Engin Baytar

Engin Baytar — Biography

Engin Baytar is a winger and midfielder who grew up in Germany and won major honors in Turkey with Trabzonspor and Galatasaray. He lifted the Turkish Cup with Trabzonspor in 2009-10 and won two consecutive Süper Lig titles with Galatasaray. He ended his career in 2021 in the Regional Amateur League with İzmirspor.

He started out at Gütersloh and spent four years in Arminia Bielefeld's reserve side. In 2004 he came to Turkey with Maltepespor; a registration problem kept him off the pitch for about six months, but his form afterwards earned him a January 2006 move to Gençlerbirliği, where he finished his first Süper Lig season with nine goals. After a half-season loan at Eskişehirspor he joined Trabzonspor in 2009 and was named man of the match in the Turkish Cup final against Fenerbahçe; the 2010 Super Cup also belongs to this spell. Şenol Güneş and the then captain Rigobert Song praised his talent openly, and in 2010 Guus Hiddink called him up to the senior national team for the first time, when he played the second half of the match against the Netherlands.

In August 2011 he signed for Galatasaray together with Selçuk İnan and Ceyhun Gülselam and won the league in his first season. A second title and the 2012 Super Cup followed, though a red card in that Super Cup match led to an eleven-match ban. He later also played for Çaykur Rizespor and Karşıyaka. He wears the number 50 on his shirt, which he ties to his mother's home province of Nevşehir, while his father is from Trabzon. He is the son of former Vanspor player Adnan Baytar.