Mesut Ozil Biography

Mesut Özil Biography

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The title of this article contains the character ö. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Mesut Oezil.

Mesut Özil

Personal information
Full name	Mesut Özil
Date of birth	15 October 1988 (1988-10-15) (age 21)
Place of birth	Gelsenkirchen, West Germany
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club	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)
National team‡
2006–2007	Germany U19	11	(4)
2007–	Germany U21	16	(5)
2009–	Germany	15	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:30, 4 June 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:21, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

Mesut Özil (German pronunciation: [ˈmeːzʊt ˈœzɪl], Turkish: [ˈmesut ˈøzil]; born 15 October 1988 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German professional footballer of Turkish origin^[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 for 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] Before signing for Werder Bremen, Özil was courted by Manchester United to sign him as a teenager.^[5]

[edit] 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.

2010 World Cup

He was selected for the Germany national squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, starting in the team's first four games. He scored a left-footed half-volley from the edge of the 18 yard box against Ghana in the final group game, ensuring Germany progressed to the second round as group winners.^[6] On 27 June 2010, he played in Germany's win over England in the last 16 match, setting up the fourth goal as Germany triumphed 4–1.