Alpay Özalan

Alpay Özalan — Biography

Fehmi Alpay Özalan (born May 29, 1973, in İzmir), standing 1.88 m tall, built a career spanning professional football, coaching, and politics. After starting out at Altay, he spent 1993 to 2000 at Beşiktaş, making 148 appearances and scoring 8 goals, before a brief spell at Fenerbahçe. He earned 90 caps for the Turkish national team between 1995 and 2005, ranking him among the country's most-capped players, and was part of the squad that took bronze at the 2002 World Cup, earning a place on the tournament's all-star team.

His strong showing at the 2002 World Cup led to a move to England's Aston Villa, but a heated on-field clash with David Beckham during a 2003 international fixture brought that spell to an early end. After retiring as a player, Özalan moved into coaching, later serving as manager of Samsunspor among other clubs.

Since 2018, Özalan has served as a Justice and Development Party (AKP) member of parliament for İzmir in Turkey's Grand National Assembly, a role he continued to hold into 2026. In August 2024, he was formally reprimanded after a confrontation with opposition MP Ahmet Şık during a parliamentary session concerning jailed MP Can Atalay.