Murat Akın

Murat Akın — Biography

Murat Akın, born October 22, 1986, in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, is a Belgian-raised Turkish former footballer who played as a midfielder and stands 1.74 m tall. He began his professional career at Belgian club KSK Beveren, scoring 11 goals in 52 matches in the 2007-08 season, before moving mid-season to Süper Lig side Kasımpaşa, where he was named the TFF First League's rising star. Loaned to Orduspor in 2010-11 and then returning to Kasımpaşa, he went on to play for Antalyaspor, Konyaspor, Kayseri Erciyesspor, İstanbul Başakşehir, Kayserispor, and Karabükspor, helping the latter win promotion to the Süper Lig in 2015-16 after scoring 8 goals in 30 matches.

He then moved to Swiss second-tier club FC Will at the start of 2016-17, before signing with Göztepe, then first-half league leaders, that same season. He drew attention from the Turkish sports press for winning promotion from the First League to the Süper Lig seven times with his clubs, six of them consecutively between 2010 and 2016. In a 2018 interview he said that winning the First League championship was harder than winning the Süper Lig title. After retiring as a player, he became sporting director of Fatih Karagümrük on 3 January 2020, stepping down from that role on 23 July 2023.