Erdal Çelik

Erdal Çelik — Biography

Born in Gaziantep on 1 January 1988, Erdal Çelik moved to Germany with his family as a child. He began playing football in the youth system of local amateur club TuS Schmidt, where his performances drew the attention of higher-level scouts and led to a move to Bayer 04 Leverkusen's academy, where he stayed until 2007. After a short spell with Alemannia Aachen's reserve side, he returned to Bayer Leverkusen, making official appearances for its second team in the Regionalliga West and featuring in roughly 20 matches per season over two and a half seasons.

In the 2010-11 winter transfer window he joined 3. Liga club Rot-Weiss Ahlen, playing 14 matches through the end of the season, before moving to 1. Lig club Bucaspor at the start of 2011-12. His career is also recorded as including spells with Azerbaijan's Sumqayit and Hamburger SV's reserve team.

After retiring as a player, Çelik moved into coaching. On 7 January 2026, while working as a head coach, he was referred to Turkey's Professional Football Disciplinary Board over match-fixing allegations as part of a betting-scandal investigation into Turkish football.