Miroslav Josef Klose (; ; born Mirosław Marian Klose; 9 June 1978) is a professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of club 1. FC Nürnberg. Born in Poland, Klose played as a striker for the Germany national team.

Starting his career at FC 08 Homburg, Klose played in the Bundesliga for Kaiserslautern before becoming one of the most prolific scorers in the league with Werder Bremen, where he was awarded the German Footballer of the Year in 2006 and also named in the kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season in 2004–05 and 2005–06. His performances saw him move to Bayern Munich in 2007. During his time at Bayern, Klose won the 2007–08 and 2009–10 league titles. In 2011, Klose moved to Serie A club Lazio, where he won the 2012–13 Coppa Italia and eventually finished his playing career in 2016 after five years at the club.

Klose was part of the Germany squad that won the 2014 World Cup, having previously finished second (2002) and third (2006, 2010) in the competition; he finished as runner-up with Germany at UEFA Euro 2008 and joint-third place at UEFA Euro 2012. He retired from the national team in August 2014, shortly after Germany's victory at the 2014 World Cup.

He is the all-time top scorer for Germany and was the record-holder for most goals scored in the FIFA World Cup (16) for twelve years, before his record was broken by Lionel Messi (21) and Kylian Mbappé (22) in 2026.

Early life Klose was born in the Silesian city of Opole, Poland. Both of his parents were professional athletes. His father, Josef Klose, was also a professional footballer who played for Odra Opole before leaving Poland in 1978 to play for French club Auxerre. His mother, , was a member of the Poland women's national handball team. Josef Klose belonged to a German minority in Poland, an Aussiedler whose family had remained behind when Silesia was ceded to Poland after World War II. In 1986, then eight-year-old Miroslav joined his father in Kusel, West Germany, knowing only two words of German. Klose developed his footballing skill and passion with local club SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf, which at the time was in the West-German seventh division. He was also an apprentice carpenter.

Club career

Kaiserslautern In 1998, Klose's professional career began at age 20 with a switch to the reserves at former Bundesliga outfit FC Homburg. Twelve months later, he moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He played for the second team and made his first appearance in the Bundesliga in April 2000. He scored 16 goals in the 2001–02 season and was only two goals shy of becoming the top scorer.

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

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 the Bremen team at the end of the 2007–08 season.

Bayern Munich

On 26 June 2007, Bayern Munich club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirmed his team had reached an agreement with Werder Bremen regarding the transfer of Klose. Klose completed his medical with Bayern on 28 June 2007 before signing a four-year contract.

Klose won the first major honours of his club career at the end of his first season with Bayern, as they won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal in 2007–08. In 2010, he won the 2010 DFL-Supercup, scoring a goal in the 81st minute.

On 7 June 2011, with his contract about to expire, Klose did not reach an agreement with Bayern, thus leaving the club at the end of the 2010–11 season. He had scored one Bundesliga goal in 20 matches in his final season.

Lazio 2011–12 season

Klose signed a three-year contract with Italian Serie A club Lazio on 9 June 2011. The move was facilitated by Lazio sporting director Igli Tare, a former teammate of Klose at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He scored his first goal for Lazio in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-offs and also assisted four other goals. Lazio won that match 6–0 and won the play-off 9–1 on aggregate against Rabotnički. On 9 September 2011, he made his Serie A debut in a 2–2 draw against Milan and scored a goal in the 12th minute, which was the first Serie A goal of the season. Despite having been at the club for only a few months, Lazio coach Edoardo Reja underlined his importance to the team. On 16 October 2011, Klose scored in the 93rd minute to win the Rome derby against Roma for Lazio, 2–1. However, the occasion was tainted by a small section of radical Lazio fans holding a sign adapted from a motto used by the Nazis. The sign read "Klose mit uns", which means "Klose with us". It was intended by those fans as praise for Klose; however, the Nazis used the motto "God with us" and the Lazio fans' sign featured the S's in the same font as the logo of Adolf Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS). Klose had explicitly condemned the sign, saying, "[P]olitics should stay out of the stadium."

On 10 December 2011, Klose scored twice and assisted one for Lazio in an away game against Lecce, including an 87-minute goal that gave Lazio a 3–2 victory.

2012–13 season On 2 September 2012, Klose scored his first Serie A goal of the season, scoring a brace in Lazio's 3–0 home win against Palermo. On 26 September, Klose accidentally scored a goal with his hand against Napoli for Lazio, unseen by the referee. However, Klose informed the referee and asked that the goal be discounted. The referee then reversed the decision and the goal was discounted.

On 2 December, Klose scored his ninth goal of the season, securing a 2–1 victory over Parma, lifting Lazio into fourth place in Serie A. Two weeks later, on 15 December, he scored a late goal to send his side to a 1–0 victory over second-placed Internazionale, reducing the gap between the two sides in the league table to one point. On 5 May 2013, he scored five goals against Bologna before being substituted for Louis Saha in the 68th minute. It was the first time since the 1984–85 season that a player scored five goals in the same game in Serie A.

On 26 May, Klose won the Coppa Italia, beating Lazio's city rivals Roma 1–0. It was the sixth time in Lazio's history and the first time in the history of the tournament there was a Lazio–Roma derby in the final.

2013–14 season

Klose started the season by playing in the 2013 Supercoppa Italiana against Juventus, which ended in a 4–0 loss at the Stadio Olimpico. Klose started the league season by playing 83 minutes in the team's opening league match of the season, a 2–1 home win against Udinese. He scored his first goal of the season on 31 August in a 4–1 away defeat to Juventus. He scored his second league goal of the season on 28 October during the 2–0 home victory against Cagliari.

2014–15 season Klose played his first match of the Serie A season against Milan, in which Lazio was defeated 3–1. He scored three goals and set up two other goals in the first half of the season in 16 appearances in Serie A. He also scored one goal and set up another for Lazio against Bassano in the only 2014–15 Coppa Italia match he played before the winter break. They went on to win the match 7–0. In the second half of the season, he scored 10 goals and set up 5 in 18 appearances, ending the season with 13 goals and 7 assists in Serie A, along with 3 goals and 2 assists in the Coppa Italia in 6 appearances.

2015–16 season On 15 May, Klose scored his final goal for Lazio from a penalty on his final appearance for the club, the final matchday of the 2015–16 Serie A season. The game ended in a 4–2 home loss to Fiorentina. With his 64th goal for Lazio, he equalled Goran Pandev as the club's highest non-Italian goalscorer of all time, and ended his Lazio career as the club's seventh-highest all-time goalscorer. Klose retired on 1 November 2016.

International career

Klose's consistency as a goal-scorer in his first Bundesliga season at 1. FC Kaiserslautern earned him attention. In January 2001, then-head coach of the Poland national team, Jerzy Engel, travelled to Germany to persuade Klose to choose to represent Poland. This request was declined by Klose, who said, "I have a German passport, and if things are still running this way, I have a chance to play for Rudi Völler." Klose's hopes were justified, as he would soon score for Germany.

In an interview given to Przegląd Sportowy on 9 June 2008, Klose stated 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. Further, he added he does not regret the choice, as with Germany he has won medals in the World Cup tournaments.

2002 World Cup Klose's international debut came on 24 March 2001 in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Albania; in the 73rd minute, Germany head coach Rudi Völler put him in as a substitute. Two minutes from time, he headed home the winner in a 2–1 victory for Germany, and celebrated with a front-flip. Four days later, in his second match, Klose helped Germany temporarily lead their qualification group, as he came on in the 67th minute and scored in the 3–2 win against Greece in the 82nd minute, making it two crucial goals in only 33 minutes on the pitch. Two hat-tricks against Israel and Austria in friendlies prior to the upcoming World Cup were enough to establish him in Germany's line-up for the tournament.

Klose came to international prominence at the 2002 World Cup in Korea–Japan with five headed goals for Germany, finishing as the joint second-highest goalscorer alongside Rivaldo. Klose also became 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). His goal tally included a hat-trick in Germany's 8–0 hammering of Saudi Arabia, as well as one goal each against the Republic of Ireland and Cameroon.

Euro 2004

Klose participated in UEFA Euro 2004 and came on as a substitute in two matches, against Latvia and the Czech Republic, but was not completely fit, since he had just recovered from a knee injury. He was not able to score and Germany was eliminated after the first round.

2006 World Cup In the opening match of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Klose scored two close-range goals in a 4–2 win over Costa Rica, and added a similar brace in the final group game to defeat Ecuador 3–0 and make Germany the group winners.

Klose scored an 80th-minute headed equaliser against Argentina in the quarter-finals, and Germany won the resulting penalty shootout. With five goals, he finished as the top scorer of the tournament, taking home the FIFA World Cup Golden Boot.

Euro 2008 At Euro 2008, Klose started the opening group stage match 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 of his own. He finally broke through during the knockout stages, scoring for Germany in the quarter-final and the semi-final against Portugal and Turkey respectively. In both matches, he scored Germany's second goal, and both games were won 3–2. However, Klose was unable to score during the final against Spain, which Germany lost 1–0.

2010 World Cup