Serdar Kesimal

Serdar Kesimal — Biography

Born on 24 January 1989 in Wuppertal, Germany, to a family with roots in Rize, Serdar Kesimal started out at a local club before joining the youth ranks of Wuppertaler SV Borussia and making his first-team debut in 2007. That same year he moved to 1. FC Köln's academy, and a season later featured for the club's reserve side in the Regionalliga. He joined Kayserispor in the Süper Lig for the 2009-10 season, became a regular from midseason onward, and scored his first career goal the following season.

He moved to Fenerbahçe in 2011, where, despite an injury spell, he was part of the squad that won the Türkiye Kupası that season and later made his first appearances in the UEFA Europa League; his years at the club were also marked by periods out of the squad. He transferred to Akhisar Belediyespor on a free deal in 2016 and parted ways with the club in 2017. At international level, after representing Turkey's U-20 and U-21 sides, he was first called up to the senior national team in 2010 and played against the Netherlands, South Korea and Austria. After retiring, he served as an assistant coach to İsmail Kartal at Konyaspor in the 2020-21 season.