Tolga Seyhan

Tolga Seyhan
Personal information
Full name Tolga Seyhan
Date of birth (1977-01-17) 17 January 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth Giresun, Turkey
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Central defender, Right back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1996 Düzcespor 36 (5)
1996–2002 Çanakkale Dardanelspor 116 (4)
2002–2004 Malatyaspor 67 (11)
2004–2005 Trabzonspor 41 (1)
2005–2008 Shakhtar Donetsk 15 (0)
2006–2007 → Galatasaray (loan) 4 (0)
2007–2008 → Trabzonspor (loan) 12 (0)
2008–2009 Kocaelispor 10 (1)
2009 Hacettepespor 9 (1)
2009–2010 Gaziantepspor 17 (0)
2010–2011 Giresunspor 7 (0)
International career‡
2004–2006 Turkey 18 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20 July 2011
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:09, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Tolga Seyhan (born January 17, 1977) is a Turkish former footballer.[1] He was born in Giresun, a city on the Black Sea.

Club career

Tolga started out his career as a striker at Giresun Şafakspor. He continued at this position for a number of years and at several clubs including Sivasspor, Düzcespor and Çanakkale Dardanelspor. It was here that he was originally moved to defence, and he took it in his stride as he made the position of central defence his own.

He soon joined Malatyaspor and was extremely impressive as Malatyaspor defied expectations to remain in the Turkish Süper Lig in their first season in the top flight, in the 2001/2002 season.[2] The next season was even more impressive as a late season run enabled Malatyaspor to claim a UEFA Cup place for the next season. By this point, Tolga had made his first appearances for the Turkey national team and was being courted by many clubs, but remained with Malatyaspor for the beginning of the next season.

When the Malatyaspor manager Ziya Doğan left to join Trabzonspor in January 2004 he took Tolga with him. Tolga has since developed into one of the best defenders in Turkish football.

Eighteen months later, Tolga was bought by the Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk.

Tolga is a powerful big defender who uses his frame to stifle opponents in the air and on the ground. He is very quick for his size and despite playing in defence still impresses with the number of goals he scores, obviously due to his experience in playing for many years as a striker. Tolga obtained Ukrainian championship and is thinking about a comeback to Trabzonspor.

In July 2006, Galatasaray had made an agreement with Tolga to play for them, on loan for one season.

In July 2010, he returned to where he was born, Giresun, for a one-year contract with Giresunspor, playing in Turkish 1st division "Bank Asya League". Giresunspor's board decided to give him the captain armband.

Honours

Club

Trabzonspor

References

  1. ^ "TOLGA SEYHAN". TFF. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  2. ^ "Stats Centre: Tolga Seyhan Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 15 June 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  3. ^ "Fortis Türkiye Kupası (Profesyonel Takım)(Final)". tff.org. Retrieved 9 May 2022.