Miroslav Josef Klose (born 9 June 1978)[4] is a German footballer who plays as a striker for Lazio in the Serie A. Since bursting onto the international stage at the 2002 World Cup, he has become well known for his knack of scoring headers, front-flip goal celebrations, and decisive short passing.

 

Klose holds German nationality and has played 118 times and scored 64 goals for Germany. With five goals, he was the top scorer and Golden Boot winner at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the first German player to win the award since reunification. Klose also scored five goals in his debut World Cup, the 2002 World Cup, all of which were headers. He scored four times in 2010 World Cup, giving him a total of 14 World Cup goals and putting him joint second along with Gerd Müller on the list of top FIFA World Cup goalscorers.

 

Klose is also the only player to have scored five or more goals in consecutive World Cups, as well as the only player to have scored at least four in three different tournaments.