Gekdeniz Karadeniz is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a winger and an attacking midfielder in the Russian club Rubin Kazan. In the period from 1997 to 2008 he played in the Turkish “Trabzonspor”, and from 2003 to 2008 - as part of the Turkish national football team.
The growth of a football player is - 168 centimeters, weight - 68 kilograms. He is a two-time winner of the Türkiye Kupası Cup, a two-time champion of the Russian Championship, and the holder of the Cup and Super Cup of Russia. As part of the Turkish national team, he became the bronze medalist of the IFA Confederations Cup in 2003 and the bronze medalist of the European Championship in 2008.
Soccer player biography
Gekdeniz Karadeniz was born on January 11, 1980 in the city of Giresun, Turkey. From early childhood he began to get involved in football and play in sections. He began playing in the system of youth clubs since 1994. Until 1995, he played in the youth club “Yonyolspor”, and from 1995 to 1997 - in “Trabzonspor”.
Professional career at Trabzonspor
He made his debut in the “burgundy blue” in the 1999/2000 season, in which he played more than 10 matches. Initially, the footballer was used for defensive purposes, but over time, he gradually gained new roles in the attacking plan. In the 2003/2004 season, Gekdeniz Karadenich was already a full-fledged attacking midfielder. Thanks to clear actions in the attack, leading to the desired result, in 2004 Gekdeniz was appointed team captain. Here he also built an attacking duet with Fatih Tekke, with whom they were the first goalies in the club.
In total, Gekdeniz Karadeniz played 245 matches with Trabzonspor and scored 64 goals. Two Turkish Cups were won here (in 2003 and 2004).
Career in Kazan “Ruby”
March 1, 2008 signed a five-year contract with the Russian club from the Premier League - Kazan “Rubin”. The amount of the transfer transaction amounted to 8.7 million euros. In an interview, Gekdeniz Karadeniz admitted that he was sad and hard to leave the Turkish club, and also said that if he chose a major club in Europe, his team would not have received a large sum for him. Together with the Rubies, he became the champion of the Russian Championship in 2008.
For the first time in his career, Rubin began to be used as a striker, but he still played most of the games as a midfielder.
He made his debut goal for the Rubies in 2011 as part of the 2nd round of the Premier League in the fight against Terek. In the eighth round he managed to become the author of a double into the gates of Krasnodar.
In February 2013, in 1/16 of the Europa League, he scored the first goal in the match against Atletico Madrid, subsequently the match ended in a 2-0 victory.
In total, there are 212 matches for the Kazan club, in which it scored 38 goals (at the time of October 2017). October 20, 2009 Karadeniz scored the winning goal against the Catalan “Barcelona” on the Camp Nou in the Champions League, shocking football fans on both sides.
National career
He made his debut for the national team on April 30, 2003 in the match against the Czech Republic. Previously played in the youth team from 2000 to 2001 (spent 16 matches and scored 1 goal).
From 2002 to 2003, he played twice as part of the Turkey B team.
He played 50 matches for the first national team, in which he scored 6 goals.
Gekdeniz Karadeniz: wife, children
He met his future wife back in school. His chosen one is called Sera, the couple has two children - son Demir and daughter Naz.
The footballer has been married for over 15 years.