Honorary citizenship bid for Klose collapses

German national soccer team striker Miroslav Klose attends a press conference in Santo Andre, Brazil, 10 July 2014.Photo: EPA/Thomas Eisenhuth

German star Klose has scored more World Cup goals than any other player in the history of the tournament, and he could yet win more glory in Sunday's final against Argentina.

His success prompted Arkadiusz Wisniewski, a candidate in Opole's mayoral elections this autumn, to put forward the idea of making the striker an honorary citizen of the capital of Upper Silesia.

“We wanted to start a discussion on how to make use of the incredible success of this man who comes from our city,” Wisniewski told local web site opole.sport.pl.

“Unfortunately, the discussion went in completely the wrong direction,” he added.

“Instead of talking about sport and the promotion of Opole, there were arguments about matters concerning nationality.

“There were a lot of emotional responses to do with Polish-German relations.

“So we will not officially submit the request,” he confirmed.

The striker was born in Opole in 1978, although his father, also a professional footballer, was an Aussiedler, an ethnic German whose parents remained in the region in 1945 after western territories were awarded to Poland in exchange for those lost in Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania as a result of World War II.

Miroslav Klose joined his father in Germany for good at the age of 8, although he still speaks Polish at home.

Deputy Mayor of Opole Krzysztof Kawalko has commented that honorary citizenship would be “too worthy” an award, but said that Klose would be invited to the city at the very least. (nh)