Okan Aydın (, born 8 May 1994) is a 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

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 ...

for Hungarian club

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

. Born in Germany, he is a former youth international for Turkey.

Club career

Aydın went through

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

's youth ranks and eventually made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

debut in October 2012 in a 2–2 draw with

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

, as a substitute for

Simon Rolfes Simon Rolfes (born 21 January 1982) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Early career Rolfes started his career at Werder Bremen after progressing through their academy. During the 2000� ...

. On 6 September 2013, he joined

Eskişehirspor Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in Eskişehir. Eskisehirspor has a total of six trophies, making them the sixth most trophies holders in Turkey. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division ...

on a three-year contract. After not being able to establish himself at the Turkish club and earning only a single cap during the 2013–14 season, he moved back to Germany and joined

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

side Rot-Weiß Erfurt. There he signed a one-year contract including a two-year extension clause. In September 2020, Okan moved to

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

side

Jiangxi Liansheng F.C. Jiangxi Beidamen Football Club () is a professional China, Chinese Association football, football club that currently participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was founded in ...

from

Austria Klagenfurt Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ci ...

. On 14 January 2022, Okan signed a 1.5-year contract with

TSV Hartberg TSV Hartberg, known as TSV Egger Glass Hartberg for sponsorship purposes, is an Austrian association football club based in Hartberg, founded in 1946, which is currently playing in the Austrian Bundesliga. History The club was founded on 29 Ap ...

in the

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

. On 14 February 2023, Okan joined

in Hungary.

International career

Aydın played for the

Turkey national under-19 football team The Turkey national under-19 football team is the national under-19 football team of Turkey and is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, held every year. The Under-19 ...

, which won the silver medal at the

2013 Mediterranean Games The 2013 Mediterranean Games ( tr, 2013 Akdeniz Oyunları), officially known as the XVII Mediterranean Games ( tr, XVII Akdeniz Oyunları) and commonly known as Mersin 2013, was an international multi-sport event held from 20 to 30 June 2013 i ...

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

, Turkey. He also represented Turkey at the

2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, since its reclassification from an under-18 tournament in 2002, and the 62nd since the tournament was created in 1948. It was hosted in Li ...

. Aydin also represented Germany at the 2011 U17 World Cup where he helped Germany obtain third place after losing a dramatic overtime game in the semifinals to the eventual champions and hosts Mexico.

Personal life

Aydın's younger brother,

Anıl Aydın Anıl Aydın (born 10 January 2000) is a German-Turkish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Career Aydın played for the youth teams of VfL Leverkusen, Bayer Leverkusen, Viktoria Köln and 1. ...

, is also a professional footballer.

References

External links

Turkish Football Federation profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aydin, Okan 1994 births Sportspeople from Leverkusen Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia German people of Turkish descent Living people Association football forwards German footballers Germany youth international footballers Turkish footballers Turkey youth international footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Eskişehirspor footballers FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players Chemnitzer FC players FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin players SK Austria Klagenfurt players Jiangxi Beidamen F.C. players FC Wacker Innsbruck (2002) players TSV Hartberg players Debreceni VSC players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Süper Lig players 3. Liga players 2. Liga (Austria) players China League One players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Turkish expatriate footballers German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Austria Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate footballers in China Turkish expatriate sportspeople in China German expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate footballers in Hungary Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Hungary German expatriate sportspeople in Hungary