František Kloz (19 May 1905 – 13 June 1945) was a Czech football player.

Club career

Kloz played most of his career for SK Kladno and became its manager in 1942-43. He scored 175 goals in 192 matches in the Czechoslovak First League (172 for Kladno, 3 for Slavia), making him the third highest scorer in the competition's history. He was twice the top goalscorer of the league, the first time in the 1929-30 season with 15 and the second in the 1936-37 season with 28 goals.

International career

He played for Czechoslovakia national team, from 1929 to 1937 - scoring six goals in 10 matches. He made his international debut on 28 October 1929 in a Friendly against Yugoslavia, and he only needed 2 minutes to leave his mark as he netted the opening goal in a 4-3 win. However, it took him 7 years to score another goal for his nation, but the wait was worth it as he scored not one, but four goals against Switzerland in a 1936–38 Central European Cup fixture. His last international goal was a late winner against Austria in 24 October 1937.

International goals

World War II

An anti-Nazi during German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II, in May 1945 Kloz went out to fight as a volunteer non-soldier against German Nazi occupants. He was seriously wounded on 7 May, when his party sought to capture a German-held ammunition store two days before the enemy surrendered in Czechoslovakia. He died a month later in a hospital in Louny.

Legacy

Kloz is the most famous player in the history of SK Kladno. The team's home stadium is named after him.