Hayrettin Yerlikaya

Hayrettin Yerlikaya — Biography

Hayrettin Yerlikaya is a left-back who spent his entire professional career at hometown club Sivasspor. He is remembered as the player with the most appearances in the club's history, with 317 official matches in the number 58 shirt. Fans and the club regard him as one of the most important figures in Sivasspor's story. After retiring he turned to coaching and took over Sivas Belediyespor.

Developed at Sivas Tarımspor and Çimentospor, he joined Sivasspor in 1999. He played his first official match in the cup that October, got his first league experience in the second half of 2000-01 and helped the team win promotion from the Second League to the First League. The next season he was the starting left-back. When Sivasspor reached the Süper Lig in 2004-05 he made his top-flight debut against Malatyaspor on 6 August 2005; with 179 Süper Lig matches he became the club's record holder, a mark he held until May 2015. He captained the side for long stretches and was in the squad when the team reached second place in 2008-09, the highest finish in the club's history.

He won three caps for the Turkey A2 side and played the full match in a 1-1 draw with Germany in 2005. In 2007 Fatih Terim called him up to the senior national team squad, but he did not get on the pitch. In December 2022 he took charge of Sivas Belediyespor and led his first training session. He has also kept up work on bringing young players into football, meeting students in Sivas.