Mesut Özil (German pronunciation: [ˈmeːzut ˈøːzil]; born 15 October 1988 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German footballer of kurdish descent, who plays for Real Madrid and internationally for the German national team. Özil, who has been involved with the national team since 2006, gained international attention during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and was nominated for the Golden Ball Award.

Club career

Gelsenkirchen and Rot-Weiss Essen

Özil began his youth career playing for different clubs in Gelsenkirchen and five years for Rot-Weiss Essen.

Schalke 04

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.[2]

Werder Bremen

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.[3]

Real Madrid

On 17 August 2010 Werder Bremen announced that it had reached an agreement with Real Madrid[4]. The transfer fee is believed to be in the region of €15m.[5]

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 with a cross to Thomas Mueller as Germany triumphed 4–1.[7] During the quarter-final match against Argentina he assisted the second goal for Miroslav Klose with a low cross to make it 4-0 to the Germans. Germany went on to win the match 4–0. FIFA announced him as one of the ten nominations for the Golden Ball.

Honours

Club

Werder Bremen

DFB-Pokal: 2009

Country

Germany

FIFA World Cup: Third place - Bronze medal (2010)

UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 2009

Personal life

Özil's brother Mutlu is also a footballer who is playing for Heßler 06 in Gelsenkirchen.[9]

Özil is a third-generation member of the Turkish community in Germany.[10] His ancestors are from from Devrek, Zonguldak in Northern Turkey.[11]

Özil recites the Qur'an before all his matches to help him focus. Talking to the Berlin-based daily Der Tagesspiegel, Özil said, "I always do that before I go out (on the pitch). I pray and my team-mates know that they cannot talk to me during this brief period." [12]