Felix Götze (; born 11 February 1998) is a German professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

SC Paderborn Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest success since the turn of the millenni ...

Club career

Youth career

Götze played for

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

until 2014, when he moved to the youth academy of

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

. Götze began in Bayern's under-17 team for the 2014–15 season, before moving up to the under-19 team for the 2015–16 season. In 2017, Götze won the 2016–17 A-Junioren Bundesliga Süd/Südwest with the under-19 team, scoring six times during the season. The team went on to advance to the final of the A-Junioren Bundesliga championship round, before losing to

8–7 on penalties.

Bayern Munich

On 24 May 2017, Götze signed a professional contract with Bayern, with a two-year contract lasting until 2019. Götze began his senior career with

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the German reserve football teams, reserve team of Football in Germany, German association football club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, currently playing in the Regionalliga B ...

in the 2017–18 season, making his debut in the

Regionalliga Bayern The Regionalliga Bayern () is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria () and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tier of the German football league system, b ...

on 29 September 2017 in a 3–1 away loss against Wacker Burghausen. His first goal for the reserve team came on 3 November 2017, opening the scoring in the 26th minute in a 2–0 away win against FC Ingolstadt II.

FC Augsburg

On 1 July 2018, Götze moved on a free transfer to

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

, where he signed a four-year contract. He played his first match in the first round of the 2018–19 DFB-Pokal, a match ended with Augsburg winning 2–1 against TSV Steinbach Haiger. On 1 September 2018, he finally made his debut in the Bundesliga in a 1–1 draw against

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

, in which he came on as a substitute in the 75th minute. On 25 September 2018, Götze scored the equaliser in the 87th minute in a match that finished 1–1 against his former club,

Loan to Kaiserslautern

On 1 February 2021, the last day of the 2020–21 winter transfer window, he moved to

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

club

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

on loan for the rest of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. He joined 1. FC Kaiserslautern on loan for a second time in July 2021.

Rot-Weiss Essen

On 29 August 2022, Götze was loaned to

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

by his request. On 24 May 2023, the transfer was made permanent.

SC Paderborn

On 21 May 2024, Götze signed with

in 2. Bundesliga.

International career

Youth

On 25 June 2017, the Germany national under-19 team include Götze in their final squad for the 2017 edition of the

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

. Götze made his youth international debut on 9 July 2017, coming on as a substitute in the 81st minute for Jonas Busam in the 4–1 loss to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the third round of the group stage. Germany were this eliminated from the tournament, finishing third in the group.

Personal life

Felix was born in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, and is the younger brother of

Mario Götze Mario Götze (; born 3 June 1992) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays for club Eintracht Frankfurt. Although his favoured position is that of an attacking or central midfielder, he has also played as a Winger (f ...

and Fabian Götze.

Career statistics

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gotze, Felix 1998 births Living people Footballers from Dortmund German men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Germany men's youth international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players FC Bayern Munich II players FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Augsburg players FC Augsburg II players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Rot-Weiss Essen players SC Paderborn 07 players 21st-century German sportsmen