Miroslav Klose – 71 Goals All-Time Top Scorer
Seventy-one strikes, one name: the quiet German who outscored an entire era.
Miroslav Klose's tally of 71 international goals for the German national team stands as the all-time scoring record for the side, a mark that outlasted the legendary 68-goal run of Gerd Müller and cemented Klose's place as the most prolific finisher in Germany's competitive history. Achieved across more than a decade of service from his 2001 debut through his final cap in 2016, the record reflects a career defined by clinical efficiency, positional discipline, and an almost uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right moment in front of goal.
Quick Facts
- Player
- Miroslav Klose
- Position
- Striker
- International goals
- 71
- Major team honour
- 2014 FIFA World Cup Winner
- Record surpassed
- Gerd Müller – 68 goals
- Active for germany
- 2001 – 2016
Lore & Background
In German football folklore, the all-time scoring record belonged to Gerd Müller for nearly four decades. Müller's 68 goals, accumulated between 1966 and 1979, were considered a near-mythological benchmark—the kind of number other strikers referenced in the same breath as the moon landing. When Klose, a compact, no-nonsense forward from Olsztyn (then Poland, now still Poland) who had moved to Germany as a young boy, began chipping away at that record in the 2000s, many fans treated it as an inevitability rather than a revolution. He did not flash; he simply finished. Penalty, header, tap-in, volley—each goal added to the count with the mechanical precision of a clockmaker tightening a spring.
Reader's Guide
2014 FIFA World Cup – Winner. Final: Germany 1 – 0 Argentina (extra time, Mario Götze, 113'). Klose featured in the tournament, adding to his World Cup and national-team scoring records during the campaign.
2008 UEFA European Championship – Runner-up. Final: Spain 1 – 0 Germany (Fernando Torres, 14'). Klose was a key attacking presence throughout the tournament.
2002 & 2006 FIFA World Cups – Semi-finalist. 2002 semi-final: Germany 0 – 1 Brazil. 2006 semi-final: Germany 1 – 2 Italy (extra time). Klose scored multiple goals in both tournaments.
Statistical milestones: Broke Gerd Müller's 68-goal national-team record in 2014. Broke the all-time World Cup scoring record (15, Ronaldo) during the June 2014 group stage against Portugal, reaching 16. Concluded his international career with 71 goals in 130 caps, the all-time record for Germany.
Did You Know?
- Klose scored in four separate World Cup finals tournaments (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014), a feat shared by very few players in the tournament's history.
- His 17 World Cup goals remain the all-time record for the FIFA World Cup, a mark no player has since matched or surpassed.
- Klose was born in Olsztyn, Poland, in 1978 and moved to Germany as a child before eventually earning his first senior cap for the German national team in 2001.
- He scored in both the 2008 European Championship final and the 2014 World Cup final tournament, linking two of Germany's most memorable recent campaigns.
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