Mario Gomez, former Bayern Munich forward and German international has ended his football career after helping Stuttgart to gain promotion back to the German Bundesliga. He will turn 35-year-old on 10 July.
Super Mario as he is fondly called began his football career with Stuttgart in 2003. He spent 6 years at the club, helping them to win the German Bundesliga title in the 2006-2007 season.
After being such a huge success at the club, German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich snatched him up in 2009 for about €30 million, which was then the league’s transfer record. He struggled to adapt in his first season at the club but ended up being the league top scorer in the 2010-2011 season.
Mario Gomez spent four seasons with Bayern Munich before he left the club for Fiorentina in 2013. Before he left the German giants, he has helped the club to seven titles, including two Bundesliga titles and one UEFA Champions League.
The arrival of Super Mario to Italian Serie A side Fiorentina was not a success because of injuries. The club had to loan him to Turkey’s club Beşiktaş in 2015 where he became the Turkish league highest goal scorer as Beşiktaş won Süper Lig.
After his one season exploits in Turkey, he decided to return to German Bundesliga in 2016 where he joined VfL Wolfsburg. He helped the club avoid relegation before he decided to return to the club he started his football career, Stuttgart, in 2018 and spent two seasons with them before he retired from football in June 2020.
Before his retirement, he has vowed that he would only quit football when he has helped Stuttgart to return to the summit of football in German.
“I’m very grateful for the time I had at Stuttgart. It was always my biggest dream to give something back and to end my career, that I couldn’t have imagined, here”, Mario Gomez said while announcing his retirement.
Subsequently, Stuttgart tweeted a picture showing where the players of the team were celebrating him by throwing him in the air. The club captioned it: “Thanks, @Mario_Gomez ⚪️🔴❤️”
Thanks, @Mario_Gomez ⚪️🔴❤️#VfB pic.twitter.com/w47hLZs1gT
— VfB Stuttgart_int (@VfB_int) June 28, 2020
Also, the biggest club he played for and where he had the biggest wins in his career, Bayern Munich also took to Twitter and reminded the world that Gomez scored “113 goals” for the club, won treble – UEFA Champions League, Bundesliga, and DFB-Pokal with the club in the 2012-2013 season. “Congrats on a fantastic career”, the club added.
⚽ 113 goals for #FCBayern
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) June 28, 2020
🏆 3x Bundesliga winnner
🏆 Treble winner
Congrats on a fantastic career, @Mario_Gomez! 👏#MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/hGQo95oTtc
While German Bundesliga official Twitter handle was not left out. The league tweeted to remind the world that Mario Gomez scored 170 Bundesliga goals and won three Bundesliga titles in his career.
⚽ 170 Bundesliga goals
— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) June 28, 2020
🏆 3 Bundesliga titles
Wishing @Mario_Gomez a happy retirement 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Q3OgZoOXK5
Prior to his retirement from professional club football, Gomez retired from international football in 2018. Before his retirement, he has helped Germany to win three UEFA European Championships and two FIFA World Cups. In UEFA Euro 2012, he finished as the top scorer of the competition. Altogether, he scored 31 goals in 78 caps for Germany.
