Leon Christoph Goretzka (born 6 February 1995) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team.

Starting off his career with VfL Bochum in 2012, he went on play more than 100 Bundesliga games for Schalke 04 before signing with Bayern Munich in 2018.

During the season, Goretzka was linked to several big clubs around Europe including Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Arsenal and Real Madrid.

He became a regular starter in the second half of the season and helped Schalke finish in third place in the Bundesliga behind champions Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

[9] At the end of the season, Goretzka was called up for the 30-man preliminary squad of the Germany national team for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Goretzka continued: "So I completely changed what I eat, cutting out gluten, cow's milk, pork and nuts.

On 20 April, Goretzka received a concussion and suffered a double fracture of his jaw while playing against Ajax in the Europa League.

Schalke's supervisory board chairman, Clemens Tönnies, expressed his first reaction regarding Goretzka's decision on a football talk show.

[21] On 15 February 2019, Goretzka scored an own goal in a Bundesliga game after 13 seconds; no Bayern player had yet touched the ball.

He played most of the games, including the whole Champions League campaign, making a midfield duo with Joshua Kimmich.

[citation needed] On 24 September 2020, Goretzka scored a goal in a 2–1 win over Sevilla after extra time in the 2020 UEFA Super Cup.

[25] In April 2021, he missed the second leg against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals due to muscle problems.

[28] On 12 October 2022, he scored a brace in a 4–2 away win over Viktoria Plzeň, in which Bayern secured their qualification to the Champions League knockout phase.

[30] On 15 October 2010, Goretzka made his Germany national U-16 football team debut in a friendly against Northern Ireland.

[34] On 8 August 2013, he debuted for the Germany national U-21 football team under Horst Hrubesch in a 0–0 draw against France, in which he had a magnificent match.

[40] After Germany's match against Poland, in which Goretzka had suffered a muscle injury, he was removed from the team's preparatory training camp and final squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

[42] In the nation's opening match for the tournament on 20 June, he scored his first goal for Germany in a 3–2 Group B win over Australia.

Goretzka finished joint top scorer with Timo Werner and Lars Stindl in the competition with three goals.

[49] In May 2024, he was excluded from the 26-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2024, hosted on home soil, by his former Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann.

[59] His mother, Katharina, was presbyter in the Protestant parish of Altenbochum-Laer[60] and worked as a business manager in many institutions in Bochum.

In 2020, Goretzka launched an online initiative, "We Kick Corona", with his Bayern Munich teammate Joshua Kimmich, to help charitable, social or medical institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.