Martin Harnik

Martin Harnik is an Austrian striker for German club VfB Stuttgart and the Austria national team. He was born in Hamburg, Germany.

Harnik’s youth career began in 1992, when he joined the youth system of SC Vier-und Marschlande, in which he grew up for fourteen years. In 2006 Martin joined the reserve team of Werder Bremen for €12 thousand, playing in the third tier Regionalliga. He had to miss the entire first half of 2007 through a broken metatarsal bone. At the beginning of the 2007/08 season Harnik was included in Werder Bremen main team, signing a deal until 2010. Having recovered from the injury, on 15 August 2007, he made his senior debut in the 3rd qualification round of the UEFA Champions League versus Dinamo Zagreb. The match ended in a 2-1 victory. He made his Bundesliga debut ten days later in a 1–0 win over FC Nuremberg, appearing in the 61 minutes and scoring the winning goal in 8 minutes.

At the end of August the footballer was sent on loan to Fortuna Düsseldorf, playing in the 2nd Bundesliga. Martin became the club’s topscorer with 13 goals in 30 matches for his temporary team. However, in July 2010 VfB Stuttgart reached an agreement with Werder Bremen, for the acquisition of the Austrian for the fee of €300 000.

In the 2010/11 Harnik played 32 Bundesliga matches and delivered 9 goals for the Swabians. The same season he scored three times during the UEFA Europa League, reaching the Round of 16 with his team. Martin became Stuttgart’s best goalscorer with 17 goals in 34 Bundesliga games during the 2011/12 season.

On 6 January 2012 VfB Stuttgart extended the contract with Harnik until June 2016.

His national debut fell on 22 August 2007 in a friendly 1-1 draw versus Czech Republic. The Austrian fired an equalizer in the 78th minute of the match. Martin was capped for the Austria's Euro 2008 squad, but didn’t manage to score in all three group games.