Fatih Akyel (born 26 December 1977) is a Turkish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former professional player. He played as a defender for clubs such as

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 ...

and Fenerbahçe during his 15-year career. He was capped by the Turkey national team 64 times from 1997 to 2004, and also won a silver medal with the Olympic team at the

1997 Mediterranean Games The XIII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1997 Mediterranean Games, were the 13th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Bari, Italy, from 13 to 25 June 1997, where 2,956 athletes (2,166 men and 790 women) from 21 countries partici ...

Club career

Born in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Fatih began his professional career with local club

. He signed his first professional contract with the club on 31 July 1995. However, he did not make any appearances for the team, and was transferred to

Bakırköyspor Bakırköyspor is a Turkish sports club from Bakırköy, Istanbul. The club was founded in 1949. The colours of Bakırköyspor are green-black. Bakırköyspor played in the Turkish Super League for 3 years, but after several unsuccessful seasons, ...

the following season. Fatih made 29 appearances for the club, and earned his first cap for the

Turkey national under-21 football team The Turkey national Under-21 football team (), also known as Turkey Under-21s or Turkey U-21s, is the Under-21 years of age team of the Turkey national football team. History This team is for Turkish players aged 21 or under at the start of a tw ...

. At the end of the season, he returned to Galatasaray. He played for the club for four years, winning three

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 ...

titles and three

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

titles. He was also a part of the team that won the

1999–2000 UEFA Cup The 1999–2000 UEFA Cup season was the 29th edition of the UEFA Cup competition. The final took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and was won by Galatasaray, who defeated Arsenal in the final. The game was scoreless through the first ninet ...

and 2000 UEFA Super Cup, assisting Mário Jardel's game winner against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. Fatih joined

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

at the beginning of the 2001–02 season, but he made a quick return to Turkey, signing for Fenerbahçe on 4 December 2001 after five appearances for the Spanish club. With Fenerbahçe, he won another Süper Lig title in 2003–04. Fatih made 70 appearances for the club before his contract was terminated on 8 November 2004. He signed with German club

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

in 2005, making one appearance.

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

signed him the following season, where he made 16 appearances before returning to Turkey at the winter break, this time to

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 ...

. He spent one season with the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

club before being transferred to Gençlerbirliği on 1 February 2007. However, he did not make any appearances for the club. Fatih later signed for

MKE Ankaragücü MKE Ankaragücü or fully Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Ankaragücü (), is a Turkish professional 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 ...

on 2 July 2007, but quickly left the club, signing for Kasımpaşa on 3 September 2007. He spent three years with the club, with the last year on loan at Kocaelispor. On 27 January 2010, Fatih signed with

KFC Uerdingen 05 KFC Uerdingen 05 was a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side, which had its greatest successes in the 1980s, plays in the fourth-level Regionalliga. In 2025, th ...

. However, two days later he announced via

SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...

that he would not join the club. Akyel last played for Tepecikspor, making one appearance for the club before he was arrested in March 2010 on allegations of match-fixing in 2007 and 2008.

International career

Fatih began his international career with the U-18 team in 1995, earning nine caps. He was promoted to the Turkey U21 national team in 1996, where he won one cap. He participated in the

, starting all five matches en route to winning a silver medal. In seven years, Fatih won 64 caps for the Turkey national team. He was a part of the Turkey squad that finished in third place at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. He was also a part of the Turkey squad that qualified for the knockout stages of

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, and the squad that finished third at the

2003 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the sixth FIFA Confederations Cup, held in France in June 2003. France retained the title they had won in 2001, but the tournament was overshadowed by the death of Cameroon player Marc-Vivi ...

Honours

Galatasaray *

: 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000 *

: 1995–96, 1998–99, 1999–2000 *

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 ...

: 1999–2000 *

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 ...

Fenerbahçe *

: 2003–04 Turkey *

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 ...

: Third place

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

: Quarter Finalist

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

: Silver Medal

Order * Turkish State Medal of Distinguished Service

References

External links

*
TFF.org profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akyel, Fatih 1977 births Living people Footballers from Istanbul Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Turkish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Süper Lig players Bundesliga players Men's association football defenders Galatasaray S.K. footballers Bakırköyspor footballers RCD Mallorca players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers VfL Bochum players PAOK FC players Trabzonspor footballers Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers MKE Ankaragücü footballers Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Kocaelispor footballers Büyükçekmece Tepecikspor footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players Turkey men's youth international footballers Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Turkey Competitors at the 1997 Mediterranean Games UEFA Europa League–winning players Mediterranean Games medalists in football