Mario Gómez

Personal information
Full name	Mario Gómez García
Date of birth	10 July 1985 (1985-07-10) (age 24)
Place of birth	Riedlingen, West Germany
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Bayern Munich
Number	33
Youth career
	Unlingen
	Bad Saulgau
1999–2001	Ulm 1846
2001–2003	Stuttgart
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003–2005	Stuttgart II	43	(21)
2003–2009	Stuttgart	121	(63)
2009–	Bayern Munich	23	(10)
National team‡
2005–2006	Germany U21	9	(1)
2005	Germany B	2	(1)
2007–	Germany	32	(11)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 February 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22:27, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Mario Gómez García (born 10 July 1985 in Riedlingen) is a German footballer who plays as a striker for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. Gómez joined Bayern after six years in Stuttgart. The fee was a record for a player transferred in the Bundesliga, estimated to be €30–35 million. When Stuttgart became champions in 2006–07 and Gómez contributed 14 goals he was elected German footballer of the year. In the following seasons Gómez has improved on his record each time, scoring 35 goals over the course of the 2008–09 season.

Personal life

Gómez was brought up in Unlingen, an Upper Swabian village and is of German-Spanish descent (his father is a Spaniard from Granada and his mother is German). He has both nationalities but elected to play for the German national team at the age of 17. His first appearance for the team was in February 2007 against Switzerland and he has been called up regularly since.

Club career

VfB Stuttgart

In 2004, he played 10 minutes for VfB Stuttgart in the Champions League in a game against Chelsea on 9 March and made his debut in the Bundesliga on 8 May.
In the 2004–05 season, playing for the Regionalliga side, he scored 15 times in 24 games and was to be capped eight times in the first team.
In the 2005–06 season, Gómez joined the first team permanently. He played 30 times in the Bundesliga, scoring six times at this level, his first goal coming on 17 September 2005. The striker also played five times in the UEFA Cup, scoring twice, and in three times in the League Cup.
In the 2006–07 season the youngster established himself as one of the top scorers in the Bundesliga. However, he broke his hand on 10 March 2007 and suffered a torn ligament in his left knee. He made his comeback on 12 May 2007, and immediately scored after coming on from the bench. In that game, VfB Stuttgart defeated VfL Bochum (3–2) and went two points clear heading into the Bundesliga's final weekend where they won at home against Energie Cottbus, thus becoming German champions. Furthermore, VfB Stuttgart also reached final of the DFB-Pokal, where Gómez participated, but VfB Stuttgart lost to 1. FC Nuremberg. After the season, he was named German Footballer of the Year for 2007.
In July 2007, Gómez extended his contract at VfB Stuttgart until 2012.
While, in the 2007–08 season, the rest of his team struggled to keep performing at their 06–07 season standards, Gómez remained at an astonishingly high level, scoring 19 goals in 25 appearances, second in the Bundesliga's Top Scorer list, just behind Bayern Munich's Luca Toni who scored 25 times. In the cup he actually scored the most goals of players.^[1] Because of his recent development, many big clubs have been interested in the 23 year old forward. Gómez has recently gained the nickname “Mr. Zuverlässig” (lit. “Mr. Reliable”), as seen in his second of three goals against Bundesliga rival Werder Bremen (final score 6–3), where he managed to net in a virtually unreachable pass by teammate Yıldıray Baştürk. In the 2008-2009 season Gomez hit four goals to inspire VfB Stuttgart to a 4-1 victory over Bundesliga leaders VfL Wolfsburg.

Bayern Munich

On 26 May 2009, he transferred to Bayern Munich on a Bundesliga record transfer fee. The amount of the transfer fee varies from 30–35 million euro, depending on different sources.^[2][3][4]

National team

Gómez has both German and Spanish nationality, but played for all German youth national teams from age 17. He made his debut for the German national team against Switzerland on 7 February 2007. Germany won the match 3–1, with Gómez scoring Germany's second goal.
Gómez gained his second cap for Germany, coming on as a substitute for Kevin Kurányi in a Euro 2008 qualifier against San Marino, scoring two goals that contributed to a final 6–0 victory.
After Gómez impressed in pre-tournament friendlies, Joachim Löw called him up to the German squad for Euro 2008. Löw broke up the strike partnership of Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose with Podolski moving out to the left wing at the expense of talismanic midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and Gómez partnering Klose up front. Unfortunately, he was not able to reproduce his club form and missed several clear-cut chances including a crucial one in the last group match against Austria. Germany eventually won courtesy of a Michael Ballack free kick to seal a place in the knock-out stages but Löw dropped him to the bench and reverted back to the Podolski-Klose partnership. He was an unused substitute in the quarterfinal and semifinal and later came off the bench in the final of Euro 2008 for Miroslav Klose but could not prevent Germany from losing 1-0 to Spain.
In a friendly match against the United Arab Emirates played on 2 June 2009, Gómez netted four goals, ending his 15-game goal drought for the national team,^[5] in Germany's 7–2 thrashing.

International goals

Scores and results table. Germany's goal tally first:

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	7 February 2007	LTU Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany	Switzerland	2-0	3-1	Friendly
2.	2 June 2007	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg, Germany	San Marino	4-0	6-0	UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifying
3.	2 June 2007	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg, Germany	San Marino	5-0	6-0	UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifying
4.	6 February 2008	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	3-0	3-0	Friendly
5.	26 March 2008	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	2-0	4-0	Friendly
6.	26 March 2008	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	3-0	4-0	Friendly
7.	2 June 2009	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	2-0	7-2	Friendly
8.	2 June 2009	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	4-0	7-2	Friendly
9.	2 June 2009	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	5-0	7-2	Friendly
10.	2 June 2009	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	7-2	7-2	Friendly
11.	5 September 2009	BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany	South Africa	1-0	2-0	Friendly

Honours

Club

VfB Stuttgart

• Bundesliga Champion: 2006–07
• German Youth Championship: 2003

Individual

• German Footballer of the Year: 2007
  • Most expensive Bundesliga transfer

Career statistics

As of 23 February 2009 (2009 -02-23)^[update]

All-Time Club Performance

Club	Season	Bundesliga		DFB Pokal		European Competition[6]		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Bayern Munich	09–10	23	10	4	3	7	1	34	14
Total		23	10	4	3	7	1	34	14
VfB Stuttgart	08–09	32	24	2	3	10	8	44	35
	07–08	25	19	3	6	4	3	32	28
	06–07	25	14	5	2	0	0	30	16
	05–06	30	6	3	0	5	2	38	8
	04–05	8	0	1	0	1	0	10	0
	03–04	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0
Total		121	63	14	11	21	13	156	87
Career Totals		144	73	18	14	28	14	190	101