Emre Çolak (, born 20 May 1991) is a Turkish former 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 played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or a winger. Emre has represented

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 ...

at every youth international level, before making his senior debut in a

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

qualifier against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in 2012 under coach

Abdullah Avcı Abdullah Mucib Avcı (; born 31 July 1963) is a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish football manager and a former professional footballer. He is the former manager of Trabzonspor. He has also managed the Turkey national team. Avcı's coaching career beg ...

Club career

Galatasaray

He began his football career playing for amateur side Atışalanıspor, before being invited to train with

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

for several months, but he eventually chose to return to his first club. After continuing his impressive performance at Atışalanıspor, he was finally scouted by

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 ...

, where he eventually joined the Youth Academy at the age of 13. Emre rose through the ranks of the Galatasaray youth and academy team, and was promoted to the first team during the 2009–10 season. He scored two goals on his first team debut, in a cup match against Denizli Belediyespor on 17 January 2010. He made his league debut for ''Gala'' in a home match against

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

coming on as a substitute in the second half for

Arda Turan Arda Turan (born 30 January 1987) is a Turkish professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who is currently the head coach of Ukrainian Premier League club FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Shakhtar Do ...

. He scored his first league goal on the final day of the 2009–10 season, in a 2–1 away loss to Gençlerbirliği. Emre started to play mainly in the 2011-2012 season and scored his first goals of the season against İstanbul Başakşehir as Galatasaray won 4–1. On 25 January 2012, Emre scored another goal against Ankaragücü in a 4–0 win. On 16 February 2012, his contract was extended for 2 years until 2016. On 19 September 2012, he made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut in a Group match against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, impressing as a second-half substitute in a game with Galatasaray narrowly lost 1–0. He scored his first goal for the season against rivals

as Galatasaray won 2–1.

Deportivo de La Coruña

On 27 May 2016, his switch to the

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

on a three-year contract was announced.

Fatih Karagümrük

On 16 December 2020, Emre signed for

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 ...

club

Fatih Karagümrük Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

Intercity

In January 2023, Çolak returned to Spain to join

Intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

on a deal until the end of the season. On 13 February 2023, Çolak announced his retirement from football.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;Galatasaray *

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2014–15 * Türkiye Kupası: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 * Süper Kupa:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

*
Statistics
at TFF.org * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Colak, Emre 1991 births Living people Footballers from Istanbul Turkish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Galatasaray U21 footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Süper Lig players La Liga players Saudi Pro League players Segunda División players TFF 1. Lig players Deportivo de La Coruña players Al Wehda FC players Fatih Karagümrük S.K. footballers Hatayspor footballers İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. players Göztepe S.K. footballers CF Intercity players Turkey men's B international footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Turkey men's international footballers Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Turkey men's youth international footballers 21st-century Turkish sportsmen