Hailed as a special talent while representing Germany at youth level, Mario Götze hit the big time during Borussia Dortmund's title-winning campaigns of 2010/11 and 2011/12.

• Born in the south German town of Memmingen, Götze moved to Dortmund at the age of six, joining the Schwarzgelben three years later.

• Progressed up the youth ladder at Dortmund and also gained honours at successive age levels with Germany, inspiring his country to the European U17 Championship title on home soil in 2009 and starring, with three goals, at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria later that year.

• Enjoyed his breakthrough campaign in 2010/11, scoring his first Bundesliga goal in a 3-1 win at VfB Stuttgart and crowning his maiden European start with a double as Dortmund defeated FC Karpaty Lviv 4-3 in Ukraine, his second goal a 90th-minute winner.

• Excellent club form earned him his senior debut for Germany, a 0-0 draw against Sweden on 17 November 2010, making him the second youngest Nationalmannschaft player of all time after Uwe Seeler.

• Increasingly key as Dortmund won the Bundesliga in 2010/11 and 2011/12, when they also lifted the German Cup. Reached double figures for league goals the following season but Dortmund lost out to FC Bayern München, who triggered a reported €37m release clause to secure his services in April 2013.

UEFA honours
UEFA European Under-17 Championship: winner 2009