Stuttgart’s Mario Gomez has been voted the 2007 Bundesliga Player of the Year.
The 22 year old Stuttgart striker has come out on top in the vote organised by Kicker-Sportmagazin. The youngster polled 196 votes from Germany’s sports journalists beating Werder Bremen’s Diego into second place. Armin Veh was voted Trainer of the Year.
Gomez had a sensational season for the eventual Bundesliga champions, scoring 14 goals in 25 appearances. After a double-strike against Arminia Bielefeld in January, he was called up to the national squad by Joachim Löw.
In three appearances for the ‘Nationalelf’ he has already registered 3 goals. He scored on his debut at the start of February against Spain, and added two more in the 6-0 European Championship win against San Marino.
A curious double injury kept him out of the Stuttgart side towards the end of the season. A knee injury suffered against Wolfsburg was made worse when he broke a bone in his hand while training with a punch-bag.
He made a scoring return in the Swabians penultimate game against Bochum as they took over the leadership of the table.
Sent on after 55 minutes with Stuttgart 2-1 down, Armin Veh’s faith was repaid when Gomez headed in the equaliser. Stuttgart went on to win 3-2, Schalke lost to Dortmund, and the rest is well known.
“I never dreamt this would happen” he admitted. “I didn’t even realise that the vote was today. This is a huge honour for me.”
Gomez succeeds Miroslav Klose as the Player of the Year. Werder Bremen’s Diego polled 175 votes in second place.
Armin Veh was voted Trainer of the Year. He was the clear winner with 449 votes ahead of Hans Meyer with 221. Third place went to Petrick Sander of Cottbus.
Goal.com - Germany - Bundesliga Footballer Of The Year: Mario Gomez