Ayhan Akman

Ayhan Akman
Personal information
Full nameAyhan Akman
Date of birth23 February 1977
Place of birthİnegöl, Turkey
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing positionMidfielder
Youth career
1987–1993İnegölspor
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1993–1994İnegölspor21(4)
1994–1998Gaziantepspor98(23)
1998–2001Beşiktaş81(19)
2001–2012Galatasaray237(10)
Total427(53)
National team
1991–1992Turkey U154(0)
1992–1993Turkey U168(0)
1993Turkey U175(0)
1994–1995Turkey U1815(2)
1995–1998Turkey U2112(1)
1998–2009Turkey22(0)
Teams managed
2015-Karşıyaka
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Ayhan Akman (Turkish pronunciation: [ajhan akman], born 23 February 1977) is a retired Turkish footballer who last played for Galatasaray. He is currently the manager of Karşıyaka.

Career

Akman played for İnegölspor, Gaziantepspor and Beşiktaş. He was suspended from football for six months after doping testing positive for banned for used Anabolik Steroid-Metenolone.[1][2] His transfer from Gaziantepspor to Besiktas in 1998 for $8.75 million, as requested by manager John Toshack made Ayhan the most expensive internal transfer in Turkish football history,[3] until recently.

Galatasaray

Ayhan delivered his greatest performances for Galatasaray during the 2006–2007 season. Since then, he has been getting more credit from the fans. In the 2007–2008 season, Ayhan played a big role in the championship year for Galatasaray.

In the 2008–2009 season, he was an important player under headcoach Michael Skibbe, Ayhan is in the starting line-up from the start of the season and is showing great performances. He is the vice-captain of the Galatasaray squad after Arda Turan.

On 12 August Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim has announced that their new captain is Ayhan Akman after Arda Turan's transfer to Atletico Madrid.

On 15 February 2012, he announced that he will retire at the end of the 2011–2012 season.[4]

International career

He was called up to Turkey's Euro 2008 squad and played his first match of the tournament in the semi-final against Germany in Basel.

Retirement

As announced, Ayhan Akman retired from his professional football career as of 13 May 2012, at the age of 35, after winning his fourth and last Turkish League title. He, on a side note, was wearing the number 18, when Galatasaray SK won its 18th League title, thus stated by himself, his last season would have a great memory in his future life.

Career statistics

Club

Club Season League Cup League Cup[5] Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Gaziantepspor 1994–95 19321214
1995–96 31841359
1996–97 25551306
1997–98 23731268
Total 982314411227
Beşiktaş 1998–99 29773103710
1999–00 25710267
2000–01 172001030212
Total 71168320308419
Galatasaray 2001–02 230100060300
2002–03 212100040262
2003–04 231200060301
2004–05 2115200263
2005–06 1725110233
2006–07 311400060411
2007–08 171301051262
2008–09 3114100101453
2009–10 19060110360
2010–11 261500040351
2011–12 8011000091
Total 237103752052232717
Career total 4064960116155252363

International

Turkey national team
YearAppsGoals
199820
199930
200010
200100
200200
200300
200400
200510
200600
200720
200880
200950
Total220

Honours

Beşiktaş
Galatasaray
Turkey

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ayhan Akman.