Kemal Aslan

Kemal Aslan — Biography

Kemal Aslan was born on 24 October 1981 in Gaziantep and began playing football in the academy of his hometown club, Gaziantepspor; strong performances there earned him more than forty caps combined across Turkey's under-18, under-19 and under-23 national sides, including four goals and the captaincy of the under-23 team.

He left Gaziantepspor for Fenerbahçe and featured for the first time in early 2003, then claimed Süper Lig titles in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2006-07 plus the Turkish Super Cup in 2007. In a Turkish Cup semi-final against Gençlerbirliği on 17 March 2004 he broke a bone in his right foot, needed surgery, and was sidelined for seven months; he returned to action on 20 November 2004 against Trabzonspor after an eight-month absence, but he was never able to fully recover his earlier form.

A contract he signed with Gaziantepspor for the 2008-09 season fell through when the clubs could not agree terms, sending him instead to Kocaelispor; in January 2009 he left that club over unpaid wages, appealing to the football federation, and signed an eighteen-month deal with Bursaspor. He moved on to Çaykur Rizespor in July 2009 and to Adanaspor in August 2010, before joining Denizlispor on a one-year contract at the start of the 2011-12 season.