Murat Hacıoğlu

Murat Hacıoğlu — Biography

Born on 10 June 1979 in Rize, Murat Hacıoğlu is a Turkish former international footballer who played as a forward, mostly on the left side. He began his football career in the youth ranks of MKE Ankaragücü, which led to an early call-up to Turkey's youth national teams, and in 1997 he won a world title at an inter-school tournament in Lima, Peru, with the Ankara 50. Yıl Lisesi team; he made his first official appearance for Ankaragücü against Galatasaray on 18 January 1998. He transferred to Şekerspor the same year and, after four seasons split between Şekerspor and Bursaspor, joined Diyarbakırspor.

In the 2004-05 season he moved from Diyarbakırspor to Fenerbahçe in a transfer that drew criticism, winning the Süper Lig title with his new club that same season, though under coach Christoph Daum he found little playing time and was loaned out to Konyaspor at season's end. Not wanting to sit on the bench after returning to Fenerbahçe, he moved to Ankaraspor, then played for Kocaelispor, Denizlispor and Altay in turn, followed by spells at Çaykur Rizespor and Gaziosmanpaşa before winning promotion to the second division with Etimesgut Belediyespor in the 2014-15 season.

He was capped a total of 19 times across Turkey's national categories -- 4 with the U-17s, 10 with the U-21s, once with the A2 side and 4 times with the senior team -- and later in his career also played for clubs including Sakaryaspor, Sarıyer, Çorum Belediyespor and Erbaaspor.