Can Miroslav Klose turn goalscoring greatness into coaching success at Nuremberg?
Great players don't always make great coaches. Miroslav Klose may be one of the exceptions.
For more than a decade, Klose was the FIFA World Cup's all-time leading scorer. His 16 goals across four tournaments stood as a record until Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé surpassed him at the 2026 finals.
It was another landmark achievement in a playing career built on an exceptional ability to find the net. Klose scored more than 250 competitive club goals and 71 times for Germany, becoming the country's all-time leading scorer and winning the 2014 World Cup. One of the game's most accomplished strikers, he knew how to find the net better than most. The same success has proved harder to replicate from the dugout.
Watch: The best of Miroslav Klose in the Bundesliga
Klose's coaching journey began with Germany, where he served as Joachim Löw's assistant from 2016 to 2018. He then coached Bayern Munich's U17s before joining Hansi Flick's senior staff as an assistant in 2020/21. A spell as head coach of Austrian side Altach followed, before Klose took charge of Nuremberg in summer 2024.
The results have been mixed. Klose has overseen eighth- and 10th-place finishes in Bundesliga 2, with neither campaign producing a serious promotion challenge. Now, in his third season, the 48-year-old has made the kind of start that could change the narrative.
Nuremberg have beaten Dynamo Dresden, Greuther Fürth and Arminia Bielefeld to make a perfect start and equal their club record for the best opening to a Bundesliga 2 season, set in 1999/2000. They also sit top of the table on goal difference, ahead of Hertha Berlin.
Watch: Nuremberg stay perfect against Bielefeld
Der Club have done it in emphatic fashion, too, scoring 11 times across those three victories. And while it is still early days, Klose's attacking instincts appear to be rubbing off on his players.
Mohamed Alì Zoma is leading the charge. The forward scored 14 times last season and has already struck four times in the opening three games, giving Nuremberg another potent weapon and Klose a familiar sight: a striker finding the net regularly.
The 1967/68 Bundesliga champions have also progressed in the DFB Cup via a penalty shootout, leaving them unbeaten in four competitive games so far this season.
It is far too early to talk about promotion in a league as notoriously unpredictable as Bundesliga 2. But after two seasons of consolidation, Nuremberg have given themselves reason to believe this could be different.
The Franconian outfit have not played in the Bundesliga since their relegation at the end of the 2018/19 season, while Klose has yet to lead a team to the top flight as a coach. Perhaps that is about to change.
Next up is a trip to winless Holstein Kiel, where victory will give Nuremberg their best-ever start to a Bundesliga 2 season outright — and take Klose another step closer to achieving as a coach what he did as a player: reaching the very top.
