Arda Turan

Arda Turan (born 30 January 1987) is a Turkish footballer who plays for Galatasaray and the Turkish national team. At the age of 22, prior to the 2009–10 season he was made the captain of Galatasaray. Like many Turkish footballers, he is most commonly known by his first name.

Arda already has 41 senior national caps and eight goals for Turkey, and following a successful Euro 2008 campaign, he was ranked 8th in a selection of the 100 Best Young Football Players in the World, published by Spanish magazine Don Balón in July 2008.^[2]

In January 2010, Arda was voted as the most popular European footballer of 2009, and the second most popular footballer in the world, by the IFFHS.^[3][4]

Club career

Galatasaray

Arda is a product of the Galatasaray youth system, and had a successful spell on loan to fellow Super Lig side Manisaspor in the 2005–06 season. He was recalled the for the start of the following season, and quickly broke into the first team. It was during this time that he received his first senior international call up. Arda quickly impressed manager Eric Gerets with his performances early in the 2006–07 season. After his performances in the Champions League qualifiers which led Galatasaray to the group stage, Arda became a first team regular.

Arda continued his development in the 2007–08 season. Despite a poor start to the season, Arda improved his performances immensely, scoring seven goals in the second half of the season. Following his impressive displays domestically, Newcastle United made a £9m offer to buy Arda prior to the Euro 2008 championships, but the Galatasaray chairman rejected the offer.^[5]

At the start of the 2009–10 season, Arda was handed the captaincy of Galatasaray,^[6] and was handed squad number 10, which had previously belonged to Metin Oktay and Gheorghe Hagi, having previously worn number 66.^[7]

As captain at the start of the 2009–10 season, he guided his team to six consecutive league wins games which put Galatasaray comfortably at the top of the table. He has scored seven goals and registered 17 assists in all competitions so far this season.

International career

Arda is an international regular having made over 30 appearances for Turkey at senior level. He made his debut in the 2–0 friendly victory over Luxembourg on August 16, 2006, having worked his way through the youth National Team at U19 and U21 level. He scored his first international goal on May 25, 2008 in a friendly against Uruguay.

Euro 2008

Arda featured in nine of Turkey's twelve qualification matches for Euro 2008, and starred in the finals of the tournament itself. He scored two goals during Turkey's progression to the semi-finals. The first was a 92nd minute winner against the Swiss in their second group game to knock them out of the competition. His second came in the final group game against the Czech Republic, in which the winner would go through to the quarter-finals due to identical records. He scored Turkey's first goal in the 75th minute, beating Petr Čech with a low shot, which lead to Turkey coming from 2–0 down to win the match. He also successfully converted a spot-kick in the penalty shootout against Croatia in the quarter-finals, taking Turkey to the semi's where they were eventually knocked out by losing finalists Germany.

2010 World Cup

Arda scored two goals during the qualification rounds of the World Cup, but ultimately Turkey failed to qualify from their group. After a qualifier in September 2008 between Armenia and Turkey, two sides which have historical political problems, both teams received a FIFA Fair Play Award for 2008.^[8] He scored the Turkish national team's 600th international goal, in a 2010 World Cup qualification game against Estonia on 5 September 2009.^[9]

Career statistics

As of 11 August 2010^{[1][10][11][12]}

Club

Club performance			League			Cup			League Cup			Europe			Total
Club	Division	Season	Apps	Assts	Goals	Apps	Assts	Goals	Apps	Assts	Goals	Apps	Assts	Goals	Apps	Assts	Goals
Turkey			League			Türkiye Kupası			Süper Kupa			Europe			Total
Galatasaray	Süper Lig	2010–11	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	3	5	2	3
		2009–10	29	13	7	6	4	4	0	0	0	12	8	0	47	25	11
		2008–09	29	9	7	6	1	2	0	0	0	11	4	2	46	14	11
		2007–08	30	14	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	7	4	1	44	18	8
		2006–07	26	7	5	3	0	1	0	0	0	7	3	2	36	10	8
		Club Total	114	43	26	22	5	7	0	0	0	39	19	8	175	67	41
Manisaspor	Süper Lig	2005–06	15	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	5	2
		Club Total	15	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	5	2
Galatasaray	Süper Lig	2004–05	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
		Club Total	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
TOTAL	Turkey		130	48	28	23	5	7	0	0	0	39	19	8	192	73	43
	CAREER TOTAL		130	48	28	23	5	7	0	0	0	39	19	8	192	73	43

European Cup goals

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	9 August 2006	Mladá Boleslav	5–2	Win	Champions League
2.	9 August 2006	Mladá Boleslav	5–2	Win	Champions League
3.	4 October 2007	Sion	5–1	Win	UEFA Cup
4.	26 February 2009	Bordeaux	4–3	Win	UEFA Cup
5.	26 February 2009	Bordeaux	4–3	Win	UEFA Cup
6.	29 July 2010	OFK Beograd	2–2	Draw	Europa league
7.	29 July 2010	OFK Beograd	2–2	Draw	Europa league
8.	5 August 2010	OFK Beograd	1–5	Win	Europa league

International career

National team Club Season Apps Goals Turkey Galatasaray 2006 5 0 2007 9 0 2008 13 4 2009 9 1 2010 7 5 Total 43 10

International appearances and goals # Date Venue Opponent Result Goal Competition 2006 1. 16 August 2006 ?, Luxembourg  Luxembourg 1–0 0 Friendly 2. 6 September 2006 Frankfurt, Germany  Malta 2–0 0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 3. 7 October 2006 Budapest, Hungary  Hungary 1–0 0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 4 11 October 2006 Frankfurt, Germany  Moldova 5–0 0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 5. 15 November 2006 ?, Italy  Italy 1–1 0 Friendly 2007 6. 7 February 2007 Tbilisi, Georgia  Georgia 0–1 0 Friendly 7. 2 June 2007 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bosnia and Herzegovina 2–3 0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 8. 5 June 2007 Dortmund, Germany  Brazil 0–0 0 Friendly 9. 22 August 2007 Bucharest, Romania  Romania 0–2 0 Friendly 10. 8 September 2007 Ta' Qali, Malta  Malta 2–2 0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 11. 13 October 2007 Chişinău, Moldova  Moldova 1–1 0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 12. 17 October 2007 Istanbul, Turkey  Greece 0–1 0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 13. 17 November 2007 Oslo, Norway  Norway 2–1 0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 14. 21 November 2007 Istanbul, Turkey  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1–0 0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 2008 15. 6 February 2008 Istanbul, Turkey  Sweden 0–0 0 Friendly 16. 26 March 2008 Minsk, Belarus  Belarus 2–2 0 Friendly 17. 20 May 2008 Bielefeld, Germany  Slovakia 1–0 0 Friendly 18. 25 May 2008 Bochum, Germany  Uruguay 2–3 1 Friendly 19. 29 May 2008 Duisburg, Germany  Finland 2–0 0 Friendly 20. 7 June 2008 Geneva, Switzerland  Portugal 0–2 0 Euro 2008 21. 11 June 2008 Basel, Switzerland  Switzerland 2–1 1 Euro 2008 22. 15 June 2008 Geneva, Switzerland  Czech Republic 3–2 1 Euro 2008 23. 20 June 2008 Wien, Austria  Croatia 1–1 0 Euro 2008 24. 6 September 2008 Yerevan, Armenia  Armenia 2–0 0 2010 World Cup qualification 25. 10 September 2008 Istanbul, Turkey  Belgium 1–1 0 2010 World Cup qualification 26. 11 October 2008 Istanbul, Turkey  Bosnia and Herzegovina 2–1 1 2010 World Cup qualification 27. 15 October 2008 Tallinn, Estonia  Estonia 0–0 0 2010 World Cup qualification 2009 28. 11 February 2009 Izmir, Turkey  Côte d'Ivoire 1–1 0 Friendly 29. 28 March 2009 Madrid, Spain  Spain 0–1 0 2010 World Cup qualification 30. 1 April 2009 Istanbul, Turkey  Spain 1–2 0 2010 World Cup qualification 31. 2 June 2009 Kayseri, Turkey  Azerbaijan 2–0 0 Friendly 32. 5 June 2009 Lyon, France  France 0–1 0 Friendly 33. 12 August 2009 Kiev, Ukraine  Ukraine 3–0 0 Friendly 34. 5 September 2009 Kayseri, Turkey  Estonia 4–2 1 2010 World Cup qualification 35. 9 September 2009 Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1–1 0 2010 World Cup qualification 36. 14 October 2009 Bursa, Turkey  Armenia 2–0 0 2010 World Cup qualification 2010 37. 3 March 2010 Istanbul, Turkey  Honduras 2–0 0 Friendly 38. 22 May 2010 Harrison, United States  Czech Republic 2–1 1 Friendly 39. 26 May 2010 Connecticut, United States  Northern Ireland 2–0 0 Friendly 40. 29 May 2010 Philadelphia, United States  United States 1–2 1 Friendly 41. 11 August 2010 Istanbul, Turkey  Romania 2–0 1 Friendly 42. 3 September 2010 Astana, Kazakhstan  Kazakhstan 0-3 1 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying 43. 7 September 2010 Istanbul, Turkey  Belgium 3-2 1 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Personal life

In his personal life he describes himself as a big fan of Galatasaray. He says that "Other teams have offered me really big money but my love for Galatasaray is real." He also declares that "I want to play in major leagues and my dream team is Liverpool F.C.." He says he enjoys being compared to Lionel Messi. But states that Messi is the greatest player in the world."^[13] He is also highly involved in work with the Galatasaray youth set up, particularly with the u21's. He is a regular follower of their games and offers them support.

On 16 November 2008, Arda collapsed during a game against İstanbul BB. After being rushed to hospital he was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia.^[14] The day after the incident doctors declared that Arda's health is ok, and that extreme exhaustion caused the arrhythmia. In November 2009, he suffered a minor bout of swine flu but recoverred within a few days to resume training.^[15]

He is also known for his humanitarian work. Especially in the helping of sick children.^[16]

He has a passion in cars and currently drives an Aston Martin DB9 and Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG according to Turkish Press.^{[17] [18]} In early January 2009, he was involved in a serious car crash in Istanbul ^[19] that left his car written off. ^[20] Fortunately Arda suffered no real damage and continued training with only cuts and bruises.^[21]

He is currently dating Turkish actress Sinem Kobal since August 2009.^{[22] [23]}

Honours

Galatasaray

• 2008 Turkish Super Cup Winner
• 2008 Turkish Süper Lig Champion

Individual

• Turkish League: Player of the Year 2008
• Turkish League: Player of the Year 2009
• IFFHS most popular European footballer of 2009^[3][4]

References

External links

• Profile at Transfermarkt.de (German)
• Arda Turan - FIFA competition record
• Arda Turan statistics and biography at FootballDatabase.com
• Arda Turan at National-Football-Teams.com
• Arda Turan career stats at Soccerbase

Turkey squad – UEFA Euro 2008 Semi-finalists 1 Rüştü • 2 Servet • 3 Hakan • 4 Gökhan • 5 Emre • 6 Mehmet • 7 M. Aurélio • 8 Nihat • 9 Semih • 10 Gökdeniz • 11 Tümer • 12 Tolga • 13 E. Güngör • 14 Arda • 15 E. Aşık • 16 Uğur • 17 Tuncay • 18 Kâzım • 19 Ayhan • 20 Sabri • 21 Mevlüt • 22 Hamit • 23 Volkan • Coach: Terim