Cihan Özkara (born 14 July 1991) is a German-born Azerbaijani professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for German club

Rot Weiss Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegated ...

Career

Özkara was born in

Hamm Hamm (, Latin: ''Hammona'') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of 2016 its population was 179,397. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway. Hamm railwa ...

. He began his career with

LR Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegated ...

and played eight years before joining

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

in summer 2007. After one year with Arminia Bielefeld, he returned to

where he made his senior debut on 22 September 2009 against Greuther Fürth in the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

. He signed on 6 October 2009 his first professional contract until 30 June 2012. On 30 January 2015, Özkara signed for

Simurq PIK Simurq PIK ( az, Simurq Peşəkar Idman Klubu) was an Azerbaijani football club based in Zaqatala, that competed in the Azerbaijan Premier League. History Early years (2005–2009) The club was founded in 2005 and participated in the Azerbaija ...

on loan till the end of the 2014–15 season. On 4 September 2020, Özkara a three-year contract with

İstanbulspor İstanbulspor is a Turkish football and sports club founded by Istanbul High School students in 1926. In 2004–05 they were relegated from the Turkish Süper Lig (Super League) to TFF 1. Lig. For many decades it was the fourth most famous and ...

Career statistics

:''Score and result list Azerbaijan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Özkara goal.''

References

External links

* * * 1991 births Sportspeople from Hamm Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia Azerbaijani people of Turkish descent German people of Turkish descent German people of Azerbaijani descent Living people German footballers Azerbaijani footballers Azerbaijan international footballers Association football forwards Rot Weiss Ahlen players Sivasspor footballers Kayseri Erciyesspor footballers Simurq PIK players SC Preußen Münster players SC Verl players Rot-Weiß Oberhausen players İstanbulspor footballers Sarıyer S.K. footballers 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players Süper Lig players TFF First League players Azerbaijan Premier League players TFF Second League players Azerbaijani expatriate footballers German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey Azerbaijani expatriate sportspeople in Turkey German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey {{Azerbaijan-footy-bio-stub