Kerim Frei Koyunlu (born 19 November 1993) is a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a winger for

Fatih Karagümrük Fatih () is a district of and a municipality (''belediye'') in Istanbul, Turkey, and home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the governor's office, police headquarters, metropolitan municipality and tax office) but not the ...

. Born in Austria, he represents the Turkish national team. He previously played club football for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

İstanbul Başakşehir ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

and

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Footbal ...

, and represented Switzerland up to under-21 level.

Early life

Frei was born in

Feldkirch Feldkirch may refer to: Places * Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, a medieval city and capital of an administrative district in Austria ** Feldkirch (district), an administrative division of Vorarlberg, Austria * Feldkirch (Hartheim), a village in the municip ...

, Austria, to a Turkish father and a Moroccan mother and was raised in Switzerland.

Career

Fulham

Frei made his first team début on 7 July 2011 in Fulham's

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

first qualifying round, second leg match against

NSÍ Runavík NSÍ Runavík is a Faroese football club, playing in Runavík on the island of Eysturoy. It was founded 24 March 1957. In 2003 NSÍ participated for the first time on a European stage. In 2007, the club won the Faroe Islands Premier League fo ...

of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

, where he came on as a substitute in the 72nd minute replacing

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a D ...

. Following his debut, Huw Jennings gave his thoughts about Frei debut to Fulham.com: Frei then went on to make his first start for Fulham, playing on the right wing in the Europa League second qualifying round, first leg match against

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

on 14 July 2011, receiving a yellow card in the 62nd minute. He made his first start in English competition in a League Cup third round fixture away to Chelsea on 21 September 2011 and made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

début on 10 December 2011, coming on a substitute for Mousa Dembélé in an away match against

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

. Fulham lost the match 2–0. Frei scored his first senior goal for Fulham in the Europa League 2–2 draw against

Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superlig ...

at Craven Cottage, side footing home from a Dembélé through ball. On 16 March 2012, Frei signed a contract extension with Fulham, lasting until the summer of 2015. A week later, Frei started in Fulham's 1–0 defeat at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after We ...

against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He was replaced by Bryan Ruiz in the 67th minute. On 9 April 2012 in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea, Frei received the Man of the Match award from Sky Television for his performance. On 26 October 2012, Frei joined

on loan until 2 December. His first appearance was against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

, coming on in the 83rd minute for Craig Noone. On 22 November, Frei was recalled to Fulham after 3 appearances.

Beşiktaş

Frei joined Turkish club

on 6 September 2013, signing a five-year deal. He made his league debut on 22 September 2013 in a 3–0 loss to

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other dep ...

, coming on in the 80th minute for

Veli Kavlak Veli Kavlak (born 3 November 1988) is an Austrian former footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Vienna, Kavlak has represented Austria at international level. Playing style Kavlak is a defensive box to box midfielder. At club level, he i ...

. He scored his first league goal for Besiktas over a year later in a 3–2 loss to

Kayseri Erciyesspor Kayseri Erciyesspor was a Turkish sports club based in Kayseri. History In 1965, Orhan Şefik Apak, then president of the Turkish Football Federation, asked cities in Turkey to combine their amateur football clubs into one singular club that w ...

. He scored a brace in this game, one goal in the 70th minute, the other in the 85th, coming after he had come on for an injured

Olcay Şahan Olcay Şahan (, born 26 May 1987) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a winger or as an attacking midfielder for Afjet Afyonspor. Born in Germany, he represented the Turkey national team internationally. Club career Germany In ...

in the 37th minute.

Birmingham City

On 20 January 2017, Frei returned to English football, signing for

on a three-and-a-half-year contract. The fee was an initial €2.25 million, potentially rising to €3.5M. He made his debut in the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

the following day, as an 82nd-minute substitute in a 1–1 draw away to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, but never established himself in the team. He finished the season with 13 league appearances, only 3 of which were in the starting eleven, and was an unused substitute 16 times. He scored once, with a free kick away to

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around ...

on 14 April; Frei "stepped up and arrowed the ball straight and dipping beyond otherham's goalkeeper to win the club's Goal of the Season award but not the match.

İstanbul Başakşehir

After just six months with Birmingham City, Frei returned to Turkey. He signed a four-year contract with

on 21 July 2017. He made his league debut for his new club on 19 August 2017 in a 3–1 loss to Kardemir Karabükspor. He spent the second half of the 2018–19 season on loan at

, and after returning to his parent club but playing little, joined Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

club Emmen in January 2020 on loan with an option to purchase.

International career

Frei switched national team allegiances from Switzerland to Turkey in June 2012.Fulham starlet Kerim Frei opts to represent Turkish National Team
Turkish-football.com He represented

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

at the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

Career statistics

Honours

Beşiktaş J.K. *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frei, Kerim 1993 births Living people People from Feldkirch, Vorarlberg Swiss footballers Turkish footballers Citizens of Turkey through descent Austrian emigrants to Switzerland Switzerland youth international footballers Switzerland under-21 international footballers Turkey youth international footballers Turkey under-21 international footballers Turkey international footballers Association football midfielders Fulham F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Birmingham City F.C. players İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players FC Emmen players Fatih Karagümrük S.K. footballers Premier League players English Football League players Süper Lig players Israeli Premier League players Eredivisie players Turkish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Israel Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Turkish expatriate sportspeople in England Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Israel Turkish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Swiss people of Turkish descent Swiss people of Moroccan descent Turkish people of Moroccan descent