Volkan Demirel (born October 27, 1981 in Fatih-İstanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish footballer currently playing goalkeeper for Fenerbahçe. Volkan is 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) tall and weighs 92 kg (202 lb).

He started his career as a youth player at Kartalspor and played 51 matches for the club. He transferred to Fenerbahçe during the 2002-03 season, making his debut on April 26, 2003.

He made his debut on 26 April 2003 against Samsunspor for a league match. He also played 1 match for Fenerbahçe PAF.

Volkan had a solid contribution for his team to access the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League on 4 March 2008 with saving 3 penalties whilst the shoot-outs against Sevilla in last 16 round second match. Therefore, he was described as a hero by UEFA official website due to his commanding performance throughout the game despite he had an unfortunate starting up with conceding 2 goals in 9 minutes.

Personal

• His hobbies include swimming, driving, and travelling. He has a sport car collection.

Hamit Altıntop (born December 8, 1982 in Gelsenkirchen, West Germany) is a Turkish national footballer.

Hamit Altıntop is considered as one of the best players in Turkey and one of the best midfielders in the German Bundesliga. He is blessed with blistering pace and an eye for goal. He is known by his teammates for his powerful long range shots, which rarely miss the goal. Altintop is a versatile midfielder and can play either in a defending or attacking role. He is known to score often, as shown when he played for Schalke and so far with Bayern Munich. Aside from his striking abilities, he has spectacular tackling and defending abilities. It isn’t unusual to see Altintop run back to his goal line to help his fellow defenders of penetrating the ball from their opponents. He is also known to be a superb assister, usually creating accurate crosses.

He is the identical twin brother of footballer Halil Altıntop, who was born 10 minutes later than Hamit.

Schalke

Altıntop started his professional career in local German club Wattenscheid in 2000 along with his brother. As successful performances grabbed the attention of bigger clubs, he was transferred to Schalke 04 in 2003, where he played in a primarily defensive midfield role. In the 2006–2007 summer transfer window, Schalke signed his brother Halil from FC Kaiserslautern. Schalke came second in the Bundesliga, only pipped by VfB Stuttgart by 2 points.

Bayern Munich

Hamit joined Germany’s top-team Bayern Munich for the 2007–2008 season in a free transfer from FC Schalke 04. He scored his first goal in his first game for Munich, when they faced the Brazilian champions Sao Paulo FC. Munich went on winning the game 2-1 after his spectacular free-kick. Remaining as one of Munich’s starters, he scored another beautiful left-foot goal out of 30 meters distance against Werder Bremen in the Liga-Pokal. Munich completed the match with a 4-1 victory.

Altıntop also scored against Aberdeen F.C. in the first leg of their tie in the UEFA Cup competition on 14 February 2008. The initial penalty kick was saved by Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield, however Altintop was quick to score the rebound. The match finished 2-2.

Honours

• Bundesliga: 2008
  • Runner-up 2007
• German Super Cup: 2007
• German Cup: 2008
• German Champions: 2007/08

Mevlüt Erdinç (a.k.a. Mevlut Erding in France) (born 25 February 1987 in Saint-Claude) is a Turkish professional footballer, currently playing for French Ligue 1 side FC Sochaux. He plays as a striker.

Club career

FC Sochaux

Erding was promoted from Sochaux’s academy to the first-team squad in the 2005-06 Ligue 1 season, scoring a last-minute goal on his debut to gift his side a 1-0 victory away at AC Ajaccio. Despite early promise, it wasn’t until the 2007-08 season that he was finally able to hold down a first team place - becoming the club’s top-scorer with 11 goals in 28 appearances. His current contract with the French side lasts until June 2009.

International Career

He has dual-nationality and was thus eligible for both Turkish and French national teams, before gaining his first senior international cap for Turkey on 26 March 2008, in a 2-2 draw with Belarus.

On 10 May 2008, Fatih Terim announced Erdinç’s inclusion in Turkey’s 23-man squad for Euro 2008.

Honours

•  FC Sochaux
  • Coupe de France: 1 (2007)