Niyazi Serhat Akın (born 5 June 1981) is a Turkish former professional

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 ...

er who played as a striker.

Club career

Fenerbahçe

Akın played for Fenerbahçe SK between 2000–2005 and played 140 matches (147 for 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 ...

), after which he went to Anderlecht on a free transfer in the summer of 2005.

Anderlecht and 1. FC Köln (2005–2008)

In 2005, Akin joined the Belgian R.S.C. Anderlecht. He wore the number 24 jersey for the ''Mauves'', with the number 9 jersey worn by the more senior Mbo Mpenza. In his first year at Anderlecht, he helped them become champions of the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

, by scoring the first goal in their 2–0 victory over direct rivals

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

three matchdays from the end of the season. In the winter

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

or 2006–07, he was loaned out to Second Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln due to the lack of opportunities and having lower seniority than Nicolas Frutos, Mohammed Tchite and Mbo Mpenza. He received further setback in the 2006–07 season when he had stomach injuries which kept him sidelined for half a year. However, with the transfer of Tchite, and the injury to Frutos in the early part of the 2007–08 Jupiler League, Akin returned to the starting eleven of Anderlecht. He repaid the faith of his manager Franky Vercauteren, scoring two vital goals in 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 ...

tie against Rapid Vienna and sending the Belgian team into the group stage of the second-tier European competition. Akin said it was a "small miracle" to be part of the Anderlecht team again. This brief period of goals was interrupted by another injury to the striker, causing him to miss out an opportunity to cement his spot in the Anderlecht team.

Kocaelispor

Akın signed a one-year contract for the 2008–09 season with the recently promoted Turkish Super League side Kocaelispor. However, after six months with Kocaelispor, he left the team as Kocaelispor could not pay his wages.

Karlsruhe

In November 2009, he signed a contract with Karlsruher Sport Club until 30 June 2010.

Turgutluspor

Akın returned to Turkey after accepting an offer from his old teammate Yusuf Simsek who was appointed as the player-manager for the

TFF Second League The TFF 2. Lig (), currently referred to as Nesine 2. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the third level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in the 2001–02 season with the name of ''Turkish Second League Category B'' as a continu ...

team. According to his manager, Akın has grown into a more humble player as his fame deteriorated.

International career

He played 16 times for

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 ...

and scored three goals. He also played 22 times for Turkey Under 21 and scored 12 goals.

Honours

Fenerbahçe *

: 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05 Anderlecht *

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

: 2005–06

Shooting incident

On 27 September 2024, Akın was attacked with a gun after in his right foot while leaving a program. He took to his

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account to announce the attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akin, Serhat 1981 births Living people People from Bretten German sportspeople of Turkish descent Turkish men's footballers German men's footballers Footballers from Karlsruhe (region) Men's association football forwards Turkey men's international footballers Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Turkey men's youth international footballers Süper Lig players Belgian Pro League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 1. FC Köln players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Kocaelispor footballers Karlsruher SC players Konyaspor footballers R.S.C. Anderlecht players Turgutluspor footballers Altay S.K. footballers Berliner AK 07 players Turkish expatriate men's footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium 21st-century German sportsmen 21st-century Turkish sportsmen