Özgür Aktaş (born 27 January 1997) is a Dutch professional

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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for Turkish club Ankaragücü.

Club career

Vitesse

Born in

Cuijk Cuijk (; dialect: ''Kuuk'') is a town in the northeastern part of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, Netherlands. It is the successor of a Roman Empire, Roman settlement on the west bank of the Meuse, south of Nijmegen. ...

, Aktaş started his career at local club

JVC Cuijk JVC Cuijk is a Dutch association football club from Cuijk, Netherlands. The club was founded in 1931 and plays in Derde Divisie, the fourth tier of Netherlands, Dutch football, in the Sunday league. The team plays home games at Sportpark De Groen ...

and joined the youth academy of Vitesse in 2012. In 2015, he moved to the youth academy of

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

. In March 2017, Aktaş, together with Lars Kramer, was promoted to the first team by head coach

Peter Hyballa Peter Hyballa (born 5 December 1975) is a German professional football manager who most recently was the manager of South African Premiership club Sekhukhune United. He also served as manager at clubs in Germany, Namibia, Austria, the Netherland ...

due to injuries on their position. On 5 April 2017, he sat on the bench once during the away match in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

against

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

, but did not make an appearance. In the 2017–18 season, Aktaş again played for the second team, Jong NEC, in the

Beloften Eredivisie The Beloften Eredivisie (; ''"Promised Honor Division"'') was the highest football league for reserve teams in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). The league was founded in 1992 as ''Reserve Teams Eredivisie'' ...

. In 2018, Aktaş returned to Vitesse where he joined their second team, Jong Vitesse, who competed in the

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie (; ) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and between 1962 and 19 ...

. He made 28 appearances in which he scored 4 goals. At the end of the 2018–19 season, he was brought into the first-team squad and sat on the bench twice during the play-offs. The 2019–20 season again saw Aktaş play for Jong Vitesse, now playing in the Beloften Competitie. At the beginning of September, a transfer to

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a professional football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadiu ...

did not materialise and later that month, Aktaş, together with

Patrick Vroegh Patrick Vroegh (born 29 November 1999) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for RKC Waalwijk. Club career Vroegh made his Eredivisie debut for Vitesse on 19 October 2019 in a game against VVV. In the summer of 2022, Vr ...

, were promoted to the Vitesse first team by head coach Leonid Slutsky. Under

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

Joseph Oosting Joseph Oosting (born 29 January 1972) is a Dutch football manager and former player, who is the manager of Eredivisie club Twente. Club career He played professional football from 1988 to 2006 for BV Veendam and FC Emmen FC Emmen is a Dutch ...

, Aktaş made his professional debut for Vitesse on 17 December 2019 in the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

home matchup against

ODIN '59 HSV ODIN '59 is a football club from Heemskerk, Netherlands. The club was founded in 1959 and is currently playing in the Vierde Divisie. ODIN stands for Ons Doel Is Nuttig (Our goal is useful). In the 2021–22 season, ODIN lost in the first ...

in which he replaced Danilho Doekhi after 85 minutes. His contract expired in the summer of 2020, making him a free agent.

Fortuna Sittard and Dordrecht

In August 2020, Aktaş was signed by

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; ) is a professional football club from the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was establi ...

, who sent him directly on a season-long loan to

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

. After returning from his loan, his contract was not renewed, making him a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Telstar

In August 2021, Aktaş signed with

SC Telstar Sportclub Telstar () is a Dutch professional football club based in the town of Velsen-Zuid, North Holland. The team competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in t ...

. He made his official debut on 13 August in a 2–2 draw against

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

, coming on as a substitute for Jip Molenaar in the 75th minute. On 17 September, he scored his first goal for Telstar, which proved to be the match-winner in the 1–0 away win over his former club Dordrecht.

MVV

On 14 July 2023, Aktaş joined Eerste Divisie club

MVV MVV may refer to: Groups, organizations, companies *Malaysia Vision Valley (MVV), an economic corridor, see Malaysian National Projects * (MVV GmbH; ), German city works of Mannheim * Militaire Voetbal Vereniging (M. V. V.), a military soccer team ...

on a two-year contract. He made his debut for the ''Sterrendragers'' on the first matchday of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, starting in a 3–1 win over

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch association football, football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

. On 6 November, he scored his first goal for the club, opening the score by heading in a Tunahan Taşçı corner-kick in a 1–1 league draw against Emmen.

International career

He is available to represent for either the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, being born in the Netherlands and is of Turkish descent.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aktas, Ozgur 1997 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Dutch sportspeople of Turkish descent Men's association football central defenders People from Cuijk JVC Cuijk players SBV Vitesse players Fortuna Sittard players FC Dordrecht players SC Telstar players MKE Ankaragücü footballers MVV Maastricht players Tweede Divisie players Eerste Divisie players TFF 1. Lig players Footballers from North Brabant 21st-century Dutch sportsmen