Hayrettin Yerlikaya (born 13 August 1981) is a Turkish

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 last played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Sivasspor in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

Club career

Yerlikaya has spent his entire professional career with hometown club Sivasspor. The club transferred him from amateur club Sivas Çimentospor in 1999. He made his domestic cup debut on 27 October 1999 against

Yimpaş Yozgatspor Yozgatspor was a Turkish sports club based in Yozgat, Turkey. The football club played in the TFF Third League. They played in the Süper Lig between 2000–2002 and relegated to the Third League in the 2008–09 season. They finally relegated to ...

, starting the match and being substituted out in the 52nd minute. It wasn't until the second half of the 2000–01 when Yerlikaya won his first league cap. He started the match against

İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K., shortly Istanbul BB SK or IBBSK, is a multi-sports club of the metropolitan municipality of Istanbul in Turkey. Branches The club has following sport branches: *Volleyball (Arome Men's League), *Basket ...

on 25 February 2001, playing the entire ninety minutes. In total, he participated in nine

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 ...

matches that season, en route to gaining promotion to the

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

. The following season Yerlikaya, called ''The Piç'' by his team mates became the starting left back, making 36 league TFF First League appearances. Sivasspor won promotion at the end of the 2004–05 season, and Yerlikaya made his top-flight debut on 6 August 2005 against Malatyaspor. By 2005, Yerlikaya established himself as one of the better Turkish left backs, earning a call up to the Turkey A-2 for matches during the 2005 Future Cup. He played the entire match as Turkey drew

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

1–1. Yerlikaya helped drive the club to a second-place finish – the highest in club history – during the 2008–09 season. However, the club did not keep up results, and were almost relegated after finishing in 15th place the following season.

International career

Yerlikaya has been capped three times by the Turkey reserve team. He has also been called up to the

Turkey national football team The Turkey national football team ( tr, Türkiye Millî Futbol Takımı) represents Turkey in men's international Association football, football matches. The team is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation ( tr, Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu ...

in 2007, but was not capped.

References

External links

* 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Sivas Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's B international footballers Sivasspor footballers Süper Lig players Men's association football defenders {{Turkey-footy-defender-stub