Bülent Akın (born 28 August 1978) is a Belgian-born Turkish former

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 ...

Club career

Akin's potential was noticed after

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

legend

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in ...

remarked on how well the young midfielder had marked him in a match between Galatasaray and Akin's club, Denizilispor. Galatasaray subsequently signed Akin, but he failed to live up to the expectation. Nonetheless, he managed to win the

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

with the club. In July 2002 he joined English side

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. He made his debut in a League Cup defeat to Bury, a game in which he was sent off. He made one appearance for Bolton in the league; a 2–0 defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

on 1 January 2003. He was released by Bolton in April 2003.

International career

Born in Belgium to Turkish parents, Bülent was a youth international for Turkey.

Honours

Galatasaray *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

: 2001–02 *

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people Footballers from Brussels Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's youth international footballers Belgian men's footballers Belgian sportspeople of Turkish descent Turkish expatriate men's footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in England Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Denizlispor footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Men's association football midfielders Galatasaray S.K. footballers Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Malatyaspor footballers İstanbulspor footballers MVV Maastricht players Premier League players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Süper Lig players Eerste Divisie players Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Yeni Malatyaspor footballers {{Turkey-footy-midfielder-stub