Hakan Aslantaş

Hakan Aslantaş — Biography

Hakan Aslantaş is a footballer who grew up in Germany and spent most of his career in Turkey, holding both Turkish and German citizenship. Sources differ on his natural position, but they agree on the profile: a versatile player who can cover either flank at full-back and move into midfield. In Turkey he played for Gençlerbirliği, Kayserispor, Konyaspor, Bursaspor, Eskişehirspor and Kardemir Karabükspor, and later accounts link him with Iğdır FK and with Türkspor in Stuttgart.

He took up football at seven with the village side Raidwangen, moved to FV 09 Nürtingen in 1995 and then came through the academies of Stuttgarter Kickers and VfB Stuttgart. His transfer to Gençlerbirliği in 2004 launched his professional path; he was loaned to Malatyaspor and Hacettepe, joined Kayserispor in 2009 and Konyaspor a year later. In early 2012 he signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Bursaspor, made 42 appearances and took part in that year's UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. When Christoph Daum took charge for 2013-14 he was left out of the squad, and after his contract was terminated at the winter break he returned to Gençlerbirliği. In July 2018 he moved to Eskişehirspor.

As a youth he played for Turkey at under-18, under-19 and under-20 level, with 2, 18 and 6 appearances respectively, and was in the side that reached the final of the 2004 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. In July 2020, as a Karabükspor player, he told Milliyet that Turkish players deserve more appreciation. He is 1.81 m tall; most sources give Nürtingen as his birthplace, one gives Stuttgart.