Miroslav Klose
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| Miroslav Klose | ||
 |
||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | June 9, 1978 | |
| Place of birth | Opole, Silesia, Poland | |
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 111⁄2 in) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Bayern Munich | |
| Number | 18 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1998–1999 1999–2004 2004–2007 2007– |
Homburg Kaiserslautern Werder Bremen Bayern Munich |
20 (11) 120 (44) 89 (53) 27 (10) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2001– | Germany | 76 (39) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Miroslav Klose (born Mirosław Marian Kloze on June 9, 1978 in Opole, Silesia, Poland) is a German footballer who plays as a striker. He currently plays for FC Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga in Germany, and for the German National Football Team. He is known for his goalscoring instincts, aerial ability, and unselfish play.
Klose was the top scorer and thus the Golden Boot winner at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, with a tournament-high five goals. Klose also scored five goals in his debut World Cup, the 2002 World Cup hosted jointly by the Korea Republic and Japan, giving him a total of ten goals in World Cup finals. He is the first player representing unified Germany to finish as the World Cup's top scorer, and the only player to have scored five or more goals in consecutive World Cups.
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[edit] Biography
Klose was born in Opole, Silesia, Poland, and hails from a sporting family; his mother, Barbara Jeż, was a member of the Poland national handball team (appearing in 82 international matches), and his father, Józef Kloze, played professional football in Poland and France, and he also represented the Poland National Football Team on several occasions.[1] In 1981, the Klose family escaped Soviet controlled communist Poland, by moving first to France, then in 1987, to Kusel, Germany. Klose's father is from an ethnic German family and thus could resettle as an Aussiedler.[2] However, as he stated in an interview to Der Spiegel, at home the whole family, including his twin sons, speak Polish to each other[3].
Klose learned his football at a village club, 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 Kaiserslautern.
Klose made it professional much later than football players in the age bracket. He has in the past had many comparisons with various world class strikers such as Owen and Van Nistelrooy. When asked about the comparisons Klose expressed his flattery to be compared to the likes of Van Nistelrooy, “It's an honour to be compared to Ruud, he's played in Europe for so long and has a great goal scoring record, I hope one day I can be good as him.” This interview was conducted in June 2007 with Der Spiegel prior his move to Bayern Munich.
[edit] Club career
[edit] Kaiserslautern
After a season at FC Homburg, he eventually joined the amateur division 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 2002–2003 season was a comparatively disappointing one as Klose found the back of the net a mere seven times.
[edit] Werder Bremen
Klose transferred to Werder Bremen in 2004 for a sum of €5 million. After a lackluster 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.
Despite his relatively slender frame, Klose is one of the best headers of the ball 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 forwards, if not the best. 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 FIFA World Cup, Klose was linked by newspapers with a move away from the Weserstadion. European giants 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 June 7, 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 Bremen at the end of the 2007–08 season.[4]
[edit] Bayern Munich
On June 26, 2007, club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirmed that Bayern Munich had reached an agreement with Werder Bremen regarding the transfer of Klose for an estimated fee of €15m.[5] Klose completed his medical with Bayern on June 28, 2007 before signing a four-year contract.[5]
After these successful friendly matches, 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 Liga-Pokal. 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 August 11, 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.
Klose's career with Bayern so far has had a very good start, with him scoring important goals in the Bundesliga and DFB Cup, helping the club win the double in these competitions.
[edit] International career
In January 2001, the then national coach Jerzy Engel of the Poland national football team travelled to Germany to persuade Klose to play for the Polish national team, since Klose has Polish nationality. His 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”.[6]
His consistency as a goal-scorer in his first season at Kaiserslautern earned him his first international cap and he made his debut against Albania on March 24, 2001. Klose came on as a substitute and headed in from close range the winning 2-1 goal two minutes from time. [7]
[edit] 2002 World Cup
In the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea-Japan, he scored five goals for the German national team, finishing as one of the highest scorers of the tournament. This tally included a hat trick in Germany's 8–0 win over Saudi Arabia. Klose's trademark goal celebration is a front-flip which he did five times during the 2002 FIFA World Cup and which has earned him the fans' nickname “Salto-Klose”.
[edit] 2006 World Cup
Klose was named to his second successive World Cup team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In the opening match against Costa Rica, coinciding 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.
Klose played against the country of his birth, Poland, in Germany's second match. His strike partner, Lukas Podolski, was also born in Poland.
He scored another two goals against Ecuador on June 20, 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 quarterfinal game played on June 30, 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 ten goals in World Cup finals, and is six goals away from overtaking Brazilian forward Ronaldo as the all-time highest scorer in World Cup finals.
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.
On 6 September 2006, Klose scored two away goals against San Marino in a 13–0 win for Germany which took his international goal tally to 33, the same amount as his idol Fritz Walter and to joint 7th 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 September 8, 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).”
[edit] Euro 2008
Klose was in the starting lineup in the first group match against Poland; he failed to score within the first five minutes when he passed the ball to Mario Gomez, who shot to no avail. He later provided assists for both of Lukas Podolski's goals in their 2-0 win over Poland. He was brought off in 91st minute injury time and was replaced by Kevin Kuranyi.
[edit] Honours
Club Titles
- DFB Liga-Pokal: 2006 SV Werder Bremen, 2007 FC Bayern Munich
- Bundesliga: Champion 2008 FC Bayern Munich
- German Cup: 2008 FC Bayern Munich
National Team
Personal Honours
- Bundesliga Top Goalscorer: 2006
- World Cup Golden Shoe: 2006
- World Cup Silver Shoe: 2002
- German Footballer of the Year: 2006
[edit] Career stats
| Club | Season | Domestic League | Domestic Cup | European Competition | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Bayern Munich | 07–08 | 27 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 47 | 21 |
| Total | 27 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 47 | 21 | |
| Werder Bremen | 06–07 | 31 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 47 | 16 |
| 05–06 | 26 | 25 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 40 | 31 | |
| 04–05 | 32 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 44 | 17 | |
| Total | 89 | 53 | 13 | 3 | 30 | 8 | 132 | 64 | |
| FC Kaiserslautern | 03–04 | 26 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 12 |
| 02–03 | 32 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 13 | |||
| 01–02 | 31 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 35 | 16 | |||
| 00–01 | 29 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 43 | 11 | |
| 99–00 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 120 | 44 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 3 | 145 | 52 | |
| Career Totals | 236 | 107 | 32 | 14 | 56 | 16 | 324 | 137 | |
[edit] References
- ^ Germany's Strikers Eye Crunch Game With Mixed Emotions. dw-world.de (2006-06-14). Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ Thomas Urban (2006-06-26). Stolz von Oberschlesien (German). sueddeutsche.de. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/dokument/dokument.html?id=54683212&top=SPIEGEL
- ^ Reds table bid for Werder star Klose. fcbayern.de (2007-06-06). Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ a b Miroslav Klose Joins Bayern Munich!. goal.com (2007-06-26). Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ Miroslav Klose. goal.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ Klose call as Germans beat Albania. bbc.co.uk.
[edit] External links
- Klose's official site
- Profile on uefa.com
- Profile on the official Bayern Munich site
- Klose´s ancestors from Upper Silesia, Poland
- Golden Boot winner 2006
- Goal.com profile
- Career stats at fussballdaten.de
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ronaldo |
FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe 2006 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Michael Ballack |
German Footballer of the Year 2006 |
Succeeded by Mario Gómez |
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