Miroslav Klose

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Miroslav Klose

Klose playing for Germany in 2012 Personal information Full name Miroslav Josef Klose[1] Date of birth 9 June 1978 (age 36)[2] Place of birth Opole, Poland Height 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)[3] Playing position Striker Club information

Current team

Lazio Number 11 Youth career 1987–1997 SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1997–1998 SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf 1998–1999 FC 08 Homburg II 15 (10) 1998–1999 FC 08 Homburg 18 (1) 1999–2001 1. FC Kaiserslautern II 50 (26) 1999–2004 1. FC Kaiserslautern 120 (44) 2004–2007 Werder Bremen 89 (53) 2007–2011 Bayern Munich 98 (24) 2011– Lazio 80 (35) National team‡ 2001– Germany 136 (71)

Honours[show]

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:33, 10 May 2014 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:57, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

Miroslav Josef Klose (German pronunciation: [ˈmɪʁoslaf ˈkloːzə] (

listen); born Mirosław Marian Klose on 9 June 1978)[4][5] is a Polish-born German professional footballer who plays as a striker for Lazio in the Italian Serie A and the German national football team

Klose is currently Germany’s all-time top scorer with 71 goals. He won the Golden Boot at the 2006 World Cup in Germany by scoring five goals,[6] and Klose also scored five goals in his debut World Cup in 2002. He scored four times in the 2010 World Cup, and has scored twice at the 2014 World Cup, including one in the 7–1 semi-final victory against Brazil which put him ahead of Ronaldo to become the overall top scorer in the FIFA World Cup’s history with 16 goals.[7] By scoring in the 2014 tournament, Klose equalled his compatriot Uwe Seeler and Brazilian Pelé’s achievements in being the only players to have scored in four different World Cups.[8] He is also one of only three players, along with Peruvian Teófilo Cubillas and German colleague Thomas Müller, 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.[9] The German national team has never lost a game in which Klose has scored.[10]

Background and personal life

Klose was born in the Silesian city of Opole, Poland. Both of his parents were professional athletes.[11] His father, Josef Klose, was a professional footballer who played in Poland for Odra Opole, before leaving communist Poland in 1978 to play for French team AJ Auxerre.[12] His mother, Barbara Jeż, was a member of the Poland women’s national handball team. As an ethnic German and German national, Josef Klose was an Aussiedler whose family had remained behind when Silesia was awarded to Poland after World War II, and decided to bring his family to Germany.[5] In 1986, then eight-year-old Miroslav joined his father in Kusel, Rhineland-Palatinate and knew only two words of German.[13]

Klose and his wife Sylwia have twin sons, Luan and Noah.[14][15] In a 2007 interview with Der Spiegel he stated that he and his wife speak Polish to their children at home, while the children learn German in school.[16]

Klose is a practicing Catholic and visited Pope Benedict XVI in March 2012.[17]ssrss

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Contents

Background and personal life

Written by Jul10 QA