Yasin Özdenak (born 11 October 1948) is a former Turkish

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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and now an active coach. He is currently employed by

Hume City FC Hume City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Broadmeadows, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established by the local Turkish Australian community, the club competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. ...

as the Technical Director of the Club.

Professional career

In 1977,

Ahmet Ahmad () is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other English language, English spellings of the name include Ahmed. It is also used as a surname. Etymology The word derives from the root (Ḥ-M-D, ḥ-m-d), f ...

and

Nesuhi Ertegun Nesuhi Ertegun ( Turkish spelling: Nesuhi Ertegün; November 26, 1917 – July 15, 1989) was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International. Early life Born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, Nesuhi ...

the transferred Yasin, known in the United States as Erol Yasin, when he was 28 to the Cosmos where he played alongside football legends like

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

and

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (; 11 September 1945 – 7 January 2024) was a German professional football player, manager, and official. Nicknamed ("the Emperor"), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and is one of nine p ...

. Pelé was 35 years old and played 2 years with Yasin Ozdenak for

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

before he gave up playing. Yasin also coached the Cosmos. He was a goalkeeper and also, another legendary football player,

Diego Armando Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the ...

had become opponent to Yasin Özdenak when Maradona was 18 years old at a friendly match. He also managed

Sydney Crescent Star Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, a team who at the time competed in the

NSW Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Lea ...

in Australia. He led the team to a top 5 position in their first season as well as a victory in the Continental Cup (now known as the Tiger Turf Cup).

Personal life

Özdenak was born into a sporting family , as his brothers

Doğan Doğan is both a masculine Turkish given name and a Turkish surname meaning ''Falcon''. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Doğan Abukay, Turkish experimental physicist and academic * Doğan Akhanlı (1957–2021) Turkish-German wri ...

, Mustafa and Gökmen were also professional footballers. He has 2 other siblings Figen and Tuncay.

References

External links

*
NASL stats
1948 births Living people People from İskenderun Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Turkey men's youth international footballers Turkish expatriate men's footballers Turkish football managers İstanbulspor footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) head coaches Süper Lig players FC Seoul non-playing staff Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Hatay Turkish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Turkish expatriate football managers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States 20th-century Turkish sportsmen {{Turkey-footy-goalkeeper-stub