Bayern Munich Alumni: What ever happened to...Felix Götze?

We all know Super Mario — but what about his often overlooked, taller younger brother? Wait, don’t rush to your Nintendo sets! We’re talking about Mario and Felix Götze, a pair of erstwhile Bayern Munich players who both still have plenty of football ahead of them.

The younger Götze, now a central defender, came up in the Borussia Dortmund youth ranks, and, like his brother, made a move to Bayern Munich. Felix followed Mario to Bavaria in 2014, when he was just sixteen years of age, and earned his first professional contract in 2017. However, he didn’t make a single appearance for the senior team before departing in the summer 2018 transfer window on a free to FC Augsburg.

Felix Götze is still under contract at Augsburg — who recently celebrated a landmark two home wins in a row against the German record champions — but isn’t currently with his parent club. He’d made a smattering of appearances for the senior and second teams at Augsburg, including a game-tying goal against Bayern Munich at one point, before landing at FC Kaiserslautern on loan — first for the 2020/21 Rückrunde, and then for the whole of 2021/22.

Götze found success in the 3. Liga with Kaiserslautern, logging 23 appearances with 14 starts in his second year as his team finished third in the league and earned promotion to the 2. Bundesliga. However, he isn’t moving up divisions with his old team — this season, Götze’s loan assignment brings him back to the third tier with newly-promoted Rot-Weiss Essen, in the Ruhr region of Germany where he was born, where he’s just scored in a 1-0 victory over 1. FC Saarbrücken.

Via Bulinews, Götze is eager for his new challenge:

“The Ruhr region is my home,” Götze was sure to emphasize in his own statement, “I’ve been following Rot-Weiss Essen with excitement for the past few years. The club, with all its tradition, simply belongs in the third division. I want to get involved right away in establishing the RWE there and I’m absolutely thrilled to play at the Hafenstraße.”

Still just 24, the younger Götze has a long way to go yet in his footballing career. Who knows if perhaps his path should cross Bayern’s once more?