Mertol Karatay

Mertol Karatay — Biography

Mertol Karatay is a retired Brazilian-born midfielder whose birth name is João Batista Casemiro Marques; he is also known as Batista. He spent most of his career in Turkey, won the 2002 Süper Lig title with Galatasaray and was also a league champion in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk. The name Mertol Karatay appears on his passport, and he holds both Brazilian and Turkish citizenship.

His Turkish chapter began with Gaziantepspor in 1996-97, when he scored 3 goals in 25 matches. He went back to Brazil and played for União São João until 2000, the year he rejoined Gaziantepspor. In the winter of 2002 he moved to Galatasaray, where he won the 2002 league title, finished runner-up in the 2003 Turkish Cup and became one of Fatih Terim's favorite players. In July 2004 he signed a three-year contract with Shakhtar Donetsk, coached by Mircea Lucescu, whom he knew from Galatasaray; the club won the 2005 Premier League and lost the Ukrainian Cup final 1-0 to Dynamo Kyiv. Because of the limit on foreign players he left Shakhtar that summer. In July 2005 he signed a one-year contract with Konyaspor, later played for Kasımpaşa and ended his career in Brazil with Tupi.

As he was never capped by Brazil, he had the option of playing for Turkey, if called up, under the name Mehmet Aurélio. The 1.75 m player took Turkish citizenship in 2007 and with it the name Mertol Karatay.