Şaban Özel

Şaban Özel — Biography

Şaban Özel is a Turkish footballer whose best-known chapter came at his hometown club Sakaryaspor, where he was part of the side that won promotion to the 1. Lig in 2010-11. That form opened the door to Turkey's A2 national team.

He came through the Sakaryaspor academy and signed a professional contract in 2007 to join the senior squad. In his first professional season he mostly played for the youth side and was called up to the first team only for some matches; his official debut came on 4 September 2008 in a Turkish Cup tie against Kartalspor. From his second season he was a regular in the starting eleven. In 2010-11, despite very limited financial means, the team won the 2. Lig play-offs and went up to the 1. Lig. After that success he appeared on the transfer lists of many Süper Lig clubs and moved to Sivasspor. When that contract was terminated he joined Samsunspor, where he made 42 league appearances until 2014. In 2014 he transferred to Adana Demirspor, and in later years he also played for Şanlıurfaspor.

Having never played at any national-team level before, Özel was called into the A2 national team's candidate squad in June 2011 for friendlies against Lebanon and Denmark. He wore the A2 shirt for the first time on 1 June 2011 in the match against Lebanon in Istanbul. In 2017 he publicly said he wanted to return to his hometown.