Mario Gómez

For other people named Mario Gómez, see Mario Gómez (disambiguation).

Mario Gómez

Personal information
Full name	Mario Gómez García
Date of birth	10 July 1985 (1985-07-10) (age 26)
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
	SV Unlingen
	FV Bad Saulgau
1999–2001	SSV Ulm 1846
2001–2003	VfB Stuttgart
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003–2005	VfB Stuttgart II	43	(21)
2003–2009	VfB Stuttgart	121	(63)
2009–	Bayern Munich	73	(51)
National team‡
2005–2006	Germany U21	9	(1)
2005	Germany B	2	(1)
2007–	Germany[1]	50	(21)
Honours VfB Stuttgart Winner Bundesliga 2007 Runner-up DFB-Pokal 2007 Bayern Munich Winner Bundesliga 2010 Winner DFB-Pokal 2010 Runner-up UEFA Champions League 2010 Winner DFL-Supercup 2010  Germany Runner-up European Championship 2008 Third FIFA World Cup 2010
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:25, 19 November 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:20, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Gómez and the second or maternal family name is García.

Mario Gómez García (German pronunciation: [ˈmaːʁioː ˈɡɔmɛs]; Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaɾio ˈɣomeθ]; born 10 July 1985 in Riedlingen) is a German footballer who plays as a striker for FC Bayern Munich in the German 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 euro. When Stuttgart became champions in 2006–07, Gómez contributed 14 goals and was elected German footballer of the year.

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 decided 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, Gómez 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 DFB-Pokal.

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. 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 2006–07 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 24 times. In the cup Gómez was even the top scorer with six goals.^[2] 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" ("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 2008–09 season Gómez hit four goals to inspire VfB Stuttgart to a 4–1 victory over Bundesliga leaders VfL Wolfsburg.

Bayern Munich

On 26 May 2009, Gómez was eventually transferred to Bayern Munich on a Bundesliga record transfer fee, signing a four-year contract. The amount of the transfer fee varies from 30–35 million euro, depending on different sources.^[3][4][5]

After an erratic first season at Bayern with only 10 goals in 29 league appearances, Gómez established himself as a starter during the 2010–11 season (to an extent at the expense of Miroslav Klose and due to the injury sustained by Ivica Olić) and finished as top goalscorer in the Bundesliga with 28 goals. He scored his 100th Bundesliga goal with his third strike in an 1–8 away demolition of FC St. Pauli on 7 May 2011, the hat-trick already being his fifth in the Bundesliga in the 2010–11 season, and his sixth overall, adding in his hat-trick against Cluj in the Champions League. Gómez has scored 10 hat-tricks so far in his Bundesliga career, three with Stuttgart and seven with Bayern.

Gómez also netted eight times in the Champions League and finished in second place in this season's top scorers, tied with Samuel Eto'o, although Bayern were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Internazionale.

Gómez started the 2011–12 season in similar vein to the previous season, scoring a hat-trick away to 1. FC Kaiserslautern, and on 10 September 2011 getting four goals in Bayern Munich's 7–0 rout of Freiburg. On 2 November 2011, he netted another hat-trick in a Champions League group stage game against Serie A club S.S.C. Napoli. Bayern went on to win 3-2.

International career

Euro 2008

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 Gómez 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.

World Cup 2010

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,^[6] in Germany's 7–2 thrashing.

Gómez was named as one of the six strikers in Joachim Löw's 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He featured in four out of seven German matches at the World Cup, all from the substitutes bench against Australia, replacing Mesut Özil in the 73rd minute, Serbia, coming on for left back Holger Badstuber in the 77th minute, England, coming on for fellow forward Miroslav Klose in the 72nd minute and Spain replacing defensive midfielder Sami Khedira on 80 minutes. Again he did not score a goal at a major tournament.

Euro 2012

Although being the second choice behind Miroslav Klose as center-forward during Germany's qualification for Euro 2012, Gómez played regularly and contributed goals against every opponent of that campaign: Kazakhstan, Austria, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Belgium. This includes two goals against Austria in Germany's 1–2 away win in the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, netting into the very same goal in which despite good goalscoring opportunities he couldn't score three years earlier during Euro 2008, a performance for which he was criticized by the German media and fans of the Mannschaft. Observers saw him overcome a little trauma and in a spontaneous gesture of relief, he kissed the goalpost after he scored the first goal.^[7]

Prior to the Euro 2012 in an 3-3 draw against Ukraine in the opening game at the renewed Olympic Stadion of Kiev - the site of the Euro 2012 final match - Gómez captained Germany for the first time. It was his 50 international cap, and he (age 26) was Germanys oldest player in the starting lineup. ^[8]

International goals

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

Goal	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
12.	29 May 2010	Stadium Puskás Ferenc, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	2–0	3–0	Friendly
13.	11 August 2010	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark	Denmark	1–0	2–2	Friendly
14.	12 October 2010	Astana Arena, Astana, Kazakhstan	Kazakhstan	2–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
15.	29 March 2011	Borussia-Park, Mönchengladbach, Germany	Australia	1–0	1–2	Friendly
16.	29 May 2011	Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim, Germany	Uruguay	1–0	2–1	Friendly
17.	3 June 2011	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	1–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
18.	3 June 2011	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
19.	7 June 2011	Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	2–0	3–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
20.	7 October 2011	Turk Telekom Arena, Istanbul, Turkey	Turkey	1–0	3–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
21.	11 October 2011	Esprit Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany	Belgium	3–0	3–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Honours

Club

VfB Stuttgart

• Bundesliga: 2006–07

Bayern Munich

• Bundesliga: 2009–10
• DFB-Pokal: 2009–10

National team

Germany

• FIFA World Cup 2010: Third place – Bronze medal
• UEFA European Football Championship Runner-up: 2008

Individual

• Bundesliga Top Goalscorer (28 goals): 2011
• German Footballer of the Year: 2007
• Most expensive Bundesliga transfer

Career statistics

Club	League	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Other[A]		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
VfB Stuttgart II	Regionalliga Süd	2003–04	19	6	0	0	–		–		19	6
		Total	19	6	0	0	–		–		19	6
VfB Stuttgart	Bundesliga	2003–04	1	0	0	0	1	0	–		2	0
		Total	1	0	0	0	1	0	–		2	0
VfB Stuttgart II	Regionalliga Süd	2004–05	24	16	0	0	–		–		24	16
		Total	24	16	0	0	–		–		24	16
VfB Stuttgart	Bundesliga	2004–05	8	0	1	0	1	0	–		10	0
		2005–06	30	6	0	0	5	2	3	0	38	8
		2006–07	25	14	5	2	–		–		30	16
		2007–08	25	19	3	6	4	3	–		32	28
		2008–09	32	24	2	3	10	8	–		44	35
		Total	120	63	11	11	20	13	3	0	154	87
Bayern Munich		2009–10	29	10	4	3	12	1	–		45	14
		2010–11	32	28	5	3	8	8	–		45	39
		2011–12	12	13	1	1	6	6	–		19	20
		Total	73	51	10	7	26	15	–		109	73
Career Total			237	136	21	18	47	28	3	0	308	180
Last update: 19 November 2011[9]

Footnotes

A. ^ Includes other competitive competitions, including the DFB-Ligapokal and the UEFA Super Cup.

References

1. ^ "The Team". dfb.de. http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=137. Retrieved 15 May 2011. 
2. ^ "DFB Pokal 2007/08 Top Scorers" (in German). weltfussball.de. June 2008. http://www.weltfussball.de/torjaeger/dfb-pokal-2007-2008/. Retrieved 19 August 2008. 
3. ^ Grohmann, Karolos (26 May 2009). "Stuttgart's Gomez joins Bayern Munich". Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUKTRE54P2WN20090526. Retrieved 15 June 2009. 
4. ^ "Gomez wechselt zu Bayern – Interesse an Neuer" (in German). Die Welt. 26 May 2009. http://www.welt.de/sport/fussball/article3803731/Mario-Gomez-wechselt-zu-Bayern-Muenchen.html. Retrieved 28 May 2009. 
5. ^ Krass, Sebastian (21 July 2009). "Mann unter besonderer Beobachtung" (in German). Financial Times Deutschland. http://www.ftd.de/sport/:Gomez-bei-den-Bayern-Mann-unter-besonderer-Beobachtung/543125.html. Retrieved 9 August 2009. 
6. ^ "Gomez ist wieder da – Neuer überzeugt voll und ganz" (in German). kicker. 2 June 2009. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/nationalelf/startseite/fussball-nationalteams-freundschaftsspiele/2009/3/888219/spielanalyse_ver-arab-emirate_deutschland.html. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
7. ^ "Gomez überwindet Trauma" (in German). n-tv. 3 June 2011. http://www.n-tv.de/sport/fussball/Gomez-ueberwindet-Trauma-article3496696.html. Retrieved 12 October 2011. 
8. ^ "Kapitänsbinde macht Gomez stolz" (in German). n-tv. 13 November 2011. http://www.n-tv.de/sport/Kapitaensbinde-macht-Gomez-stolz-article4756566.html. Retrieved 14 November 2011. 
9. ^ "Mario Gomez > Club Matches". worldfootball.net. http://www.worldfootball.net/spieler_profil/mario-gomez/2/. Retrieved 14 May 2011. 

External links

• Official website (German)
• Mario Gómez at fussballdaten.de (German)

Persondata
Name	Gómez, Mario
Alternative names	Gómez García, Mario
Short description	Footballer
Date of birth	10 July 1985
Place of birth	Riedlingen, West Germany
Date of death
Place of death