Mario Gómez

Stuttgart

Gómez played for VfB Stuttgart II in the Regionalliga Süd in the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons. He scored six goals in 19 appearances during the 2003–04 season and 15 goals in 24 appearances in the 2004–05 season. On 9 March 2004, Gómez played ten minutes for Stuttgart in the Champions League first knock-out round against Chelsea and made his debut in the Bundesliga on 8 May, coming on for Imre Szabics in a 2–1 loss to Hamburger SV. These were his only two appearances for the first team during the 2003–04 season. He went on to make eight league appearances, one DFB-Pokal appearance, and one UEFA Cup appearance. In the 2005–06 season, Gómez joined the first team permanently. He played in 30 matches in the Bundesliga, scoring six times. His first goal came on 17 September 2005, the winner in a 2–1 defeat of Mainz 05. Gómez also played five times in the UEFA Cup, scoring twice, and played three times in both the DFB-Pokal and DFL-Ligapokal.

In the 2006–07 season, Gómez 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 match, 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. Stuttgart also reached the final of the DFB-Pokal,…

Gómez has both German and Spanish citizenship, but played for all German youth national teams from age 14. He made his debut for the Germany senior team against Switzerland on 7 February 2007 in Düsseldorf. Germany won the match 3–1, with Gómez scoring Germany's second goal. Gómez gained his second cap for Germany by coming on as a substitute for Kevin Kurányi in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against San Marino. He scored twice as the game ended in a 6–0 victory.

UEFA Euro 2008

After Gómez impressed in pre-tournament friendlies, Germany head coach 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, Gómez was not able to reproduce his club form and missed several chances, including one in the last group match against Austria, a performance for which he was criticized by the German media and many fans of the national team. Germany eventually won courtesy of a Michael Ballack free-kick to seal a place in the knockout stages, but Löw dropped Gómez to the bench and reverted to the Podolski–Klose partnership. Gómez was an unused substitute in the quarter-final and semi-final and later came off the bench in the final of Euro 2008 for Klose, but could not prevent Germany from losing 1–0 to Spain on 29 June.

2010 FIFA World Cup

In…

During his prime, Gómez was considered one of the best strikers in world football. Throughout his career, Gómez was known for his ability to shoot with both feet and was considered an aerial threat. Additionally, his ability to anticipate crosses and passes and position himself to shoot were considered to be some of his best attributes. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger described him as "a great finisher who is often in the right place to finish off moves". Gómez's body balance and ability to hold up the ball often created trouble for defenders. During his time at Bayern, his ability to appear "at the right place at the right time" proved to be one of Bayern's most lethal attacking weapons, as Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben could often outrun defenders and provide a cross for Gómez. However, despite his goal-scoring abilities, Gómez was often accused of having limited skills and a poor work ethic.

Since August 2021, Gómez has been part of the UEFA Champions League expert team on Amazon Prime Video. Since January 2022, Gómez has worked as technical director of Red Bull Soccer International and in this role is responsible for strategic planning and structural work at RB Leipzig, New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Bragantino. In December 2024 he extended his contract until 2028, and from January 2025 he has worked alongside Jürgen Klopp, who joined Red Bull as Head of Global Soccer.