Alper Potuk (born 8 April 1991) is a Turkish footballer who plays as a midfielder or winger of Macedonian First Football League club Gostivar.[2]

Alper Potuk
Personal information
Full name Alper Potuk[1]
Date of birth (1991-04-08) 8 April 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth Bolvadin, Turkey
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder / Winger
Team information
Current team
Gostivar
Number 26
Youth career
2002–2005 Çifteler
2005–2009 Eskişehirspor
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2013 Eskişehirspor 106 (5)
2013–2020 Fenerbahçe 152 (12)
2020–2021 Ankaragücü 24 (2)
2021–2023 Çaykur Rizespor 52 (1)
2023– Gostivar 29 (10)
International career
2010 Turkey U19 4 (1)
2010 Turkey U20 1 (0)
2010–2012 Turkey U21 11 (1)
2012 Turkey A2 2 (0)
2012–2018 Turkey 17 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 26 August 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23 March 2018

Early life

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Potuk was born in Bolvadin, Afyonkarahisar Province, on 8 April 1991. He began playing football with friends in the street, receiving a strong backing from his family, especially his father and brother; his brother would give him a ride to watch Afyonkarahisarspor training sessions. Potuk's family relocated to Eskişehir because of his father's job.

Career

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Eskişehirspor

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Çiftelerspor signed the youngster in 2002, and he competed in their youth teams for three years. In a match against Eskişehirspor, Potuk scored his team's lone goal in a 1–4 loss, impressing the Eskişehirspor coaches. Potuk started his career in the city of Eskişehir, joining Çiftelerspor in 2002, before moving on to Eskişehirspor in 2005. He made his professional debut on 29 May 2009 against Gaziantepspor. In the second qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League, he scored the first goal in a 2–0 win against Scottish Premier League side St Johnstone.

Fenerbahçe

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On 22 May 2013, Alper completed a move to Fenerbahçe in five-year contract.[3] The transfer involved Henri Bienvenu moving in the opposite direction, to Eskişehirspor, while Fenerbahçe also paid €6.25 million. According to the reports, a journalist interviewed with Alper in National Team Camp and He talked about his transfer rumor. He promised to Fenerbahçe for transfer. "Before the negotiate contract Fenerbahçe's Boss Aziz Yıldırım called me and they wanted to see me at Fenerbahçe. Also they will transfer great names and Fenerbahçe's squad will be more greater" said Alper. In addition to his conversation he said he is a fan of Fenerbahçe and if Fenerbahçe's managers will deal with Eskişehirspor, he will sign to Fenerbahçe. Then transfer completed after that. He said "I promised only Fenerbahçe. So I dealt with Fenerbahçe 15 days ago."[4] On 31 August 2013, he scored his debut goal for the club in a Süper Lig match against Sivasspor.[5]

International career

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Potuk represented his country's U19, U20, and U21 teams. He played his first match for Turkey in a friendly game against Slovakia at Bursa Atatürk Stadium on 29 February 2012. He subsequently represented Turkey in 2014 World Cup qualifying, playing his first qualifier against Andorra on 22 March 2013.[6]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of match played 21 April 2024
Club Season League Turkish Cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Eskişehirspor 2008–09 Süper Lig 1 0 0 0 1 0
2009–10 16 0 3 0 19 0
2010–11 24 0 1 0 25 0
2011–12 35 2 3 0 38 2
2012–13 30 3 9 0 4[a] 1 43 4
Total 106 5 16 0 4 1 126 6
Fenerbahçe 2013–14 Süper Lig 28 1 1 0 4[b] 0 1[c] 0 34 1
2014–15 30 3 5 0 1[c] 0 36 3
2015–16 27 4 7 0 11[d] 1 45 5
2016–17 29 1 5 0 9[a] 0 43 1
2017–18 25 3 5 3 4[a] 0 34 6
2018–19 8 0 0 0 6[e] 1 14 1
2019–20 5 0 3 0 8 0
Total 152 12 26 3 34 2 2 0 214 17
Ankaragücü 2020–21 Süper Lig 24 2 1 0 25 2
Çaykur Rizespor 2021–22 Süper Lig 22 0 1 0 23 0
2022–23 TFF First League 30 1 1 0 31 1
Total 52 1 2 0 54 1
KF Gostivar 2023–24 Macedonian First League 25 7 0 0 25 7
Career total 359 27 45 3 38 3 2 0 444 33
  1. ^ a b c Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  2. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  3. ^ a b Appearance in Turkish Super Cup
  4. ^ One appearance in UEFA Champions League, ten appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
  5. ^ Two appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, four appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

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As of match played 28 March 2018
Turkey
Year Apps Goals
2012 2 0
2013 6 0
2014 4 1
2015 2 0
2016 2 0
2017 0 0
2018 1 0
Total 17 1

Scores and results table. Turkey's goal tally first:

International goals
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 21 May 2014 Olympic Stadium Adem Jashari, Mitrovica, Kosovo   Kosovo 6–1 6–1 Friendly

Honours

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Fenerbahçe

References

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  1. ^ "Alper Potuk". Turkish Football Federation. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Alper Potuk'un yeni adresi Gostivar" (in Turkish). fotospor.com. 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  3. ^ "ALPER İMZAYI ATTI!" (in Turkish). ntvspor.net. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  4. ^ "Tek sözüm Yıldırım'a" (in Turkish). haberturk.com. 28 May 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  5. ^ "Fenerbahçe 5–0 Sivasspor" (in Turkish). fenerbahce.org. 31 August 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  6. ^ "Andorra 0–2 Turkey". fifa.com. 22 March 2013. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
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  NODES
INTERN 6
Note 1