Aral Şimşir

Aral Şimşir — Biography

Doğuhan Aral Şimşir is a winger who was born in Denmark and chose to play for the Turkey national team. After being named the Danish Superliga's best player of 2025-26, he moved to Trabzonspor in July 2026 for about 13 million euros, a fee reported as the highest in the club's history. His family comes from Sivas, which is why he wears number 58, the province's vehicle registration code.

He started in the youth ranks of HB Køge and joined the Midtjylland academy in 2017. On 1 June 2020, aged 17, he made his Superliga debut against AC Horsens. In search of regular football he spent 2022 in Norway, on loan first at Jerv and from August at Lillestrøm. Back at Midtjylland he scored the only goal against Viborg FF in June 2023 that opened the way to the Europa Conference League, extended his contract to 2028, and played regularly as the club won its fourth Danish title in 2023-24.

His breakout came in 2025-26: he was named Superliga Player of the Month for February 2026, won the Danish Cup with Midtjylland, and at the end of the season was voted the league's best player by the players' union and by the Superliga itself. He left the club with 145 appearances, 26 goals and 40 assists. Internationally he first played for Denmark at youth level before switching to the Turkey under-21s in 2022; he received his first senior call-up in November 2025 and made his senior debut against North Macedonia on 1 June 2026.