Miroslav Klose

Miroslav Klose

Personal information
Full name	Miroslav Marian Klose
Date of birth	9 June 1978 (age 32)
Place of birth	Opole, Poland
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	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)
National team‡
2001–	Germany	105	(58)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:20, 12 October 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19:53, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Miroslav Klose (German pronunciation: [ˈmɪʁoslaf ˈkloːzə] ( listen); born Mirosław Marian Kloze IPA: [miˈrɔswaf ˈklɔzɛ] on 9 June 1978 in Opole, Poland) is a German footballer 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. 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 hosted jointly by the Korea Republic and Japan. He scored in his first game of the 2010 FIFA 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. He is a member of the group of professional football players, who scored more than 50 international goals.

He is the first German player since reunification to finish as the World Cup's top scorer, and the only player to have scored five or more goals in consecutive World Cups. 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, Ivica Olić filled in and replaced Klose as Louis van Gaal's first-choice striker,.

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Miroslav Klose Biography,

Miroslav Klose Background,

Klose was born in the Silesian city of Opole, Poland (formerly Oppeln in German Silesia). Both of his parents were active in sports. 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 clubs like 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 from an ethnic German family and thus they were permitted to settle as Aussiedler in West Germany. Klose holds German nationality.

Klose himself said in a recent interview to Przegląd Sportowy that it would be best for him not to be called German or Polish, but European. 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. He has a Polish-born wife, Sylwia Klose, and is the father of twins Luan and Noah,.

Miroslav Klose Football career,

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.

Miroslav Klose Club career,

Miroslav Klose 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.

Miroslav Klose Werder Bremen,

Miroslav Klose at Werder Bremen

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.

Miroslav Klose Bayern Munich

Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose (18), Olympiastadion, Hertha BSC vs. Bayern Munich, 2009.

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,.

Miroslav Klose International career,

Miroslav Klose during the 2006 FIFA World Cup

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.

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. He is now tied on World Cup goals with Germany's highest goalscorer, Gerd Müller,.

Miroslav Klose 2002 World Cup,

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,.

Miroslav Klose 2006 World Cup,

Miroslav Klose in the 2006 World Cup playing against Sweden in the second round

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,.

Miroslav Klose Euro 2008,

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,.

Miroslav Klose 2010 World Cup,

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. 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. 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. 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),.

Miroslav Klose Euro 2012,

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.

(source:wikipedia)