İbrahim Akın

İbrahim Akın — Biography

Born on 4 January 1984 in İzmir, İbrahim Akın grew up to become a left-sided attacker, following his father, former Göztepe goalkeeper Erdoğan Akın, into the game; he started out in a local youth sports program before joining Altay's academy for three seasons and then moved to Beşiktaş, where he made 74 official appearances, scored 13 goals, and on 14 May 2006 scored the club's 2,500th Süper Lig goal against Trabzonspor.

He went on to play for İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor, Gaziantepspor, and Sivasspor under his former coach Sergen Yalçın, before returning to Altay, the club that raised him, in the 2016-17 season, and was capped nine times for Turkey's national team. Detained in 2011 on match-fixing charges and held for months at Metris Prison, Akın was convicted by Istanbul's 16th Heavy Penal Court, though the ruling was overturned by Turkey's Court of Cassation in 2014; after retiring he took an administrative post at Altay.