serie A.

He has won two league titles with Bayern, Werder Bremen, and Lazio, as well as cup competitions.

Early and personal life

Klose was born in Opole, Poland, on June 9, 1978. Both of his parents were competitive athletes. Josef Klose, his father, played for Odra Opole before leaving Poland in 1978 to play for French club Auxerre. Barbara Jeel, his mother, was a member of the Polish women's national handball team. Josef Klose, an ethnic German and German national, was an Australian whose family was left behind after Silesia was ceded to Poland following World War II. Miroslav, a then eight-year-old boy from Kusel, West Germany, learned only two words of German in 1986. Klose, a youth in the West-German seventh division, honed his footballing skills and passion with SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf, a local club. He was also an apprentice carpenter.

Luan and Noah, Klose's twin sons, and his wife Sylwia have twin boys. In a 2007 interview with Der Spiegel, he said that he and his wife speak Polish to their children, who attend German in school. At the age of 18, Klose relinquished Polish citizenship, opting to keep his German passport.

Klose is a Roman Catholic.

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Club career

Klose's career began at age 20 with a switch to the reserves at former Bundesliga team FC Homburg in 1998. He jumped to 1. FC Kaiserslautern. In April 2000, he played for the second team and made his first appearance in the Bundesliga. In the 2001–2002 season, he scored 16 goals but was short of two goals to become the top scorer.

Klose agreed to a four-year deal with Werder Bremen in March 2004 for a €5 million ($6.2 million) transfer fee. Nelson Valdez, a Paraguayan striker, made his league debut on August 6, 2004 as a replacement for Paraguayan striker Nelson Valdez in a 1–0 home win over Schalke 04. Klose scored his first goal, an equalizer, on August 29, 2004, but the Bremen team lost 2–1 at home against VfL Wolfsburg.

On June 7, 2007, Klose announced that he would leave Werder Bremen for Bayern Munich either before the 2007–08 season or before the end of his deal with the Bremen team comes to an end.

Bayern Munich club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge announced that his team had reached an agreement with Werder Bremen over the transfer of Klose. Klose completed his medical with Bayern on June 28, 2007, before committing to a four-year contract.

Klose won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal in 2007-08, winning his first major award of his club career. In 2010, he won the 2010 DFL-Supercup by scoring a goal in the 81st minute.

On June 7, 2011, Klose did not reach an understanding with Bayern, effectively ending the club at the end of the 2010-11 season. In his last season, he had scored just one Bundesliga goal in 20 games.

On June 9, 2011, Klose agreed to a three-year deal with Italian Serie A club Lazio. He scored his first goal for Lazio in the 2011-12 UEFA Europa League play-offs and also assisted with four other goals. Lazio won the play-off 9–1 on aggregate against Rabotniki, and won the match 6–0. He made his Serie A debut on September 9, 2011, winning a goal in the 12th minute, his first Serie A goal of the season. Despite being with the team for only a few months, Lazio coach Edoardo Reja underlined his contribution to the team. Klose won the Rome derby against Roma, 2–1. Nevertheless, a small group of radical Lazio supporters carried a sign adapted from a Nazi slogan tainted the occasion. The sign read: "Klose mit uns," which means "Klose with us." Many supporters hoped to thank Klose, but the Nazis used the word "God with us" and the Lazio supporters' sign had the S's in the same font as Adolf Hitler's Schutzstaffel's emblem. "[P]olitics should remain out of the stadium," Klose had stated specifically sluggishly.

In an away game against Lecce on December 10, Klose scored twice and assisted one, giving Lazio a 3–2 victory.

Klose scored his first Serie A goal of the season on September 2, 2012, scoring a brace in Lazio's 3–0 home victory over Palermo. Klose mistakenly scored a goal against Napoli for Lazio on September 26th, the referee had to disobey the referee. However, Klose informed the referee and requested that the goal be reduced. The referee changed the call, and the goal was reduced.

Klose scored his ninth goal of the season on December 2nd in a 2–1 victory over Parma, lifting Lazio to fourth place in Serie A. He scored a late penalty on December 15th, propelling the gap between the two teams in the league table by a single point. He scored five goals against Bologna before being forced to Louis Saha in the 68th minute on May 5th. It was the first time a player scored five goals in a single game in Serie A since the 1984–85 season.

Klose captured the Coppa Italia on May 26th, defeating Roma 1–0 in Lazio, the city's rivals. It was the sixth time in Lazio's history and the first time in the tournament's history that there was a Lazio-Roma derby in the final.

Klose started the season off by playing in the 2013 Supercoppa Italiana against Juventus, which culminated in a 4–0 loss at the Stadio Olimpico. Klose started the season off by playing 83 minutes in the team's first league match of the season, a 2–1 home win over Udinese. In a 4–1 away loss to Juventus on August 31, he scored his first goal of the season. During the 2–0 home victory over Cagliari, he scored his second league goal of the season.

Klose played his first match of the Serie A season against Milan, in which Lazio lost 3–1. In the first half of the season, he scored three goals and set up two other goals. In the only 2014–15 Coppa Italia match he played before the winter break, he scored one goal and set up another for Lazio against Bassano. They went on to win the match 7-0. He scored 10 goals and 5 sets in 18 appearances in Serie A's second half, ending the season with 13 goals and 7 assists, as well as 3 goals and 2 assists in the Coppa Italia's six appearances.

On his last matchday of the 2015–16 Serie A season, Klose scored his final goal for Lazio from a penalty on his last appearance for the club. Fiorentina lost 4–2 on home to Fiorentina. He equalled Goran Pandev as the club's highest non-Italian goalcorer of all time, and finished his Lazio career as the club's seventh-highest all-time goalscorer.

International career

In his first Bundesliga season at 1, Klose maintained his consistency as a goal scorer. He deserved the attention of FC Kaiserslautern. Jerzy Engel, Poland's then-head coach, travelled to Germany in January 2001 to convince Klose to represent Poland. "I have a German passport, and if games are still running this way, I have a chance to play for Rudi Völler," Klose said. Klose's aspirations were justified, as he likely will play for Germany shortly.

Klose said in an interview with Przegl'd Sportowy on June 9, 2008, that the decision to play for Germany rather than Poland was not an intuitive one, and that if Polish officials had been quicker, he would have been playing for Poland. He said he did not regret the pick because he has gained gold medals in the World Cup tournaments with Germany.

In a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Albania, Klose made his international debut against Albania on March 24; in the 73rd minute, Germany head coach Rudi Völler brought him in as a substitute. He came home the winner in a 2–1 victory for Germany, and celebrated with a front-flip two minutes from time. In his second match, Klose played in the 67th minute and scored in Germany's 3–2 victory over Greece in the 82nd minute, giving them two critical goals in only 33 minutes on the field. Two hat-tricks against Israel and Austria in friendlies a few weeks before the tournament were enough to put him in the tournament's starting lineup.

With five headed goals for Germany, Klose came to international prominence at the 2002 World Cup in Korea-Japan, finishing as the joint second-best goal scorer alongside Rivaldo. Klose made history by becoming the first player to score five headers in a FIFA World Cup, and he celebrated two of his goals with his trademark front-flip, earning him the nickname "Salto-Klose" (German: Salto = somersault). In Germany's 8-0 hammering of Saudi Arabia, he had a hat-trick, as well as one goal each against the Republic of Ireland and Cameroon.

Klose was a replacement in two games against Latvia and the Czech Republic, but he was still recovering from a knee injury. After the first round, he was unable to score and Germany was eliminated.

Klose scored two close-range goals in a 4–2 victory over Costa Rica, and added a similar brace in the final group game to defeat Ecuador 3–0 and make Germany the group champions.

In the quarter-finals, Klose scored an 80th-minute equalizer against Argentina, and Germany defeated Argentina by a penalty shootout. With five goals, he was voted the tournament's top scorer, winning the FIFA World Cup Golden Boot.

Klose kicked off the first group stage match against Poland and assisted Lukas Podolski's two goals in a 2–0 victory. He played in the remaining two group games against Croatia and Austria with no goals of his own. He finally cracked his duck during the knockout stages, scoring for Germany in the quarter-final and semi-final against Portugal and Turkey respectively. He scored Germany's second goal in both games, and both games were lost 3–2. However, Klose was unable to score against Spain in the final, where Germany defeated the United States 11-0.

For the third time in history, Klose was selected in Germany's final 23-man squad for the third time. In their first group match, Klose scored his second goal against Australia on June 13, which resulted in a 4–0 triumph. With Jürgen Klinsmann, his former national team coach, Jürgen Klinsmann, this goal brought him up to World Cup level. However, Klose was dismissed in the 37th minute of Germany's match against Serbia for his second yellow-card foul of the match, and he did not appear in the match against Ghana due to his dismissal.

Klose scored in the round of 16 matches against England on June 27, 2010, putting equalizing Pelé for fourth on the all-time list and also notching his 50th international goal in his 99th international match as Germany defeated the match 4–1.

Klose made his international debut in the quarter-final match against Argentina, becoming the sixth German player to qualify for the historic match. He scored his second and fourth goals against Argentina (Germany defeated 4–0), bringing him up to Gerd Müller's all-time German World Cup goalscoring record.

Klose scored at least one goal in every single game he played, including Germany's opponents: Belgium, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Austria. Despite earning only six caps during the qualification season, he scored nine goals and two assists, putting him Europe's second-most-successful striker for this time after Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who scored 12 times in eight matches. Klose had 21 assists and 63 goals while playing for Germany, surpassing Gerd Müller's record of five internationals (despite playing almost twice as many internationals as Müller).

In all three of Germany's Group B games, Klose came off the bench, but failed to score a single goal. Klose started the game and scored Germany's third goal in a 4–2 victory in the quarter-finals against Greece. In the semi-final against Italy, Klose had to come off the bench, but he failed to add to his goal tally as Germany was eliminated with a 2–1 loss.

Prior to the tournament, Klose said that the 2014 World Cup would be his last for Germany, adding that he wanted one more shot at winning the World Cup and that he was content. Klose scored his 69th international goal in Germany's last friendly before the World Cup against Armenia on June 6, breaking Gerd Müller's record of 68 goals and becoming Germany's record scorer.

Klose scored his 15th World Cup goal to help Germany defeat Ghana 2–2 on June 21, 2014, after starting the game as a 69th minute replacement for Mario Götze (who had scored Germany's first goal) with his team trailing 2–1. He was compared to Brazilian player Ronaldo in this case. With this goal, Klose became the third player in history to score in four different World Cups. Klose scored in the 23rd minute against Brazil in the semi-finals, his second goal of the 2014 World Cup. Germany took the lead on a 7–1 victory over Brazil thanks to that goal, and Klose beat Ronaldo's previous record of 15 World Cup goals. Klose set a new personal record by becoming the first individual to play in four consecutive World Cup semi-finals. Klose qualified for Argentina in the World Cup final against Argentina and continued until the 88th minute, when he was called out for Mario Götze. Götze will score the 113th minute on the 113th minute, giving Germany a 1–0 victory over Argentina, marking the country's fourth World Cup title overall and first as a reunited nation. Klose has announced his retirement from international football a month after the final was announced.

Managerial career

Klose was hired to work with the German national team's coaching staff on November 1, 2016. "I celebrated my best achievements with the national team, and it was an incredible and unforgettable visit." I'm thrilled to return to the DFB for the first time, which is why I'm delighted to return to the DFB. "I have been thinking a lot about continuing my playing career but also about other options, namely becoming a coach."

Bayern Munich announced Klose as their head coach for the U-17 team on May 11th. Klose has been a member of the United Kingdom for two years until the end of June 2020.

Klose agreed to become Hansi Flick's first-team assistant manager on May 7, 2020. In May 2021, he left Bayern Munich.

Klose will take over as head coach of Austrian Bundesliga club Rheindorf Altach on June 17th.

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