Ismail Öztürk played in the youth academies of RWE, Schalke and MSV. But in the end, it wasn’t enough for the striker to turn professional.
Ismail Öztürk is now 30 years old and plays in the regional league at VfB Speldorf. The striker was once on his way to the top.
He was trained at the youth academies of Rot-Weiss Essen, FC Schalke 04 and MSV Duisburg. Wherever Öztürk played, he also scored goals.
In the U17 Bundesliga, he scored 17 times in 37 appearances for RWE, and in the U19 Bundesliga, he scored twelve goals in 42 appearances (22 for MSV and 20 games for Schalke, editor’s note). He played for the then MSV U23s in the Regionalliga and Oberliga – his tally: 80 matches, 31 goals!
And yet: Öztürk did not make more than one professional appearance for MSV in the Lower Rhine Cup under coach Gino Lettieri.
Instead of becoming a professional… Ismail Öztürk is a teacher of economics at a commercial vocational school in Moers
That was also the 2014/2015 season, after which my contract expired. When I heard from my advisor that MSV weren’t going to extend my contract, I was disappointed and moved to 1. FC Bocholt. But it was also clear to me then that I wasn’t going to turn professional.
Ismail Öztürk
“I probably should have invested a lot more in soccer. But I’ve always followed a dual path: I wanted to and did do my A-levels and study. On the other hand, there was my time in the NLZs. Maybe I didn’t devote enough time to sport after all,” says the VfB Speldorf attacker.
In the 2014/2015 season, his third senior year, the time had come: Öztürk had the feeling that he could make it to the top. “I was allowed to train up top a few times and also played in the Lower Rhine Cup against a Krefeld amateur team. Suddenly I was wearing my own jersey with my name on the back. That was really cool. Of course, I hoped it would continue like that,” he recalls, adding: “That was also the 2014/2015 season after my contract expired. When I heard from my advisor that MSV weren’t going to extend it, I was disappointed and moved to 1. FC Bocholt. But it was also clear to me then that I wasn’t going to turn professional.”
Öztürk also scored 30 times in 80 Oberliga games for Bocholt, plus ten assists. He can look back on a whopping 184 (64 goals, 17 assists) appearances in the fifth-tier Oberliga. “I’m not unhappy with that. Because now I’m a civil servant teacher and have a good life. And I still play soccer with a lot of heart and passion. But the greed is no longer the same as it used to be,” says Öztürk, giving an example: “When I didn’t get to play enough or at all in the NLZ, I was angry with the whole world and couldn’t sleep at night. Today, I’m very relaxed about it and respect the coach’s decision. “