Ersen Martin (23 May 1979 – 19 March 2024) was a Turkish 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 a forward. He amassed a total of 256 games and 73 goals in the

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 ...

over the course of 12 seasons, representing ten different clubs.

Club career

Born in Marktredwitz,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, Ersen started playing for 1. FC Nürnberg, his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

input consisting in 20 minutes in a 1–0 away loss against

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

in 1998–99. After that sole season he switched to Turkey, going on to represent

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 ...

, Siirtspor, Göztepe, Denizlispor and

Ankaraspor Sincan Belediyesi Ankaraspor Kulübü, commonly known as Ankaraspor (), is a Turkish professional football club based in the country's capital Ankara. Founded in 1978, the club competes in the TFF Second League. The club was known as Osmanlıspor ...

. In the 2006–07 campaign, Ersen represented

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

, finishing the season as the league's eighth best-scorer and helping his team finish fourth, good enough for

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

to the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. Subsequently, he had everything arranged with

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 ...

club

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

in August 2007, but the deal eventually collapsed and he stayed at Trabzonspor; in October,

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

stepped in and declared Ersen a player of the Spanish side– he had dual citizenship, but that status changed with 2007 changes in German laws and so, he eventually played his first season for the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns as a foreign player. On 3 February 2008, Ersen made his Recreativo debut in a 2–1 loss to

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

, during which was sent off for a reckless challenge after just eight minutes as a substitute. On 27 April he got his first start and scored his first goal for ''Recre'', also assisting Javier Camuñas in a 2–0 home win that sent Levante to the second division. On 1 July 2009, Ersen signed a two-year deal with

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Net Global Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department has competed in Süper Lig since t ...

, ending speculation he would be joining Scotland's Heart of Midlothian. On 4 August he netted his first competitive goal for the club, in the third qualifying round of the

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 ...

: on the 12th minute of the second leg against

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

he scored the team's first ever in the competition, in a 3–1 home victory (6–3 loss on aggregate). After a poor first half of 2009–10, Ersen switched to Manisaspor. Overall, he finished the year with no goals and his teams ranked just above the relegation zone (15th and 14th).

International career

Ersen received his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the Turkey national team on 18 August 2004, in a 2–1 friendly home loss to

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. He appeared in a further two internationals two years later, also in exhibition games.

Personal life and death

Martin's younger brother, Erkan, was also a footballer. Martin suffered an aortic rupture in May 2022 and remained hospitalised until his death on 19 March 2024, at the age of 44.

Honors

Turkey B *Future Team Cup: 2004–05

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Ersen 1979 births 2024 deaths People from Marktredwitz Footballers from Upper Franconia German sportspeople of Turkish descent German men's footballers Turkish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Bundesliga players 1. FC Nürnberg players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Göztepe S.K. footballers Denizlispor footballers Ankaraspor footballers Trabzonspor footballers Sivasspor footballers Manisaspor footballers Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Eyüpspor footballers La Liga players Recreativo de Huelva players Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Turkey men's B international footballers Turkey men's international footballers German expatriate men's footballers Turkish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain German expatriate sportspeople in Spain Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Spain