The big question is, is he related?

Mario Götze beats Argentina goalie Romero during
the world championship finals on July 13, 2014

Last Sunday Argentina and Germany were the opponents in the 2014 soccer world championship finals in Brasil. They played a superb match which resulted in a draw (0-0) after 90 minutes. In the 113th minute substitute Mario Götze defeated Argentinian goalie Sergio Germán (sic) Romero and scored the winning goal.
Now, that poses a question. Could it be that  he is a distant relative of my wife? Obviously that thought would not have occurred to me if his name would have been Schmidt or Schulze. The number of people bearing those names, also in Holland, easily runs into the thousands. But despite the fact that the Götze name may not be rare, I think it is not very widespread. So let me explain where that connection might be.

The relationship between Emma Götze
 and my wife Adriana

As you can see in the diagram the grandfather of my wife, Nicolaas Orie, had a brother Hendrikus. And he was married to Emma Augusta Mathilda Götze. So she was an aunt of my father in law. And that makes her a great aunt of my wife. That is not too distant. In fact I have known her as well because at the time we all lived in Loosduinen which today is part of The Hague.
Emma was born in Elsfleth a/d Weser on May 25, 1910. Her birthplace is located near Bremen in Germany. In those days it was not uncommon for German girls to work as a maid abroad. And that is how she ended up in Holland, probably in The Hague. The marriage with Hendrikus took place there on Oct. 7, 1931.
I do not know much about soccer player Mario Götze. He was born in Memmingen (Bayern) on June 3, 1992. And that is a long way from Elsfleth, some 750 kilometers to the south. So whether there is a connection remains to be seen. Maybe a German fellow genealogist can shed some light here.

Emma Augusta Mathilda Götze
Elsfleth 25-5-1910 / The Hague 5-9-1975

Soccer photo credit: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters