Turkish footballer (born 2000)
Ozan Muhammed Kabak
(born 25 March 2000) is a
Turkish
professional
footballer
who plays as a
centre-back
for
Bundesliga
club
TSG Hoffenheim
and the
Turkey national team
.
Club career
[
edit
]
Galatasaray
[
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]
Ozan trained with the
Galatasaray
youth academy, joining in 2011. He signed his first professional contract with Galatasaray on 1 July 2017.
[3]
Ozan made his professional debut for Galatasaray in a 2?0
Super Lig
win over
Yeni Malatyaspor
on 12 May 2018.
[4]
This made him the first footballer born in the 2000s to play in the Super Lig.
[5]
On 24 October 2018, he played his first
Champions League
match in a 0?0 home draw against
Schalke 04
in the
2018?19 season
.
[6]
VfB Stuttgart
[
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]
On 17 January 2019, Kabak moved to
Bundesliga
side
VfB Stuttgart
where he signed a contract until June 2024.
[7]
On 3 March, he scored twice in a 5?1 win over
Hannover 96
, registering his first senior career goals.
[8]
In doing so, at the age of 18 years, 11 months and 7 days, he became the youngest Turkish center-back, and third-youngest Stuttgart player to ever score twice in a single Bundesliga match.
[9]
Schalke 04
[
edit
]
On 30 June 2019, Kabak joined
Schalke 04
on a five-year contract for a fee of €15 million, after Schalke activated a
release clause
in his contract.
[10]
He was a regular performer in his first season with the club, appearing in 28 matches and scoring three goals.
[11]
In September 2020, he was banned for five games and hit with a €15,000 fine after being caught spitting at
Werder Bremen
’s
Ludwig Augustinsson
. Kabak apologised to Augustinsson via Twitter afterwards, insisting the incident, for which he was shown a red card, was an accident.
[12]
Liverpool (loan)
[
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]
On 1 February 2021, Kabak signed for
Liverpool
on loan for the remainder of the
2020?21 season
. The deal was reportedly worth £1 million, plus potentially £500,000 in add-ons depending on appearances and Liverpool's performance in the Champions League. It also included an option to buy, which was set at approximately £18 million and could rise to £26.5m with add-ons.
[13]
[14]
On 13 February 2021, he made his Liverpool debut in a
Premier League
game against
Leicester City
, ending in a 1?3 away defeat.
[15]
[16]
On 16 February, he played in a 2?0 away win over
RB Leipzig
in the
2020?21 UEFA Champions League
, becoming the first Turkish player to appear for an English club in the competition.
[17]
At the end of the season, Liverpool declined to sign Kabak on a permanent basis.
[18]
Norwich City (loan)
[
edit
]
On 30 August 2021, Kabak returned to England to join newly promoted
Norwich City
on a season-long loan deal with the club having an option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season.
[19]
TSG Hoffenheim
[
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]
On 23 July 2022, Kabak moved to
TSG Hoffenheim
and signed a contract until 30 June 2026. He also has a clause where it shows he could earn up to 8 million in add ons.
[20]
International career
[
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]
Ozan is a youth international for Turkey. He captained the
Turkey U17s
at the
2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship
,
[21]
and was listed as one of the 10 players to watch by
UEFA
.
[22]
On 17 November 2019, Kabak made his debut in the
Turkey senior team
during the team's
UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
match against
Andorra
, playing the full match which Turkey won 2?0.
[23]
Kabak scored his first international goal on 16 November 2022 in a 2?1 friendly win over
Scotland
.
[24]
On 24 May 2024, Kabak was named in the 35-man preliminary squad for the
UEFA Euro 2024
.
[25]
On 5 June, he was withdrawn due to knee injury prior to the tournament.
[26]
Career statistics
[
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]
Club
[
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]
- As of match played 18 May 2024
[27]
International
[
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]
- As of match played 4 June 2024
[28]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team
|
Year
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Turkey
|
2019
|
1
|
0
|
2020
|
6
|
0
|
2021
|
6
|
0
|
2022
|
7
|
1
|
2023
|
4
|
1
|
2024
|
2
|
0
|
Total
|
26
|
2
|
- Scores and results list Turkey's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kabak goal.
Honours
[
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]
Galatasaray
Individual
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Ozan Kabak
.