Mervan Çelik (born 26 May 1990) is a Swedish former 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 lea ...

who played as a winger. He previously played for

GAIS Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The ...

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

, Gençlerbirliği,

Akhisar Belediyespor Akhisarspor Kulübü (), commonly known as Akhisarspor, is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Akhisar.

, Häcken, and

Fatih Karagümrük Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

. He represented Sweden at youth international level.

Club career

GAIS

Çelik played for IF Warta and

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg (Hisingen). It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Forme ...

at youth level before joining

in 2007. "I started as a striker but now I play as an inner midfielder and winger. It does not matter if I play on the right or the left, both positions work for me," he said in an interview on the club's website. Çelik made his competitive début against

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollf� ...

in the

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 ...

on 20 July 2008, and appeared in the starting eleven for the first time six weeks later against

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

. He signed a three-year contract in May 2009, and scored his first goal for the club later that year against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

Rangers

Having left GAIS at the end of his contract, Çelik was offered a three-and-a-half-year contract from

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

team

, which he signed on 20 January 2012. After Rangers went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

, Çelik chose to leave the club in March 2012 without a pay-off. He stated that he didn't make the wrong decision in joining the club, but the club entering administration was unpredictable. GAIS claimed that Rangers owed them £240,000 compensation for the transfer of Celik. However, there were suggestions that Celik was not offered a new contract within 60 days before the end of his previous deal, meaning that no compensation would have been necessary. Both GAIS and Celik disputed this and the club have threatened to take the matter to FIFA if Rangers don't pay them.

Return to GAIS

After leaving Rangers in March 2012, Çelik signed an eight-month contract with GAIS.

Pescara

Çelik continued his career in Italian first league with the newcomer Pescara in 2012. He scored the first goal for Pescara the 2012–13 season against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the ...

in a 3–2 loss.

International career

Çelik has represented Sweden at youth level. He made his under-21 debut against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

on 2 June 2011 and scored two goals in a 4–1 win. He is eligible to play for Turkey through his parents.

Career Statistics

Club

Honours

BK Häcken *

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 ...

2018–19

Personal life

Çelik was born and raised in the suburb

Biskopsgården Biskopsgården (literally, "Bishop Manor") is a district (''stadsdelsnämndsområde'') in Gothenburg Municipality, in western Sweden. History The first traces of humans can be found by the hillsides that were once beaches in an archipelago. ...

Hisingen Hisingen () is the fifth-largest island of Sweden (after Gotland, Öland, Södertörn and Orust), with an area of . It is a river island, formed by the split of the Göta Älv at Bohus Fortress, Bohus, and is defined to the east and south by t ...

, an island which forms part of the

Gothenburg Municipality Gothenburg Municipality ( or ) is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Gothenburg. When the first Swedish local government acts were implemented in 1863 the City of Gothenburg, founde ...

. Çelik's parents are ethnic

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. His mother and father lived in

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

before moving to Sweden, where his father opened a restaurant.

References

External links

* * * * *
Celik kan lämna efter succén i U21-debuten
at expressen.se * {{DEFAULTSORT:Celik, Mervan 1990 births Footballers from Gothenburg Swedish people of Kurdish descent Swedish people of Turkish descent Living people Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Men's association football wingers GAIS players Rangers F.C. players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Akhisarspor footballers BK Häcken players Fatih Karagümrük S.K. footballers Allsvenskan players Scottish Premier League players Serie A players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Superettan players TFF Second League players Ettan Fotboll players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century Swedish sportsmen