A total of 15 players of Turkish origin have played in the Bundesliga in the Schalke 04 shirt. We have compiled important and interesting details about these players.

Schalke 04 said goodbye to the Bundesliga in the 1980/1981 season and brought Ilyas Tüfekçi from VfB Stuttgart. Manager Rudi Assauer negotiated Tüfekçi’s transfer on the plane and was able to convince him. Tüfekçi was promoted back to the Bundesliga in his first season with Schalke 04, but then had to be relegated again in his second season with his team. He wore the FC Schalke 04 shirt from 1981 to 1983 and scored 16 goals in 68 competitive matches.

First Schalke 04 transfer from Türkiye

With his transfer from Trabzonspor to Schalke 04, Hami Mandıralı became the most expensive transfer from abroad to Germany after Ze Roberto in the 1998/1999 season. Mandıralı, who appeared in 25 competitive matches, scored a total of 5 goals and was only able to stay on the field for the entire 90 minutes in two matches. He had problems because he did not speak German and returned to Trabzonspor at the end of the season.

The first Gelsenkirchen-born Turk to play for Schalke 04

Ünal Alpugan, whose father was a miner, signed a professional contract with Schalke 04 in the 1998/1999 season, where he had already played in the youth teams from 1984 to 1988. Alpugan, who acted as an honorary translator for Hami Mandıralı, scored one goal in the Bundesliga before Mandıralı. He played a total of 44 competitive matches in the Schalke 04 shirt, was part of the squad that won the DFB-Pokal in 2001 and later moved to Çaykur Rizespor.

Only Schalke 04 Turk to score in Ruhr derby

Hamit Altıntop, a native of Gelsenkirchen, moved from Wattenscheid 09 to Schalke 04 in the 2003/2004 season. He scored two beautiful goals from distance in his first Bundesliga match against BVB, making headlines in many newspapers – most notably in the Bild newspaper. Nicknamed “Tiptop”, he scored 14 goals and provided 13 assists in 160 competitive games for Schalke 04 and was part of the squad that won the League Cup in 2006. Hamit Altıntop moved to FC Bayern Munich in the 2007/2008 season.

The first Turk to be called up to the senior team from the youth team

Volkan Ünlü, who had been promoted directly from Schalke 04’s youth team to the senior team in the 2003/2004 season, became the second Turkish goalkeeper to play in the Bundesliga after Özcan Arkoç, who had guarded the Hamburg goal from 1967 to 1974. After a total of 4 Bundesliga games for Schalke 04, Ünlü moved to Beşiktaş.

in 2005.

Torschützenkönig von Schalke 04

Halil Altıntop, also born in Gelsenkirchen, moved to Schalke 04 from 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the 2006/2007 season. Halil also managed to score a goal in his first Bundesliga game for Schalke 04, like his brother Hamit. Halil Altıntop, who scored 22 goals and provided eleven assists in 129 competitive matches in a Schalke 04 shirt, moved to Eintracht Frankfurt during the winter break of the 2009/2010 season.

He was to become Lincoln’s heir

Gelsenkirchen-born Mesut Özil, who joined the professional team in the 2006/2007 season, played his first game in the Bundesliga as a replacement for Hamit Altıntop. Özil ended up upset that he was not given enough time to develop and that, furthermore, the promises made to him were not kept and he was deprived of the number 10 jersey after Lincoln left the team, so Özil was dropped from the squad after further problems he had with manager Andreas Müller. Özil played his last game for Schalke 04 on 12 January 2008 in Antalya against Werder Bremen and then moved to Werder. He finished his Schalke 04 career with 39 competitive appearances, one goal and 5 assists.

He came from youth to the senior team

Gelsenkirchen-born Kaan Ayhan was called up to Schalke 04’s senior team for the 2013/2014 season, where he began his career in 1999. Kaan Ayhan, who finished his Schalke 04 career with 39 caps, one goal and two assists, is currently playing for Italian side Sassuolo.

Like Mesut, he also opted for the German national team

Suat Serdar, who joined Schalke 04 from Mainz 05 in the 2018/2019 season with a transfer fee of €11 million, was the Turkish player for whom Schalke 04 paid the highest transfer fee in a transfer. He finished his career with Schalke 04 with 83 games, 11 goals and 6 assists. Serdar currently plays for Hertha Berlin.

Certificate of graduation received

Gelsenkirchen-born Ahmed Kutucu signed a professional contract with Schalke 04 in the 2018/2019 season, from whose youth team he came. To highlight the importance the club places on the education of its young players, the club shared the news of Kutucu obtaining his high school diploma on its social media accounts. He finished his career at Schalke 04 with 52 competitive games, 6 goals and 4 assists respectively, and currently plays for Başakşehir Istanbul.

The highest transfer fee paid by Schalke 04

Ozan Kabak, who joined Schalke 04 in 2018/2019 for a transfer fee of €15 million, was poached from VfB Stuttgart, as was Ilyas Tüfekçi. With 42 competitive appearances in a Schalke 04 shirt so far, 3 goals and one assist, Kabak is still under contract with Schalke 04.

You have been loaned out to Istanbul

Levent Mercan, who signed a professional contract in the 2019/2020 season, has played 7 competitive matches for Schalke 04 so far, scoring one goal. Teammate Can Bozdoğan, who also signed a professional contract in the 2019/2020 season, played 18 competitive matches and provided two assists. Both footballers, who are still under contract with Schalke 04, spent last season on loan at Istanbul sides Karagümrük and Beşiktaş. Kerim Çalhanoğlu, a cousin of Mehmet Aydın and Hakan Çalhanoğlu, is another footballer currently under contract with Schalke 04.