Meryem Yamak (born 26 August 1962), also known as Meriç Yamak, is a German former football player and coach of Turkish origin. Yamak, who currently works as a women's football European representative and scout for the Turkish Football Federation, is the first professional footballer of Turkish origin in Germany. In addition, she is the first woman of Turkish origin with an A license for football coaching.

Private life

Meryem Yamak was born in

Soma, Manisa Soma is a municipality and district of Manisa Province, Turkey. Its area is 820 km2, and its population is 111,789 (2022). The town lies at an elevation of . History From 1867 until 1922, Soma was part of the Aidin Vilayet of the Ottoman Empi ...

in western Turkey on 26 August 1962. She has four siblings. Early 1970s, her father Hüseyin emigrated to Germany with his wife and five children.

Playing career

Yamak started playing football together with her brothers Yusuf and Aziz, impressing bystanders with her talent. Settled with her family in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany, she began playing football at age twelve in the youth team of FC Hochbrück, a club in the neighborhood of

Garching Garching bei München (, ''Garching near Munich'') or Garching is a city in Bavaria, near Munich. It is the home of several research institutes and university departments, located at Campus Garching. History Spatial urban planning Garching was ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. In 1980, she was signed by

FC 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 association foo ...

. She became the first women's footballer of Turkish origin at

Bavarian Football Association The Bavarian Football Association (), the ''BFV'', is one of 21 regional organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the state of Bavaria.Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German language, German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. I ...

). She enjoyed the victory at the 1981 States Cup ( Länderpokal) as a member of the BFV-Select team . Her team Bayern Munich reached the final of the 1982 German Women's Football Championship (Deutsche Frauen Fußballmeisterschaft 1982), becoming runners-up. In 1985, she underwent a knee surgery. In 1991, she transferred to

FC Wacker München FC Wacker München is a German association football club of about 200 members based in the Sendling borough of Munich, Bavaria. At their zenith in the 1920s the ''Blue Stars'' twice reached the semi-finals of the German Championship. After Worl ...

. After two seasons, she retired form active playing career in 1993.

Managerial career

Yamak became a licensed football Instructor (1993) and holder of an UEFA B coaching licence (1994), an UEFA A coaching licence (December 1998) and FIFA licensed football instructor (January 2014) as the only sportswoman of Turkish origin. She is a member of the Association of German Football Teachers (Bund Deutscher Fußball-Lehrer, BDFL). She began her coaching career in 1993 at SV Türk Gücü Munich. She led the boys' team to second place.In 1994, she returned to her former club FC Wacker Munich. Between 1995 and 1998, she coached the women's team of

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...

, which were playing in the women's district league (Frauen

Bezirksliga The Bezirksliga () is commonly a medium set of amateur divisions set at steps 7, 8 or 9 in the German football league system. Structure Depending on the structural organisation within each of the 21 state football associations of the German Fo ...

) at the time. From 1999 to 2001, she served as a coach for the women's team

FC Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the reserve team of German association football club Bayern Munich, currently playing in the Regionalliga Bayern. In 2010–11, they played in the 3. Liga, having qualified for ...

, and as an assistant coach for FC Bayern Munich women's tarm. During this time, the team were promoted twice to the next higher league. From 2002 to 2014, she coached various youth teams in Spain for several years, before taking charge of the Qatar women's national team in 2014. In 2016, the

Turkish Football Federation The Turkish Football Federation (; TFF) is the governing body of association football in Turkey. It was formed on 23 April 1923, and joined FIFA the same year and UEFA in 1962. It organizes the Turkey national football team, the Turkish Foo ...

appointed her as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

, representative for entire Europe, to discover promising young women players and future stars for the Turkey women's national teams.

References

External links

Meryem Yamak @Deutscher Fussbal-Bund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamak, Meryem 1962 births Living people People from Soma, Manisa Footballers from Manisa Turkish emigrants to West Germany Women's association football forwards Footballers from Munich German women's footballers FC Bayern Munich (women) players Frauen-Bundesliga players German women's football managers FC Bayern Munich II managers German expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate football managers in Spain German expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Qatar Expatriate women's footballers in West Germany Turkish expatriate sportspeople in West Germany 20th-century German sportswomen