Tolga Seyhan

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Tolga Seyhan
Personal information
Full name Tolga Seyhan
Date of birth 17 January 1977 (1977-01-17) (age 31)
Place of birth    Giresun, Turkey
Height 1.87m
Playing position Central defender, Right back
Club information
Current club Trabzonspor
Number 44
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1995-1996
1996-2002
2002-2004
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
2007
2007-present
Düzcespor
Çanakkale Dardanelspor
Malatyaspor
Trabzonspor
Shakhtar Donetsk
Galatasaray(loan)
Shakhtar Donetsk
Trabzonspor(loan)
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National team2
2004–present Turkey 18 (2)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 10 June 2006.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 10 June 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Tolga Seyhan (born January 17, 1977) is a Turkish footballer playing for the club Shakhtar Donetsk. He was born in Giresun, a city on the Black Sea.

Tolga started out his career as a striker at Giresun Şafakspor. He continued in this position for a number of years and at several clubs including Sivasspor, Düzcespor and Çanakkale Dardanelspor. It was here that he was originally moved to defence, and he took it in his stride as he made the position of central defence his own.

He soon joined Malatyaspor and was extremely impressive as Malatyaspor defied expectations to remain in the Turkish Superlig in their first season in the top flight, in the 2001/2002 season. The next season was even more impressive as a late season run enabled Malatyaspor to claim a UEFA Cup place for the next season. By this point, Tolga had made his first appearances for the Turkish national team and was being courted by many clubs, but remained with Malatyaspor for the beginning of the next season.

When the Malatyaspor manager Ziya Doğan left to join Trabzonspor in January 2004 he took Tolga with him. Tolga has since developed into one of the best defenders in Turkish football.

Eighteen months later, Tolga was bought by the Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk.

Tolga is a powerful big defender who uses his frame to stifle opponents in the air and on the ground. He is very quick for his size and despite playing in defence still impresses with the amount of goals he scores, obviously due to his experience in playing for many years as a striker. Tolga won the Ukrainian championship and is thinking about a comeback to Trabzonspor.

In July 2006, Galatasaray had made an agreement with Tolga to play for them, on loan for one season.