Meryem Yamak

Meryem Yamak — Biography

Meryem Yamak, also known in Germany as Meriç Yamak, is a former footballer and coach. She is known as one of the first women born in Turkey to reach the top level of German women's football: she was the first Turkey-born woman to play professionally in Germany and the first woman of Turkish origin to hold an A coaching licence from the DFB academy. Today she works for the Turkish Football Federation as its women's football representative to FIFA and UEFA and as a scout across Europe.

Born in Soma, she moved to Germany with her family in the early 1970s and settled in Bavaria. She began playing with her brothers and, at twelve, joined FC Hochbrück. In 1980 she transferred to FC Bayern München and became the first woman of Turkish origin to play at the Bavarian association level and in the Frauen-Bundesliga. As a member of the Bavarian select side she won the 1981 Länderpokal, and in 1982 she reached the German championship final with Bayern, finishing runner-up. In 1991 she moved to FC Wacker München and retired in 1993.

She turned to coaching straight away: at Türkgücü München in 1993, then Wacker, and from 1995 to 1998 the women's team of SpVgg Unterhaching. In 1999-2001 she coached Bayern München's second team and assisted with the first team; the side was promoted twice in this period. From 2002 to 2014 she worked with youth teams in Spain, and in 2014 she took charge of the Qatar women's national team. In 2016 the Turkish Football Federation appointed her as its European representative and scout.