Aydın Yılmaz

Aydın Yılmaz — Biography

Aydın Yılmaz was born on 29 January 1988 in Istanbul. At just nine years old he attended trials at the Metin Oktay Facilities in Florya and stepped into football, joining Galatasaray's youth ranks in 2001. As part of the academy investment under Fatih Terim, he came up alongside players such as Emre Çolak, Arda Turan and Semih Kaya, and in 2005 he helped Turkey's under-17 side finish fourth at the World Championship in Peru.

A left-sided or central attacking midfielder, Yılmaz broke into Galatasaray's first team under Eric Gerets and drew attention with a stoppage-time winner against Konyaspor in early 2006, a goal remembered as one of the cornerstones of that season's league title. Injuries interrupted his career repeatedly; he had loan spells at Manisaspor, İstanbul BB and Eskişehirspor before returning to Galatasaray each time, and with the club he won four Süper Lig titles, two Turkish Cups and three Turkish Super Cups. In one interview he recalled a period when he was at risk of losing his leg to injury, crediting club medical staff member Yener İnce with playing a decisive role in his recovery.

He was called up to the Turkey squad in 2008 for matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Estonia, and made his competitive senior debut on 16 October 2012 in a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Hungary. After his long spell at Galatasaray, he continued his career with Başakşehir, Sakaryaspor, Czech club FK Příbram, Menemenspor and İskenderunspor.