Faruk Nafız Özak

Faruk Nafız Özak — Biography

Faruk Nafız Özak followed a path from Trabzonspor captain to club president and then to the cabinet. A civil engineer, former footballer and businessman, he is known as the 11th president of Trabzonspor, a Trabzon member of parliament for the AK Party and the head of two different ministries.

He started at Trabzon İdman Ocağı, moved to Trabzonspor in 1967 and also played for Sebat Gençlik and Rizespor, captaining the teams he played for. He returned to Trabzonspor in 1973, took part in its second-division and first-division league titles and received the Sportsman of the Year award. He had begun his studies at METU and, to give football more time, transferred first to ITU and then to Karadeniz Technical University, where he finished the civil engineering department in 1970. After playing he served as Trabzonspor's vice-president and president, wrote on sport for the newspaper Hürriyet, became chairman of the board of Yapısun A.Ş. and was among the founders of the Trabzon Development Foundation.

On the AK Party ticket he was elected a Trabzon MP in the 22nd, 23rd and 24th terms. In Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's governments he became Minister of Public Works and Housing on 2 June 2005; on 1 May 2009 he moved to the post of Minister of State for Youth and Sports, and when the ministry was renamed on 9 June 2011 he served as Minister of Youth and Sports. He is married with two children.