Miroslav Klose Award

What is the Miroslav Klose Award? The Miroslav Klose Award is an award for the cult heroes of the World Cup, people who hold a special place in the hearts of fans everywhere, not necessarily for on field performances (though on field performances can be a major factor).

Why Miroslav Klose? Who else could it be, the all time top goalscorer at the World Cup, despite a relatively unspectacular club career (compared to the players with similar World Cup pedigree). His iconic front flip celebration also contributes to his cult status, especially when he did it in 2014 and failed miserably.

What is the criteria for the Award?

• A performance level well above their usual (particularly players who consistently perform well above expectations at international level)
• A memorable celebration, look, nickname etc.
• Bizarre moments (but not explicitly malicious ones)
• Whatever else I think of

Past Winners

• 1930: Hector Castro, for scoring in the final despite only having one hand (Buster Bluth-esque)
• 1934: Kick Smit, for having a great name
• 1938: Ernst Wilimowski, for scoring 4 goals in the only game he ever played at the World Cup
• 1950: Joe Gaetjens, for scoring the goal that knocked England off their perch in the USA’s 1-0 win.
• 1954: Kurt Schmied, for playing on despite suffering from severe heatstroke as Austria beat Switzerland 7-5.
• 1958: John Charles, the gentle giant
• 1962: Chile, for eating spaghetti pregame to prepare for Italy, drinking vodka to prepare for the USSR and drinking coffee before playing Brazil. They lost to Brazil.
• 1966: Pickles the dog, for finding the Jules Rimet trophy in a hedge.
• 1970: Pele, for missing an absolute sitter against Uruguay. Useless player. Escape to Victory was good though.
• 1974: Mwepu Ilunga, for kicking the ball away from a free kick opponents Brazil were going to take, allegedly in protest of Zaire’s government.
• 1978: Archie Gemmill, for scoring a wonder goal against the Netherlands in the final game of Scotland’s ill fated campaign
• 1982: Laszlo Kiss, for scoring a hattrick within 7 minutes during Hungary’s drubbing of El Salvador.
• 1986: Josimar, for scoring two of the best goals ever from right back in his first 2 international matches
• 1990: Roger Milla, for scoring 4 goals at the age of 38 and his iconic corner flag dance
• 1994: Trifon Ivanov, for excellent performances and looking like a werewolf
• 1998: The entire Romania squad, for bleaching their hair blonde, except for goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea who was bald.
• 2002: Rustu Recber, named in the team of the tournament, the Turkish goalkeeper’s strange combination of ponytail, goatee and eye black was extremely memorable
• 2006: Peter Crouch
• 2010: Miroslav Klose, for scoring the more goals at the World Cup than he scored in the league.
• 2014: Tim Krul, the Dutch keeper who was brought on by Louis Van Gaal in the 120th minute against Costa Rica to take care of the penalty shootout. It worked, and the Dutch ran out 4-3 winners, Krul saving 2.