Gabriël Çulhacı (born 30 December 1999) is a Dutch 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 left-back for

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

club Helmond Sport.

Club career

Utrecht

Çulhacı started his youth career with the academy of

AVV Zeeburgia The Amsterdamse Voetbalvereniging Zeeburgia is a football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands. It has been dubbed " royal supplier" as many Dutch professional footballers started at Zeeburgia youth teams. In 2020–2021, the first squad plays in the ...

and later moved to the academy of

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

in 2012. On 30 December 2017, he signed his first professional contract with the club, penning a deal till the mid of 2020. On 17 August 2018, he made his debut for Jong FC Utrecht in a 5–0 defeat against

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...

. In the 2019–20 season, he sat on the bench for the first team for two games, but he did not play yet. For the season 2020–21 he was loaned out to

NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion fr ...

. This loan period was prematurely ended on 28 January 2021.

Helmond Sport

On 21 April 2022, Çulhacı signed a two-year contract with Helmond Sport, with an option for an additional year. He made his Helmond debut on 23 September in a 2–0 away loss at Erve Asito to

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

, coming on in the 62nd minute in place of Gaétan Bosiers.

International career

On 21 March 2017, Çulhacı was called to under-18 national team as a replacement for

Tyrell Malacia Tyrell Johannes Chicco Malacia (born 17 August 1999) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Premier League club Manchester United and the Netherlands national team. Malacia joined Feyenoord's youth system at the age of ...

for a friendly match against Austria.

Style of play

Jordy Zuidam Jordy Zuidam (born 8 July 1980) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Zuidam was born in Utrecht. During his football career, he played for FC Utrecht, Go Ahead Eagles and FC Zwolle, before he started playing for ...

, the football director of FC Utrecht has described Çulhacı as a "fast, agile defender with a healthy urge forward". Zuidam also said that Çulhacı knows "how to combine his defensive qualities with his attacking drive".

Career statistics

References

External links

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OnsOranje
profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Culhaci, Gabriel 1999 births Living people Association football defenders Dutch footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Jong FC Utrecht players FC Utrecht players NEC Nijmegen players Helmond Sport players Eerste Divisie players Dutch people of Turkish descent