Aykut Demir (born 22 October 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back. Born in the Netherlands, he represents Turkey at international level.
Club career
Demir made his debut in professional football in the 2005–06 season as part of the NAC Breda squad. He was loaned to Excelsior[1] and later played for Turkish side Gençlerbirliği[2] before joining Trabzonspor.
In 2017, he moved to TFF First League club Giresunspor. In 2019, he signed to BB Erzurumspor. After a one-year stint with Boluspor,[3] he returned to BB Erzurumspor in July 2021.[4]
Personal life
Demir is Muslim. He was born on 22 October 1988 in Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands.[5]
Controversies
On 31 December, Demir was married at age 28. Since his bride was not at the wedding, it was unknown who he married.[6]
He was criticized for wearing a taqiya and having a Tawhid flag in his wedding hall.[7]
In BB Erzurumspor's match with MKE Ankaragücü on 2021–22 TFF First League's 27. match week, All Erzurumspor players wore a "no to war" pre-match ceremony shirt in support of Ukraine, except Demir, who refused to wear the shirt.[8] In response to the criticism, he told the media that he did not wear the shirt because he "wouldn't be comfortable wearing it while there were civilians dying in Palestine."[9]
International career
Demir made his debut for Turkey in a November 2013 friendly match against Belarus.[10]
References
- ^ Aykut Demir voor half jaar naar Excelsior Archived 2018-03-24 at the Wayback Machine - NAC (in Dutch)
- ^ Demir verruilt Excelsior voor Gençerbirligi - Voetbal International (in Dutch)
- ^ "AYKUT DEMİR BOLUSPOR'DA... - Özgür Bolu". Özgürbolu (in Turkish). 5 October 2020.
- ^ "Aykut Demir resmen BB Erzurumspor'da!". Aspor (in Turkish). 6 July 2021.
- ^ "A. DEMIR: Summary". Soccerway. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ^ "İslamcı futbolcu gelinsiz evlendi". OdaTV (in Turkish). Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ "Osmanlısporlu futbolcu böyle evlendi". Habertürk (in Turkish). 31 December 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ "Aykut Demir maç öncesi 'savaşa hayır' tişörtü giymedi". ajansspor.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ ""Savaşa hayır" tişörtü giymediği için eleştirilmişti... Erzurumsporlu Aykut Demir: Ortadoğu coğrafyasında her gün binlerce insan ölüyor, giyseydim içim rahat etmezdi". The Independent (in Turkish). 28 February 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ Intl career stats - EU Football
External links
- Aykut Demir at the Turkish Football Federation
- Aykut Demir – UEFA competition record (archive)
- Aykut Demir – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Aykut Demir at National-Football-Teams.com
- Aykut Demir at Soccerway