Vahap Özaltay or Vehâb Özaltay (born, Beşir oğlu Vahap; in 1907, 1908 or 1909 – 10 June 1965) was a Turkish international

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 ...

Photograph and information (in Turkish), retrieved 25 May 2015
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track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete. He is most notably for his service at Altay S.K., being the first professional football player in Turkey and being the first Turkish player to ever play for a foreign club. He chose his last name based on his love for Altay (lit. "Pure/Real Altay"). Özaltay was born in 1908 in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. He was the son of a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. When he was 10 years old, his family moved to

Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar'', Ancient and Modern Greek: Τράλλεις /''Tralleis''/) is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of ...

. Shortly after the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Occupation of İzmir The city of Smyrna (modern-day İzmir) and surrounding areas were under Greek military occupation from 15 May 1919 until 9 September 1922. The Allied Powers authorized the occupation and creation of the Zone of Smyrna ( el, Ζώνη Σμύρν� ...

on 21 May 1919, his family moved to

Kastamonu Kastamonu is the capital district of the Kastamonu Province, Turkey. According to the 2000 census, population of the district is 102,059 of which 64,606 live in the urban center of Kastamonu. (Population of the urban center in 2010 is 91,012.) The ...

. He started his football career in Kastamonu.

Career

Club career

After the Greek presence ended on 8 September 1922, his family moved to

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

. He was 14 years old when he started playing for Altay. He started playing in the main squad for Altay beginning in 1922. Altay was the leading Turkish football Club in Izmir. He won Izmir League with Altay on 5 occasions (1923–24, 1924–25, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1930–31). Özaltay was transferred to the French club

Racing Club de Paris Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spo ...

in 1932, becoming the first Turkish player to do so. He played in France for 5 seasons for Racing Club. Due to his head-made goals, he was nicknamed ''"Le Tête de Turc"'' in France. In 1937 he returned to Turkey and played for Altay again. This time he played for Altay as a professional football player. He is the first Turkish player given a professional football player certificate by the Turkish State.

International career

Özaltay represented

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

at senior level once, against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

in a friendly game, held at

Taksim Stadium Taksim Stadium ( tr, Taksim Stadı) was the first football stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Originally the 19th century Taksim Artillery Barracks ('' Taksim Topçu Kışlası'') it was transformed into a stadium in 1921 and was located next to today ...

, Istanbul, on 4 November 1932, ended 3–2 for Bulgaria.

Coaching career

After his football career, he worked as a manager for Altay and for the national team of the military. He became famous as being the first manager to use the

WM formation In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

. With the national team he won the World Army Football tournament of 1954.

Personal life

Özaltay was married with 7 children. His younger brother, Saim, also played for Altay S.K. Although the rivalry between their clubs, Özaltay and Said Altınordu, Altınordu F.K. icon were best friends. Özaltay died due to a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

following his given speech at generalassembly of Altay S.K., on 10 June 1965.

References

; Citations ; Books * *

External links

Profile
at TFF {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozaltay, Vahap 1900s births 1965 deaths Turkish people of African descent Turkish men's footballers Turkish expatriate men's footballers Turkish football managers Altay S.K. footballers Racing Club de France Football players Ligue 1 players Turkey men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders