Mesut Özil

Schalke 04

In 2005, Özil moved to the youth system of Schalke 04. He was deployed a midfielder and wore 17 as his squad number, after starting as a playmaker and central attacking midfielder in the place of the suspended Lincoln in DFL-Ligapokal matches against Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich. Upon making the first team at Schalke, he was described in the German press as "the next big thing". However, soon after declining an offer from Schalke 04, claiming that a yearly salary of €1.5 million would not be enough, he eventually fell out with club management and moved on to Werder Bremen in January 2008. This led to Mirko Slomka, the then-Schalke manager, claiming that Özil would not play another match for Schalke.

Werder Bremen

On 31 January 2008, Özil moved to Werder Bremen for a reported fee of €5 million, signing a contract with the German club until 30 June 2011. Other than Werder Bremen, Hannover 96 and VfB Stuttgart were reportedly interested as well in binding Özil to their respective clubs, however did not want to pay such a high transfer fee. After transferring to Werder Bremen, Özil got the jersey number 11. On 26 April 2008 (30th match day) Özil scored the go-ahead goal in the 33rd minute against Karlsruher SC, to put his team up 2–1, this was Özil's first Bundesliga goal. He played in twelve games throughout the second half of the season, six times playing in the starting formation, becoming second with Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga at the…

Eligible to play for either Germany or Turkey, after long consideration, Özil chose to play for his country of birth, Germany. In September 2006, he was called up for the Germany under-17 team. He was a member of the German under-21 team from 2007. On 29 June 2009, Özil was selected the man of the match in a 4–0 win over England during the U-21 European Championship final. He made his debut for the senior side during a friendly match against Norway on 11 February 2009. He scored his first goal for the senior team in his third appearance, another friendly, against South Africa on 5 September in Leverkusen at the BayArena.

2010 FIFA World Cup

Özil was selected for Germany's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, starting in all of the team's matches. He provided an assist for Cacau's goal in the 4–0 win against Australia in Germany's first group game. He scored a left-footed half-volley from the edge of the penalty area against Ghana in the final group game; the win meant Germany progressed to the second round as group winners. On 27 June 2010, Özil played in Germany's win over England in the last 16 match, setting up the fourth goal with a cross to Thomas Müller as Germany triumphed 4–1. During the quarter-final match against Argentina, he assisted the second goal for Miroslav Klose with a cross to ensure the 4–0 final score for the Germans. FIFA announced that he was among the ten tournament players nominated for the Golden Ball.

UEFA Euro 2012…

Club

International

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Özil goal.

Mesut Özil was born on 15 October 1988, in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, as a son of Turkish immigrants. His grandfather moved as a Gastarbeiter from Zonguldak, Turkey to West Germany. He played, at youth level, for various clubs in Gelsenkirchen between 1995 and 2000, before a five-year stint with Rot-Weiss Essen.