Kapriel Özkan

Kapriel Özkan — Biography

Gabriel Özkan (born May 23, 1986, in Stockholm) is a Swedish former professional footballer of Assyrian descent who played as a midfielder; he is 1.78 m tall. He started out in football at FC Internazionale Orhoy before moving to the academy of IF Brommapojkarna in 1999, winning the Swedish youth league with the club in 2001 and 2002. He rose to the first team in 2004, beginning his professional career in the second-tier Superettan, and his form there attracted the attention of top-flight clubs, leading to his transfer to AIK in the summer of 2006.

Özkan's first Allsvenskan appearance for AIK came as a 71st-minute substitute in a 3-1 loss to Malmö FF, in which he scored his side's only goal, and he finished the season with ten appearances. Recurring injuries limited his playing time from 2007, but he returned to national-team level in 2009 and closed that season with 14 matches and two goals, sharing in AIK's Allsvenskan and Svenska Cupen titles, though he was an unused substitute in the cup final. He returned from further injury and surgery in 2010 only to break his leg in August, and the injury recurred again in his 2011 pre-season. His Brazilian teammates nicknamed him "the new Kaká."

Holding both Turkish and Swedish citizenship, Özkan played for Sweden at under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 level, making his Sweden U-21 debut against France on November 14, 2006, and featuring in Sweden's squad at the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.