Ferdi Elmas

Ferdi Elmas — Biography

Ferdi Can Elmas (born February 13, 1985, in Amsterdam) is a Dutch-born Turkish former footballer, the son of a Dutch mother and a Turkish father, holding both Turkish and Dutch citizenship. He began playing football at age five in Almere, joined Ajax's academy at eight, and spent more than nine years at the club before moving to RKC Waalwijk, where he made 29 appearances and scored 11 goals.

He joined Çaykur Rizespor at the start of the 2005–06 season, making 55 appearances and scoring 14 goals for the club over three seasons, and spent the 2007–08 season on loan at Ankaraspor, playing five matches. While in the Netherlands he played for Dutch youth national teams between the ages of 16 and 18, but from 2003 chose to represent Turkey's youth sides instead, saying he made that decision despite his father's objections; he earned three caps for Turkey's under-21 team.

In the 2007–08 season he moved to Galatasaray in a player-swap transfer and won the 2008 Turkish Super Cup with the club; his contract was dissolved by mutual consent in 2009. In the same season's mid-season window he signed an 18-month deal with Kardemir Karabükspor and was part of the squad that won the First League title and promotion to the Süper Lig, though he struggled for playing time once there. He also played for Eskişehirspor during his career, moved to Karşıyaka in 2011, and joined FK Baku in Azerbaijan in 2013. Standing 1.73 m tall, Elmas played on either flank throughout his career.