Sezer Öztürk

Sezer Öztürk — Biography

Sezer Öztürk (born 3 November 1985 in Velbert, Germany) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Germany to a worker family originally from Kars, he began playing in the youth setup of Türkgücü Velbert, a club founded by the local Turkish community, and moved to Bayer 04 Leverkusen's academy while still a child. He made his Bundesliga debut with Leverkusen in 2004 but never established himself in the first team, spending time on loan at Germinal Beerschot in Belgium and then briefly at 1. FC Nürnberg.

In 2006 he moved to Turkey, joining Manisaspor, where his goals in the second division helped the club win promotion to the Süper Lig. After an impressive spell at Eskişehirspor he signed for Fenerbahçe in 2011, winning two Turkish Cups, though injuries limited his playing time. He joined Beşiktaş in 2013 but was excluded from the squad without making a single official appearance, and finished his career with loan spells at İstanbul Başakşehir and Eskişehirspor. He earned more than 40 caps for Turkey's youth national teams and played in the final of the 2004 UEFA Under-19 Championship.

In September 2021 he was wanted over an armed traffic dispute in Istanbul in which one person was killed and four others injured. He was arrested in November 2021 while attempting to flee to Georgia, and in May 2022 was sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison.