Mehmet Ekici (; born 25 March 1990) 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 lea ...

who most recently played as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Fenerbahçe. He previously played for

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

, 1. FC Nürnberg,

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, and

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 ...

. Born in Germany, Ekici played for Germany for Under-17 to Under-21 level before switching to represent

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 ...

in senior competition.

Club career

Bayern Munich

Ekici made his debut for

's first team in the 2008 T-Home Super Cup. He was named in Bayern Munich's squad for both the 2008–09 and 2009–10

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 ...

. In January 2010, it was announced that Ekici would train with the first-team for the rest of the 2009–10 season, along with reserve teammates

David Alaba David Alaba (; born 24 June 1992) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Austria national team. He was previously primarily a left-back, and was considered one of the best ...

and Diego Contento, and on 1 February, he followed Contento in signing a contract with the senior team. He scored 12 goals in 29 matches for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

during the 2009–10 season. He was an unused substitute for a few first-team matches before injury ruled him out at the end of the season.

Nürnberg (loan)

In July 2010, he joined 1. FC Nürnberg on a season-long loan.

Werder Bremen

On 18 May 2011, Ekici transferred to

for a reported fee of around €5 million. He scored his first goal for Bremen on 17 September, against his former club 1. FC Nürnberg in a match that ended in a 1–1 draw. On 1 September 2013, he scored two goals leading his team to a 4–1 win over

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

Trabzonspor

Ekici joined

on 15 August 2014 for a fee of €1.5 million. He made his league debut on 31 August 2014 against

Kayseri Erciyesspor Kayseri Erciyesspor was a Turkish sports club based in Kayseri. History In 1965, Orhan Şefik Apak, then president of the Turkish Football Federation, asked cities in Turkey to combine their amateur football clubs into one singular club that wo ...

, which ended in a 0–0 draw. He left the club at the end of the 2016–17 season when his contract ran out. In his time at Trabzonspor, he made 83 appearances scoring 16 goals in all competitions.

Fenerbahçe

On 5 June 2017, Fenerbahçe announced the signing of Ekici.

International career

Although he has represented Germany, the nation of his birth, at youth and U21 levels, he has elected to play for

at the senior level. He was called up to the Turkish side by

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

for the friendly match against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. On 29 March 2011, Ekici represented Turkey in his first major international match against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

where he played right-wing with Turkish play-maker

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 ...

on the left-wing, which resulted in Turkey winning the match 2–0 and getting their

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

qualification back on-track. Ekici went with Dutch manager

to 1. FC Nürnberg to try to persuade his close friend

İlkay Gündoğan İlkay Gündoğan (; born 24 October 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Manchester City. A youth academy graduate of VfL Bochum, Gündoğan joined 1. FC Nürnberg in 2009. In 2011, he signed for Borus ...

to follow in his paths in playing for Turkey.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Bayern Munich *

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 ...

: 2009–10 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2009–10 Individual * Süper Lig Team of the Season: 2014–15

References

External links

* * * * *
Mehmet Ekici
at kicker.de * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekici, Mehmet 1990 births Living people Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers German men's footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers German sportspeople of Turkish descent Men's association football midfielders FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Bayern Munich II players 1. FC Nürnberg players SV Werder Bremen players Trabzonspor footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players Süper Lig players Footballers from Munich 21st-century German sportsmen 21st-century Turkish sportsmen