Ömer Toprak (born 21 July 1989) 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 ...

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 ...

for

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

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and ...

. Born in Germany, he formerly played for the Turkey national team.

Club career

Toprak began his career with TSB Ravensburg in 1994. In 2001, he moved to FV Ravensburg.

SC Freiburg

Toprak signed for

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

in 2005. Three years later, He signed his first professional contract in the 2007–08 season. During that period, he played for Freiburg U19 and the reserve team and won 22 games with the latter. In his first professional season, he featured in 26 league games and scored 4 goals as Freiburg won the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

and promoted after a defeat of

VfL Osnabrück VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its football section. History Foundation to WW2 The c ...

. On 9 June 2009, Toprak suffered from a karting accident, causing him to miss the first half of the 2009–10 season but he recovered, scoring a goal against

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

on the 65th minute. Toprak played 24 league games during the 2010–11 season.

Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer 04 Leverkusen signed Toprak as a replacement for newly retired

Sami Hyypiä Sami Tuomas Hyypiä (; born 7 October 1973) is a Finnish football manager and former defender. Hyypiä began his playing career with Ykkönen side Kumu and soon moved to Veikkausliiga outfit MyPa. He spent four years at the club, helping t ...

for a reported transfer fee of €2 to 3 million. He appeared in the match versus Dynamo Dresden in the

2011–12 DFB-Pokal The 2011–12 DFB-Pokal was the 69th season of the annual German football cup competition. It commenced on 29 July 2011 with the first of six rounds and concluded on 12 May 2012 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Since both finali ...

but they were eliminated 4–3. In Bayer's first match against

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 ...

, he scored an own goal, causing his team to lose 2–0. He scored another own goal against Hertha BSC. Bayer managed to qualify to the Champions League round of 16, where they were eliminated by

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

. In January 2014, Toprak agreed a contract extension until 2018.

Werder Bremen

In August 2019, Toprak joined

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

on a year-long loan from

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

. Werder Bremen announced the deal includes an purchase obligation to permanently sign Toprak that would come into effect with a "high likelihood"; the reported transfer fee agreed for that case was reported as €5 to 6 million. The permanent signing took effect in July 2020.

Antalyaspor

On 30 June 2022, Toprak signed a two-year contract with

International career

upToprak with Turkey in 2013 He was included in the Germany U19 that won the

2008 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The final tournament of the 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 24th UEFA European Under-19 Championship, UEFA's premier competition for players under the age of 19. The tournament was held in the Czech Republic with matches played fro ...

. He appeared in three matches during the tournament, scoring one goal. On 30 September 2011, Toprak was named to the Turkey national team by coach Guus Hiddink for the upcoming

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was hel ...

matches against

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 ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

. He made his Turkish debut on 15 November against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in the second leg of

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-offs The UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-off ties were played over two legs, with the first legs on 11 November and the second legs on 15 November 2011. The four winners are found according to the standard rules for the knockout phase in European compet ...

, playing the full 90 minutes of a goalless draw at the

Stadion Maksimir Maksimir Stadium ( hr, Stadion Maksimir, ) is a multi-use stadium in Zagreb, Croatia. It takes its name from the surrounding neighbourhood of Maksimir. The venue is primarily the home of Dinamo Zagreb, the top club of the country with 23 le ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

which ensured that Croatia advanced to the finals 3–0 on aggregate.

Personal life

Toprak is the son of Turkish immigrants from

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...

. He was born and raised in Ravensburg,

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. He has one older sister and two older brothers one of whom, Harun, is also a professional football player for FV Ravensburg. His cousin, Rahman Soyudoğru, has also played professional football, including in Germany and Turkey. On 9 June 2009, Toprak was involved in a karting accident, in which he suffered severe burns and had to be treated in a special clinic. He was able to resume training after only four months.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

SC Freiburg *

: 2008–09 Borussia Dortmund * DFL-Supercup:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Germany U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Toprak, Omer 1989 births Living people People from Ravensburg Sportspeople from Tübingen (region) Citizens of Turkey through descent German people of Turkish descent Turkish footballers German footballers Footballers from Baden-Württemberg Association football central defenders Turkey international footballers Germany youth international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players FV Ravensburg players SC Freiburg players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Borussia Dortmund players SV Werder Bremen players Antalyaspor footballers