Miroslav “Miro” Klose (born Mirosław Kloze on June 9, 1978 in Opole, Poland) is a striker for the Germany national football team. He currently plays for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. His mother, Barbara Jeż, was a member of the Polish national handball team (82 international matches), his father Józef Kloze played football for Odra Opole and AJ Auxerre. The family moved first to France and then, in 1987, to Kusel in Germany, as his father was half-German. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he currently leads the race for the Golden Shoe Award for the Top Goalscorer of the tournament with 5 goals.

Player Profile

Miroslav Klose learned his football at a village club, Blaubach-Diedelkopf, in the German seventh division. Eventually he joined FC Kaiserslautern in 1999, but only the amateur wing. He used to watch the pros from the stands.

A year after joining the club he made it into the first team and in his first 62 matches scored 25 times. The frequency of his goals 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 the winning goal.

In the 2002 World Cup in Korea-Japan, he scored five goals for the German national team, finishing as one of the top 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 sluggish start he formed an impressive partnership with Ivan Klasnić and scored 15 times in the Bundesliga.

Despite his relatively slender frame, Klose is one of the best headers 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 strikers, 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 the 2006 edition. In the opening match against Costa Rica, conciding 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. His two goals against Ecuador on June 20 put him on top of the tournament top scorer list with four goals. He also played a major part in Germany's 2-0 win over Sweden in the first knockout round, setting up strike partner Lukas Podolski for both goals. Klose scored the equaliser against Argentina in the quarterfinal game played on June 30, 2006, setting the team up to win 4-2 on penalties. Klose has scored 10 world cup goals so far at the age of 28.

Trivia

• Polish national coach wanted him for Polish national team but he declined, preferring to wait for Germany.
• Miro's trademark goal celebration is a front-flip which he did five times during the 2002 World Cup.
• He was the most successful scorer of the Bundesliga season 2005/06 with 25 goals scored.
• His five 2002 World Cup goals were all headers; only the fifth of his five in the 2006 matches had been 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). Teófilo Cubillas achieved it in non-consecutive editions (1970 and 1978).
• "Miro" and his wife Sylwia had twins, named Luan and Noah on January 30th 2005.
• He owns a dobermann.

Career stats

Comments

He can finish any ball with great accuracy. Amazing player. Keep it up , Klose! - -Chris S.

best player for me is Miroslav Klose only one in the world (from Cambodia)

he is the most handsome guy in the world!!!!;)))))

a growing talent, cant wait to see him in 2010. quiet salto-miro has shown a great effort in football and has succeeded with practice. he is my fav. and i hope to learn more about him and his polish family. i wish him all the best in the future with love.

Clutch performer...Great finisher...Deadly w/ his head or feet... Not just a striker, adept at setting up team-mates especially Podolski...Underrated dribbler.