Veli Kavlak

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Personal information
Veli Kavlak
Date of birth	November 3, 1988 (1988-11-03) (age 19)
Place of birth	Turkey
Height	173 cm
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Rapid Wien
Youth clubs
	SK Slovan / HAC Wien Rapid Wien Amateure
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2004 -	Rapid Wien	{{{caps(goals)}}}
National team
	Austria	{{{nationalcaps(goals)}}}
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Veli Kavlak (born 3 November 1988 in Turkey) is an Austrian footballer of Turkish origin, playing for SK Rapid Wien and the Austrian Football Team.

[edit] Football career

The Midfielder came to Rapid in 2004. On the 22nd of May 2005 he played with 16 years, 6 months, 19 days his first match in the Austrian Bundesliga, which makes him one of the youngest people ever playing there.

He already won the Austrian football championship in 2004/05 even if he only played twice. 2005/06 Veli played for the Austrian U-19 team which reached the semifinals of European football championship, losing 0–5 against the later Champion Spain.

In October 2006 Austrian national coach Pepi Hickersberger selected Kavlak for the squad for the matches against Liechtenstein and Switzerland, but he did not play. His first appearance was on 24 March 2007 against Ghana, which ended 1:1, being 71min substitute for Roland Linz.

In the summer of 2007, aged 18, he was selected to play for Austria at the U-20 World Cup in Canada, reaching the semi-finals with his team.

Returned to Austria, several European clubs showed interest in the talented, young midfield player, most notably German side Hertha BSC Berlin who offered between 1-2 million euro for Kavlak, but Rapid declined the offer.

v • d • e SK Rapid Wien – current squad

1 Hedl • 2 Tokic • 3 Patocka • 4 Hiden • 6 Thonhofer • 7 Kulovits • 8 Heikkinen • 9 Maierhofer • 10 Bazina • 11 Hofmann • 13 Katzer • 15 Prokopic • 16 Sara • 17 Kavlak • 18 Eder • 19 Drazan • 20 Fabiano • 21 Hoffer • 22 Harding • 23 Dober • 24 Payer • 27 Boskovic • 30 Lukse • 31 Haunschmid • Manager: Pacult