Özcan Melkemichel (born 21 February 1968) is a Swedish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player, most recently in charge of

AFC Eskilstuna Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish professional football club based in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching owne ...

Career

Melkemichel came to Sweden in 1975 after having been born in Turkey and then spending five years living in Germany. A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, started playing for Syrianska FC in the team's second year of existence when they were still an amateur neighbourhood club. While working as a

hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be re ...

he continued playing for the club for nine years as they advanced upwards through the Swedish football pyramid. When he took over as manager he only intended for it to be a short term thing to help the club out. But after winning the Swedish fourth tier with the club he remained in the position and then brought the team to top tier,

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

. Melkemichel took AFC United from the third tier to the first tier in three seasons. Melkemichel served as manager for

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

for two seasons, but turned down a proposed contract extension for a third year. During his first season in charge of the club, Melkemichel led the team to a third-place finish, the club's best result since 2007, resulting in

's qualification to the second qualifying round for the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic Sta ...

. In his second year he led the team to a

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

title, the club's first since 2005, however,

finished a disappointing seventh in the league behind both Stockholm rivals Hammarby (fourth) and AIK (winners).

Personal life

Melkemichel is of Assyrian descent.

Managerial honours

Djurgården IF *

: 2017–18

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melkemichel, Ozcan 1968 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Assyrian footballers Swedish football managers Swedish people of Assyrian descent Swedish people of Turkish descent Turkish people of Assyrian descent Turkish emigrants to Sweden Naturalized citizens of Sweden Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Men's association football midfielders Syrianska FC players AFC Eskilstuna managers People from Midyat 20th-century Swedish sportsmen