Aykut Demir (born 22 October 1988) is a 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 ...

who plays as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Ankara Keçiörengücü. Born in the Netherlands, he represents

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 international level.

Club career

Demir made his debut in professional football in the 2005–06 season as part of the

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 Eerste Divi ...

squad. He was loaned to Excelsior and later played for Turkish side Gençlerbirliği before joining

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

. In 2017, he moved to

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

club

Giresunspor Giresunspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Giresun. It was founded in 1925 and re-formed in 1967 after the merger of Yeşiltepespor, Akıngençlikspor, and Beşiktaşspor. The football club is playing in the Turkish Su ...

. In 2019, he signed to BB Erzurumspor. After a one-year stint with Boluspor, he returned to BB Erzurumspor in July 2021.

Personal life

Demir is Muslim. He is known for having controversial opinions about other religions.

Controversies

On 31 December, Demir was married at age 28. Since his bride was not at the wedding, it was unknown who he married. He was criticized for wearing a

taqiya In Shi'ism, ''Taqiya'' or ''Taqiyya'' ( ar, تقیة ', literally "prudence, fear")R. STROTHMANN, MOKTAR DJEBLI. Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "TAKIYYA", vol. 10, p. 134. Quote: "TAKIYYA "prudence, fear" ..denotes dispensing with th ...

and having a

Tawhid Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single ...

flag in his wedding hall. In BB Erzurumspor's match with

MKE Ankaragücü MKE Ankaragücü or fully Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Ankaragücü (), is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Ankara. The football team wears a yellow and navy kit and plays its home matches at Eryaman Stadium following the closure of ...

2021–22 TFF First League The 2021–22 TFF First League is the 21st season since the league was established in 2001 and 59th season of the second-level football league of Turkey since its establishment in 1963–64. Teams * Adana Demirspor, Giresunspor and Altay promo ...

's 27. match week, All Erzurumspor players wore a "no to war" pre-match ceremony shirt in support of

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

, except Demir, who refused to wear the shirt. In response to the criticism, he told the media that he did not wear the shirt because he "wouldn't be comfortable wearing it while there were civilians dying in Palestine."

International career

Demir made his debut for

in a November 2013

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

.Intl career stats
- EU Football

References

External links

* * * * * 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Bergen op Zoom Dutch people of Turkish descent Association football central defenders Dutch footballers Turkish footballers Turkey international footballers Turkey B international footballers Turkey under-21 international footballers Turkey youth international footballers DOSKO players NAC Breda players Excelsior Rotterdam players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Trabzonspor footballers Ankaraspor footballers Giresunspor footballers Büyükşehir Belediye Erzurumspor footballers Boluspor footballers Ankara Keçiörengücü S.K. footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Süper Lig players TFF First League players Footballers from North Brabant {{Turkey-footy-defender-stub