Fırat Kaya (born 2 January 1995) is a Germany-born Turkish footballer. He is a member of the Turkey national deaf football team.

Private life

Fırat Kaya was born to Turkish-descent parents,Yıldırım and Sevg, as the youngest of two children in

Schwäbisch Hall Schwäbisch Hall (; "Swabian Hall"; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'' ) is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the ...

, Germany on 2 January 1995. The

hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to Hearing, hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to Language ...

boy started to play football at a young age.

Club career

At age 15, Kaya became an amateur footballer playing 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 ...

in the youth teams of VfR Mannheim (2010–203). His professional career started with Eintracht Plankstadt (2013–14). He later played for the teams VfR Mannheim (2013–14), SF Schwäbisch Hall (2014–15),TSV Nellmersbach (2015–16), TSG Giengen (2015–16),

SC 04 Schwabach The SC 04 Schwabach is a German association football club from Schwabach, suburb of the city of Nuremberg, Bavaria. The club was established in 1996, when TSV 04 Schwabach merged with 1. SC Schwabach to form SC 04 Schwabach. Of those two clubs ...

(2016–17) and TSV Kornburg (2017–18. While playing again for SF Schwäbisch Hall (2018–19) in Germany, he moved to Turkey and signed a five-month contract with Tokatspor in January 2019. He played in nine matches of the 2018–19

TFF Second League TFF 2. Lig (Turkish Football Federation Second League), is the third level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in the 2001–02 season with the name of ''Turkish Second League Category B'' as a continuation of the then second lev ...

's second half and scored two goals. He became so the first hearing-loss footballer to play in the Turkish professional football leagues. After the end of the Turkish league season, the right-wing forward returned to Germany, and joined TSG Öhringen (2019–20). The next season, he signed a one-year contract with the Verbandsliga Württemberg club SV Fellbach (2020–21) in the beginning of September 2020. In his club career in Germany and Turkey between 2013 and 2021, he scored a total of 15 goals in 48 matches he played in the

Bayernliga Süd The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of ...

, Landesliga Bayern-Süd/Oberbayern, Turkish TFF Second League, Verbandsliga Württemberg and Landespokal Württemberg.

International career

;Germany national deaf football team Kaya became a member of the Germany national deaf football team, and participated at the

2013 Summer Deaflympics The 2013 Summer Deaflympics ( bg, 2013 летни дефлимпийски игри), officially known as the 22nd Summer Deaflympics ( bg, 22-ра лятна глуха олимпиада), was an international multi-sport event that took place ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, Bulgaria. He scored one goal in five matches. He enjoyed his team's third place. ;Turkey national deaf football team He later preferred to join the Turkey national deaf football team. He took part in all six matches of the

2017 Summer Deaflympics ) , nations = 86 , athletes = 2,873 , events = 219 in 18 sports , stadium = Samsun 19 Mayıs Stadium , opened_by = Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , torch_lighter = Ertuğrul Bursa , opening = July 18, 2017 , closing ...

held in Samsun, Turkey. He scored one goal in the match against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, and another goal in the tournament's final match against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. He enjoyed his team's champion title. He played in the qualification group match for European Championship against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He netted two goals in the match, which Turkey won by 5–0. He played in the qualification match for the

EuroDeaf 2019 The EuroDeaf 2019, short for the 2019 European Deaf Football Championships, is the ninth edition of the European competition of deaf football national teams for men. It was organized by the European Deaf Sport Organization (EDSO), and was held ...

against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in June 2018, and was instrumental for Turkey's qualification with 1-0 scoring the winning goal. He played in five matches at the Euro 2019 held in

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...

, Greece. He was named "Top goalscorer" of the championship with 9 goals netted in four matches. He played in two matches of the 2022 Summer Deaflympics qualification round against Czech Republic and France. He scored one goal in the match against Czech Republic, which ended 6-0 for Turkey. Winning over the both teams, the national team qualified for the Games to be held in

Caxias do Sul Caxias do Sul (), is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, situated in the state's mountainous Serra Gaúcha region. It was established by Italian immigrants on June 20, 1890. Today it is the second largest city in the state of Rio Gr ...

, Brazil.

Honours

Individual

;Turkey national deaf football team :''Top goalscorer'' (1): EuroDeaf 2019 (9 goals)

International

;Germany national deaf football team :''Third places'' (1):

;Turkey national deaf football team :''Champions'' (1):

References

External links

Fırat Kaya @ Deaflympics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaya, Firat 1995 births Living people People from Schwäbisch Hall Footballers from Stuttgart (region) German sportspeople of Turkish descent German deaf people Deaf association football players German men's footballers VfR Mannheim players Germany men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Turkish men's footballers Players of deaf football German disabled sportspeople Turkish disabled sportspeople Turkish deaf people