Miroslav Klose

Miroslav Josef Klose (German pronunciation: [ˈmɪʁoslaf ˈkloːzə] ( listen); born on 9 June 1978)^[4] is a German professionalfootballer who plays as a striker for Lazio in the Italian Serie A.

Klose is best known for his performances with the German national team, for which he is the all-time top scorer with 71 goals. He has excelled at the FIFA World Cup, where he is the overall top scorer in its history with 16 goals. He was part of the 2014 World Cup winning German squad, having previously finished second (2002) and third (2006, 2010) in the competition. Klose scored five goals in his debut World Cup in 2002 and won the Golden Boot at the 2006 World Cup in Germany by again scoring five times,^[5] Klose also scored four times in the 2010 World Cup and scored twice at the 2014 World Cup, including one in the 7–1 semi-final victory against Brazil, which put him ahead of Ronaldo with 16 goals.^[6] 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,^[7] as well as the only player to have scored at least four in three different tournaments.^[8] The German national team never lost a game in which Klose had scored.^[9] Klose retired from international football on 11 August 2014.

At club level, Klose has been a less prolific but usually reliable goalscorer. Starting his career at FC 08 Homburg, he has played in the Bundesliga for Kaiserslautern, Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich, and in Serie A for Lazio. He won two league titles with Bayern, and has won cup competitions at Bayern, Werder Bremen and Lazio.