Mesut Özil
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mesut Özil | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Attacking midfielder / Winger | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Werder Bremen | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1995–1998 | Westfalia 04 Gelsenkirchen | ||
| 1998–1999 | Teutonia Schalke-Nord | ||
| 1999–2000 | Falke Gelsenkirchen | ||
| 2000–2005 | Rot-Weiss Essen | ||
| 2005–2006 | Schalke 04 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2008 | Schalke 04 | 30 | (0) |
| 2008– | Werder Bremen | 71 | (13) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2006–2007 | Germany U19 | 11 | (4) |
| 2007– | Germany U21 | 16 | (5) |
| 2009– | Germany | 14 | (2) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:30, 4 June 2010 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16:05, 27 June 2010 (UTC) | |||
Mesut Özil (German pronunciation: [ˈmeːzʊt ˈœzɪl], Turkish: [ˈmesut ˈøzil]; born 15 October 1988 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German professional footballer of Turkish descent[2] who plays for Werder Bremen and the German national football team.
Club career
Özil began his youth career playing for different clubs in Gelsenkirchen and five years for Rot-Weiss Essen. In 2005, he moved to the youth department of FC Schalke 04. He is a midfielder and wears 11 as his squad number, after starting as playmaker and central attacking midfielder in the place of the suspended Lincoln in Ligapokal matches against Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich Schalke.[3]
On 31 January 2008, he moved to Werder Bremen for a reported fee of €4.3 million, signing a contract with the German club until 30 June 2011.[4]
International career
In September 2006, Özil was called up for the Germany U-17 team. Özil has been a member of the German U-21 team since 2007. On 29 June 2009, Özil was the catalyst in a 4–0 win over England during the U-21 European Championship final.[citation needed]
He made his debut for the Germany national football team 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.
World Cup
He was selected for the Germany national squad for the 2010 World Cup, starting in the team's first three games. He scored a left-footed kick off a half volley from the edge of the 18 yard box against Ghana in the final group game of the World Cup 2010, ensuring Germany's progress to the second round as group winners. He played a major part in Germany's win over England in the last 16 match on the 27 June 2010, setting up the fourth goal as Germany triumphed 4–1.[5]
International goals
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 5 September 2009 | BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany |  South Africa |
2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly | |||||
| 2. | 23 June 2010 | Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa |  Ghana |
1–0 | 1−0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup | |||||
| Correct as of 27 June 2010 | |||||||||||
Career statistics
Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2006–07||rowspan="2"|Schalke||rowspan="5"|Bundesliga||19||0||1||0||1||0||21||0 |- |2007–08||11||0||1||1||4||0||16||1 |- |2007–08||rowspan="3"|Werder Bremen||12||1||0||0||2||0||14||1 |- |2008–09||28||3||5||2||14||0||47||5 |- |2009–10||31||9||5||0||10||2||46||11 Template:Football player statistics 5101||13||12||3||31||2||144||18 |}
Honours
- Schalke
- German League: Runner-up 2006–07
- Werder Bremen
- German League: Runner-up 2007–08
- German Cup: 2008–09
- UEFA Cup: Runner-up 2008–09
- Germany U-21
Personal life
Özil's brother Mutlu is also a footballer, playing for Heßler 06 in Gelsenkirchen.
Özil is a Muslim, and is known to read from the Qur'an before games.[7] Özil is engaged to Anna-Maria Lagerblom (nee Lewe), who is the sister of Sarah Connor.[8] She converted in June 2010 to Islam and changed her name to Melek.[9]
References
- ^ "Biography for Mesut Özil".
- ^ White, Duncan (12 June 2010). "Germany v Australia: Mesut Ozil at head of the vanguard for new generation". Telegraph. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ Jean-Julien Beer (27 July 2006). "Ein 17-Jähriger soll Lincoln ersetzen" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
- ^ "Mesut Özil". Transfermarkt. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
- ^ "Germany 4-1 England". BBC Sport. 27 June 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
- ^ "Özil, Mesut" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
- ^ George Caulkin in Durban (18 December 2009). "Remodelled Germans spark life into World Cup". The Australian. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ Aus Liebe ein Engel für Mesut Özil
- ^ Freundin von Mesut Özil tritt aus Liebe zum Islam über
External links
