Serdar Kesimal (born 24 January 1989) is a Turkish footballer who plays as a

centre 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 ...

. Kesimal is also a youth international, having been capped at the U-20 and U-21 levels.

Early years

Kesimal was born in

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...

on 24 January 1989 to emigrants of

Rize Rize (Greek: ρίζα, Laz: რიზინი, Georgian: რიზე, , Ottoman Turkish: ريزه) is the capital city of Rize Province in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. Rize is a typically Turkish provincial capital w ...

. He began his footballing career with amateur club FC Dönberg. He spent some time with

Wuppertaler SV Wuppertaler SV is a German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in 1929 out of the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cronenberg and Ronsdorf – e ...

before being transferred to

FC Köln FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

in 2007. Kesimal played in the U-19 and II teams of.

Career

FC Köln before

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fi ...

transferred him in 2009. He scored his first goal for the club in a match against

MKE Ankaragücü MKE Ankaragücü or fully Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Ankaragücü (), is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Ankara. The football team wears a yellow and navy kit and plays its home matches at Eryaman Stadium following the closure of t ...

on 24 August 2010. He made his debut in the 1-0 friendly beat by the Netherlands on November 10, 2010. And he made his debut as an official in 2-0 victory over Austria on March 29, 2011. Kesimal was transferred to Turkish champions Fenerbahçe for

Gökhan Ünal Gökhan Ünal (born 23 July 1982) is a Turkish football manager and former player. He is the manager of the Turkish club Altınordu F.K., Altınordu. During a professional career that lasted nearly 20 years, he played for 13 clubs, most notably ...

plus a fee worth €5 million on a 5-year contract. Following a three-month injury period he returned to the team and quickly gained a starter position in December, 2011. He retired from playing in 2017, as a member of Akhisar Belediye.

International career

Kesimal began his international career with the Turkey U-21 squad. Kesimal was never capped at youth international level. He made his debut against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 17 November 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kesimal, Serdar 1989 births Living people Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Turkey men's youth international footballers German men's footballers German sportspeople of Turkish descent Wuppertaler SV players 1. FC Köln II players Kayserispor footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Süper Lig players Men's association football central defenders Men's association football defenders Footballers from Wuppertal