Mesut Ünal (born 3 April 1973) is a Turkish former

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 lea ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, best known for his

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

stints with

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği, commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkey, Turkish professional sports club based in the city of Bursa. Founded in 1963, the club is best known for its football team, which has a rich history in Football in Turkey, Turk ...

and

Sakaryaspor Sakaryaspor Kulübü Derneği is a Turkish professional football club playing in the TFF First League, which is the second level of Turkish football. History The club was formed in 1965 after the merger of ''Adapazarı Gençlerbirliği'', ''Adap ...

Club career

A youth product of

, Ünal made his professional debut with Bursaspor in a 1–0

loss to Zeytinburnuspor on 14 November 1993. He had several spells with Bursaspor throughout his career, and also spent time with

International career

Ünal made one appearance with the Turkey U21s in a

1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1994–96), had 44 entrants. After the quarter-finals stage, Spain were chosen as the hosts of the final stages, consisting of four matches in total. Italy U-21s won the compe ...

2-0 qualification win over Switzerland U21 on 24 April 1995.

Personal life

Mesut's son,

Enes Ünal Enes Ünal (born 10 May 1997) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a forward for club AFC Bournemouth and the Turkey national team. Ünal scored on his Süper Lig debut on 25 August 2013 for Bursaspor against Galatasaray, mak ...

, is also a professional footballer and international for Turkey.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ünal, Mesut 1973 births Living people Footballers from Istanbul Turkish men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Turkey men's youth international footballers Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players TFF Second League players Bursaspor footballers Sakaryaspor footballers Altay S.K. footballers Balıkesirspor footballers