Mert Hakan Yandaş

Mert Hakan Yandaş — Biography

Born on 19 August 1994 in Bursa's Osmangazi district, Mert Hakan Yandaş grew up the second child in a football-loving family — his father had once been an amateur player — and kept a childhood promise to become a footballer even after losing his father at age nine. He entered senior football in 2006 and turned professional with Yeşil Bursa in 2012, going on to play for Altınordu, Tire 1922 Spor and Menemen Belediyespor before topping the scoring charts in the third tier with 21 goals in 2015–16. Joining Süper Lig side Sivasspor in 2017, the midfielder impressed enough to earn a surprise move to Fenerbahçe in the summer of 2020. Across spells under coaches Erol Bulut, İsmail Kartal and Jorge Jesus, he stood out with eleven assists in the 2021–22 season and won the Turkish Cup with Fenerbahçe in 2022–23. In December 2025 he was detained and later remanded to Silivri Prison as part of a football betting investigation; the disciplinary board fined and banned him for three matches, then handed him a twelve-month suspension over betting activity, which the Turkish federation's arbitration board reduced to six months in August 2026. He signed a new one-year contract with Fenerbahçe in July 2026, on a minimum-wage salary.