Meryem Yamak (born 26 August 1962), also known as Meriç Yamak, is a German former football player and coach of Turkish origin. Yamak, who currently works as a women's football European representative and scout for the Turkish Football Federation, is the first professional footballer of Turkish origin in Germany. In addition, she is the first woman of Turkish origin with an A license for football coaching.
Private life
Meryem Yamak was born in
Soma, Manisa
Soma is a town and district of Manisa Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. According to the 2009 census, the population of the district is 101,011, of which 74,158 live in the town of Soma. The district covers an area of , and the town lies ...
in western Turkey on 26 August 1962. She has four siblings. Early 1970s, her father Hüseyin emigrated to Germany with his wife and five children.
Playing career
Yamak started playing football together with her brothers Yusuf and Aziz, impressing bystanders with her talent. Settled with her family in
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, Germany, she began playing football at age twelve in the youth team of FC Hochbrück, a club in the neighborhood of Garching,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
.
In 1980, she was signed by FC Bayern Munich. She became the first women's footballer of Turkish origin at
Bavarian Football Association
The Bavarian Football Association (german: Bayerischer Fussball-Verband), the ''BFV'', is one of 21 regional organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the state of Bavaria.Frauen-Bundesliga). She enjoyed the victory at the 1981 States Cup ( Länderpokal) as a member of the BFV-Select team . Her team Bayern Munich reached the final of the 1982 German Women's Football Championship (Deutsche Frauen Fußballmeisterschaft 1982), becoming runners-up. In 1985, she underwent a knee surgery.
In 1991, she transferred to
FC Wacker München
FC Wacker München is a German association football club of about 200 members based in the Sendling borough of Munich, Bavaria. At their zenith in the 1920s the ''Blue Stars'' twice reached the semi-finals of the German Championship. After Worl ...
. After two seasons, she retired form active playing career in 1993.
Managerial career
Yamak became a licensed football Instructor (1993) and holder of an UEFA B coaching licence (1994), an UEFA A coaching licence (December 1998) and FIFA licensed football instructor (January 2014) as the only sportswoman of Turkish origin. She is a member of the Association of German Football Teachers (Bund Deutscher Fußball-Lehrer, BDFL).
She began her coaching career in 1993 at SV Türk Gücü Munich. She led the boys' team to second place.In 1994, she returned to her former club FC Wacker Munich.
Between 1995 and 1998, she coached the women's team of
SpVgg Unterhaching
Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...
, which were playing in the women's district league (Frauen
Bezirksliga
The Bezirksliga ( en, County League) is commonly a medium set of amateur divisions set at steps 7, 8 or 9 in the German football league system.
Structure
Depending on the structural organisation within each of the 21 state football associations ...
) at the time.
From 1999 to 2001, she served as a coach for the women's team
FC Bayern Munich II
FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the reserve team of German association football club FC Bayern Munich, they currently play in the Regionalliga Bayern. In 2010–11 they played in the 3. Liga, having qualified ...
, and as an assistant coach for FC Bayern Munich women's tarm. During this time, the team were promoted twice to the next higher league.
From 2002 to 2014, she coached various youth teams in Spain for several years, before taking charge of the Qatar women's national team in 2014.
In 2016, the
Turkish Football Federation
The Turkish Football Federation (; TFF) is the governing body of association football in Turkey. It was formed on 23 April 1923, and joined FIFA the same year and UEFA in 1962. It organizes the Turkey national football team, the Turkish Footba ...
appointed her as a scout, representative for entire Europe, to discover promising young women players and future stars for the Turkey women's national teams.