Miroslav Klose: 16 facts about the World Cup’s greatest goalscorer

In honour of the record-breaking 16 goals he has scored at World Cup finals, we’ve collected 16 facts about goal machine Miroslav Klose

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Get in. Klose scores his 16th World Cup during Germany’s humiliation of Brazil

Miroslav Klose became the World Cup’s most prolific marksman this week, over-taking original “Fat” Ronaldo after netting his 16th goal in Germany’s 7-1 rout of Brazil.

In honour of his priceless knack of scoring World Cup goals, we’ve researched 16 interesting facts and records surrounding the veteran striker…

1. Polish born Klose lived in France until the age of 8. The frontman refers to himself as ‘European’, and at home he speaks Polish to his twin boys.
2. Don’t know if you heard yet but he holds the record for scoring the most World Cup goals with 16, all of which were from a distance of 12 yards or closer . #goalhanger
3. If Klose scores in the World Cup Final, he will have 17 in the last 4 World Cups, the same as the entire England national team .
4. The German striker trained as a carpenter before moving to Kaiserslautern at the age of 20, playing part-time in German lower league football. [Feel free to insert your own punchline about hardly ever hitting the woodwork here...]
5. Now playing for Lazio, Klose helped his side beat fierce rivals Roma resulting in his local postman showing ultimate respect:  “Before I came here, I had never seen a postman kneel on my doorstep and kiss my feet. It’s happened to me here” he said.
6. Despite not being quite as prolific in domestic football, Klose is the top all time German national goalscorer, finding the net 71 times in 136 appearances.
7. And those 136 caps make the 36 year-old Germany’s second most capped player behind Lothar Matthäus.
8. His mother Barbara was a member of the Polish national handball team, his father Josef Klose played professional football for AJ Auxerre.
9. For the fourth successive time Germany have finished inside the top three in World Cups, with Klose the only player to be a part of every side.
10. In fact, Klose is the only player to date to have appeared in 4 or more World Cup semi finals.
11. He became the first Lazio player to score five Serie A goals in one match when they hammered Bologna 6-0 last year.
12. Out of his 16 World Cup goals, 7 of them have come from his nut. He holds the record for scoring the most goals from headers in a single edition of the World Cups - 5.
13. Klose also become the third player to score in four editions of the World Cup, a feat matched only by Brazilian legend Pelé and fellow countryman Uwe Seeler.
14. Klose showed incredible honesty when Lazio faced Napoli after scoring a ‘goal’ when the ball came off the strikers hand with the score at 0-0. Klose went on to admit his foul and the goal was ruled out. Lazio went on to lose the game 3-0.
15. In 2006 Klose was named German footballer of the year, scoring 25 goals in the Bundelsiga, and 5 in the World Cup.
16. Will Germany win the World Cup? Well, they will if Klose scores! The German national team has never lost a game in which Klose has scored.