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Salih Özcan

Salih Özcan (born 11 January 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. Born in Germany, he plays for the Turkey national team.[2]

Club career

Born in Germany, Özcan is of Turkish descent as he was born into a Turkish family. Özcan spent the majority of his youth career in 1. FC Köln's youth system. He first featured in 1. FC Köln's first team in September 2016 in a match against Schalke 04.[3] During the 2017–18 season he consistently started in central midfield. He scored his first league goal on 2 September 2018 in a match against FC St. Pauli.[4]

In 2017, Özcan was awarded the golden Fritz Walter Medal for the best U19 player in Germany.[5]

On 23 August 2019, Özcan joined Holstein Kiel on loan until the end of 2019–20 season.[6]

On 29 June 2021, in spite of speculations about a possible transfer, the club announced that Özcan had signed a new two-year contract with Köln.[7]

On 23 May 2022, it was reported that Özcan would join Borussia Dortmund for the 2022–23 season and that he would sign a contract with the club until 2026. The German sports magazine kicker estimated the transfer fee to be €5 million.[8]

On 28 August 2024, Özcan moved on loan to VfL Wolfsburg.[9]

International career

Özcan was eligible for both the Turkish and German national teams,[10] and played for Germany's youth teams.[11] He played his last game for Germany U21 on 6 June 2021, starting in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship final.[12]

On 25 March 2022, Özcan was called up to the Turkey national team by head coach Stefan Kuntz.[13] He debuted in a friendly 3–2 loss to Italy on 29 March 2022.[14]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 12 April 2025[15]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1. FC Köln II 2015–16 Regionalliga West 16 3 — — — 16 3
2016–17 Regionalliga West 2 0 — — — 2 0
2017–18 Regionalliga West 2 0 — — — 2 0
2019–20 Regionalliga West 2 1 — — — 2 1
Total 22 4 — — — 22 4
1. FC Köln 2016–17 Bundesliga 13 0 2 0 — — 15 0
2017–18 Bundesliga 23 0 2 0 5[a] 0 — 30 0
2018–19 2. Bundesliga 15 1 2 0 — — 17 1
2020–21 Bundesliga 28 0 3 1 — 1[b] 0 32 1
2021–22 Bundesliga 31 2 3 0 — — 34 2
Total 110 3 12 1 5 0 1 0 128 4
Holstein Kiel (loan) 2019–20 2. Bundesliga 28 5 1 0 — — 29 5
Borussia Dortmund 2022–23 Bundesliga 26 0 3 0 7[c] 0 — 36 0
2023–24 Bundesliga 23 0 2 0 9[c] 0 — 35 0
2024–25 Bundesliga 8 0 — 3[c] 0 — 11 0
Total 56 0 5 0 19 0 — 81 0
Wolfsburg (loan) 2024–25 Bundesliga 11 0 1 0 — — 12 0
Career total 228 12 19 1 24 0 1 0 272 13
  1. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  2. ^ Appearance in Bundesliga relegation play-offs
  3. ^ a b c Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International

As of match played 23 March 2025[16]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Turkey 2022 7 0
2023 9 0
2024 6 0
2025 1 0
Total 23 0

Honours

Borussia Dortmund

1. FC Köln

Germany U21

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b "Salih Özcan | Playerprofile | Bundesliga". bundesliga.com. DFL. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  2. ^ Salih Özcan at WorldFootball.net
  3. ^ "Drei Punkte auf Schalke". 1.FC Köln (in German). Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  4. ^ "St. Pauli verliert Torspektakel gegen Köln". NDR.de (in German). Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Auszeichnung vor Länderspiel FC-Talent: Öczan mit Fritz-Walter-Medaille ausgezeichnet". Kölner Stadtanzeiger (in German). 5 September 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Die KSV verpflichtet Özcan vom 1. FC Köln" (in German). Holstein Kiel. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  7. ^ "FC verlängert mit Salih Özcan". 1. FC Köln (in German). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Vierter BVB-Neuzugang perfekt: Özcan kommt vom 1. FC Köln". kicker (in German).
  9. ^ "Leihe vom BVB" [Loan from BVB] (in German). VfL Wolfsburg. 28 August 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  10. ^ "1. FC Köln: Mergim Mavraj und Salih Özcan sprechen über ihre Freundschaft | Express.de". Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Salih Özcan – Spielerprofil". DFB Datencenter.
  12. ^ "Germany U21 1-0 Portugal U21 (Jun 6, 2021) Game Analysis". ESPN. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  13. ^ "Salih Özcan aday kadroya dâhil edildi". Turkish Football Federation (in Turkish).
  14. ^ "Turkey vs. Italy – 29 March 2022 – Soccerway".
  15. ^ Salih Özcan at Soccerway
  16. ^ Salih Özcan at National-Football-Teams.com Edit this at Wikidata
  17. ^ McNulty, Phil (1 June 2024). "Real Madrid 2–0 Borussia Dortmund". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  18. ^ "Sechs Klubs vertreten: Die kicker-Elf der Saison 2021/22". Kicker (in German). 26 May 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.