Özcan Melkemichel (born 21 February 1968) is a Swedish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player, most recently in charge of

AFC Eskilstuna Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish football club located in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching ownership and th ...

Career

Melkemichel came to Sweden in 1975 after having been born in Turkey and then spending five years living in Germany. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, started playing for Syrianska FC in the team's second year of existence when they were still an amateur neighbourhood club. While working as a

hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be refe ...

he continued playing for the club for nine years as they advanced upwards through the Swedish football pyramid. When he took over as manager he only intended for it to be a short term thing to help the club out. But after winning the Swedish fourth tier with the club he remained in the position and then brought the team to top tier,

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

. Melkemichel took

AFC United Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish football club located in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching ownership and t ...

from the third tier to the first tier in three seasons. Melkemichel served as manager for

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

for two seasons, but turned down a proposed contract extension for a third year. During his first season in charge of the club, Melkemichel led the team to a third place finish, the club's best result since 2007, resulting in

's qualification to the second qualifying round for the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic St ...

. In his second year he led the team to a

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

title, the club's first since 2005, however,

finished a disappointing seventh in the league behind both Stockholm rivals Hammarby (fourth) and

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

(winners).

Personal life

Melkemichel is of

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

descent.

Managerial honours

Djurgården IF *

: 2017–18

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melkemichel, Ozcan 1968 births Living people Swedish footballers Assyrian footballers Swedish football managers Swedish people of Assyrian/Syriac descent Swedish people of Turkish descent Turkish people of Assyrian descent Turkish emigrants to Sweden Naturalized citizens of Sweden Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriates in Germany Association football midfielders Syrianska FC players AFC Eskilstuna managers