Ömer Çatkıç

Ömer Çatkıç — Biography

Ömer Çatkıç, listed at 1.88 m, spent many years as a Süper Lig goalkeeper and is closely tied to Gaziantepspor, for whom his 211 league appearances are a club record in the top flight. With the national team he was in the squad for Euro 2000 and the third-place teams at the 2002 World Cup and 2003 Confederations Cup. After retiring from playing in 2012 he worked as a goalkeeping coach and a football pundit.

He began in the Eskişehirspor youth system, moved up to the first team in 1992-93 and kept goal for that club for six seasons. In the middle of 1997-98 he transferred to Gaziantepspor, which started his Süper Lig career; he then played for Bursaspor and Gençlerbirliği before returning in 2007-08. In the summer of 2008 he signed for Antalyaspor and stayed until 2012, when he was left out of the squad after the club signed Hakan Arıkan. In August 2012 he announced the end of his career, and in November of that year he took a goalkeeping coach job at Karabükspor.

He is also a recipient of the Turkish State Medal of Distinguished Service.