Stefan Kießling (born 25 January 1984) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker for Bayer Leverkusen and 1.

Born in Lichtenfels, West Germany, Kießling began playing football at a young age in the youth setup at 1.

[4] He represented Germany at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, featuring in two matches for the eventual third-place side.

[9][20] He then scored a hat-trick for Bayer Leverkusen against Stuttgart on 29 November 2009, sending the club to the top of league table with a 4–0 win, three points clear of closest challengers Werder Bremen.

[26] On 18 February 2012, Kießling scored two goals on only three shots and also provided an assist for André Schürrle as Leverkusen defeated FC Augsburg 4–1.

[32] On 15 December, Kießling scored a brace to keep Bayer close on the heels of Bayern Munich heading into the winter break; the goals also meant that at mid-season he was the top scorer in the Bundesliga.

[33] In PowerTable Sports Bundesliga XI of the Season, created at the mid-way point of the campaign, Kießling was the only striker included in a 4–2–3–1 formation.

[42] His first goals of the 2013–14 season came in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on 3 August 2013, scoring in both halves as Leverkusen defeated Regionalliga side SV Lippstadt 08 6–1.

[45] With his strong start to the season along with Sidney Sam and Son Heung-min, the trio were compared to the Stuttgart's Magic Triangle of the mid-1990s, consisting of players Krasimir Balakov, Fredi Bobic and Giovane Élber, who were known for terrorizing Bundesliga defenses and scoring many goals.

[48] The "ghost goal" secured a 2–1 victory for Leverkusen and was cause for much debate after the game with Hoffenheim officials calling for a replay.

[49] Kießling shrugged off the debate five days later by scoring two convincing goals in Leverkusen's 4–0 hammering of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

[50][51] On 13 April 2014, Kießling scored a header after forty seconds to put his side 1–0 up over Hertha BSC; the game would finish 2–1 in Leverkusen's favor, moving the club into fourth place.

[52] On 10 May, Leverkusen defeated Werder Bremen 2–1, securing fourth place for the club and booking a spot in the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League for the following season.

[54] Despite finishing the Bundesliga season as the leading goalscorer for a German forward,[55] he was left out of the Germany squad at the World Cup in Brazil.

[58] In the first game of the Bundesliga season, he converted a Karim Bellarabi pass in the last minute of stoppage time to complete a 2–0 win over Borussia Dortmund.

[59] In the second leg of their Champions League play-off against Copenhagen, Kießling scored twice more as Leverkusen advanced to the group stages with a 7–2 aggregate victory.

[60] He scored his tenth goal of the season and earned his side a penalty in their second group match of the Champions League, a 3–1 home win over Benfica on 1 October.

On 12 December 2015, Kießling scored a brace and assisted two out of three of Javier Hernández's first hat-trick goals for Bayer Leverkusen at club level.

[72] He later stated that he would refuse call-ups to the squad while Joachim Löw remained in charge, due to a perceived lack of respect by the German coach.

[76] At the mid-way point of the 2012–13 season, Kießling averaged 5.6 aerial duals won per game, the most of any player in the Bundesliga.