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Hakan Yakin
Hakan Yakin - Gare de Berne le 16-11-2006 (cropped).jpg
Yakin in 2006
Personal information
Full name Hakan Yakin
Date of birth (1977-02-22) 22 February 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth Basel, Switzerland
Height 1.80 m
Playing position Second striker
Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1984–1994 Concordia Basel
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1995 Concordia Basel
1995–1997 Basel 67 (14)
1997–1998 Grasshoppers 11 (1)
1998–1999 → St. Gallen (loan) 35 (8)
1999–2001 Grasshoppers 54 (22)
2001–2003 Basel 67 (30)
2003 Paris Saint-Germain 0 (0)
2004 Basel 6 (3)
2004–2005 VfB Stuttgart 9 (0)
2004–2005 → Galatasaray (loan) 2 (0)
2005–2008 Young Boys 84 (40)
2008–2009 Al-Gharafa 15 (5)
2009–2011 Luzern 79 (26)
2012–2013 Bellinzona 32 (13)
Total 455 (162)
National team
2000–2011 Switzerland 87 (20)
Teams managed
2014–2015 Zug 94
2016 Gallen (U18)
2016 Gallen (U21)
2017 Schaffhausen (assistant)
2017 Grasshoppers (assistant)
2019–2022 Schaffhausen (assistant)
2021 Schaffhausen (caretaker)
2022–2023 Schaffhausen
2023–2024 İstanbulspor
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Hakan Yakin (Turkish: Hakan Yakın; born 22 February 1977) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who last coached İstanbulspor in Turkey. Having spent the majority of his playing career as a forward or attacking midfielder, Yakin spent most of his playing career in the domestic league with brief forays into other leagues. He represented Switzerland national team for eleven years, garnering 87 caps and scoring 20 goals.

Early and personal life

Hakan Yakin was born on 22 February 1977 in Basel, Switzerland, to Turkish parents. He grew up and went to school in suburban Münchenstein, Basel-Landschaft, just outside Basel, and close to the borders of France and Germany. He is the younger brother of international football player Murat Yakin, also a former member of the Switzerland national team, who currently works as a manager. His elder half-brother Ertan Irizik is also a former football professional. Yakin's surname is based on the Turkish word Yakın (meaning close, adjacent), however as he is a Swiss resident and citizen, the name which he uses is Yakin.

Club career

As a child, Yakin played in the youth teams of his local side Concordia Basel. He signed his first professional contract with hometown club Basel in January 1995. He played his League debut for Basel on 12 April 1995 in the 1994–95 season in the match against Lausanne. He was brought on in the 60th minute as replacement for Alexandre Rey and with his first touch of the ball, just 18 seconds later, he scored the goal to make it 3–0, a header (final score 5–0).

After two and a half years in Basel, he transferred to Grasshoppers, with manager Christian Gross, but could not establish himself, making most of his appearances as substitute, and he was loaned to St. Gallen for the second half of the 1997–98 season. He moved immediately into the starting eleven and so the loan was prolonged, before he returned to the Grasshoppers.

During January 2001, he transferred back to Basel. At the end of the 2001–02 season Yakin won the national Double with Basel and a year later won the Swiss Cup again. He recalls the 2002–03 Champions League Group B match on 12 November 2002 against Liverpool in St. Jakob-Park as the "match of his life". The game was drawn 3–3 and Yakin gave all three assists as Basel cruised to a 3–0 half-time lead as they qualified, one point above Liverpool, for the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League second group stage.

Curiosity during the championship play-off round of their 2002–03 season was, that in the home match in the St. Jakob-Park on 19 April 2003, Yakin had a good game and scored a perfect hat-trick during the first half of the game as Basel won 3–0 against Young Boys. Yakin showed his other side in the return match in the Stadion Neufeld in Bern one week later. As YB went a goal up he lost his temper and kicked the ball away, thus collecting a yellow card. Just ten minutes later he committed a rough foul and collecting a second yellow, thus yellow/red, to be sent-off.

Yakinhäberli
Yakin celebrating a goal for Young Boys in 2008 with Thomas Häberli

His career was then overshadowed by some trouble regarding his club transfers, as his engagements outside Switzerland (Paris Saint-Germain, VfB Stuttgart, and Galatasaray) were not accompanied by luck. In 2005–06, Yakin returned to Switzerland, joining BSC Young Boys. In July 2008, Yakin signed a contract with Qatar champions Al-Gharafa, for a salary of around €2.5 million per year.

In March 2009, it was reported that Yakin had been training with the Grasshoppers Under-21 side, coached by his brother Murat, in a bid to get fit. Yakin then signed a contract on 25 June 2009 in his homeland Switzerland with FC Luzern, running through to 30 June 2011. In summer 2011 his brother Murat became his manager at FC Luzern.

During the mid-season break in January 2012 Yakin transferred to Bellinzona in the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. He played his team debut on 26 February in the 2–0 home win against Stade Nyonnais. He scored his first two goals for the club in the 3–2 away win against Aarau on 9 April 2012.

International career

Yakin061115
Yakin in Bern, Switzerland, in 2006

Yakin was capped 87 times for Switzerland, the first coming in 2000. He was offered Turkish nationality before being called up to the Swiss squad, but turned it down for personal reasons. He has played in UEFA Euro 2004, UEFA Euro 2008 and both the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup with his country.

On 11 June 2008, he scored the opening goal in the 32nd minute of Switzerland's second Euro 2008 Group A match against Turkey, giving them a 1–0 lead and he refused to celebrate after the goal, out of respect for his family's birth country. However, he missed another chance shortly afterward as Turkey scored two second-half goals, resulting in Switzerland's becoming the first team to be mathematically eliminated from their own tournament within five days of its beginning. However, in Switzerland's final group match against Portugal on 15 June, Yakin added two second-half goals, the second a penalty kick, to secure their first ever win at the UEFA European Championship, 2–0. Yakin finished the tournament as joint-second highest goalscorer with Lukas Podolski, Roman Pavlyuchenko, and Semih Şentürk with three goals each, behind David Villa's four goals.

Under new national team coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Yakin participated in seven of Switzerland's ten qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, starting twice and making five substitute appearances, scoring one goal in Switzerland's opening qualifier against Israel. He announced his retirement from the Switzerland national team on 4 October 2011.

Coaching career

He was hired as an assistant coach to his brother Murat at Schaffhausen in 2019. After Murat was hired as the manager of the Switzerland national football team in August 2021, Hakan served as a caretaker manager for Schaffhausen for 3 games. He returned to being assistant coach for the remainder of the season under Martin Andermatt. Together, they coached Schaffhausen to a second place finish in the 2021–22 Swiss Challenge League, but missed out on promotion in the promotion playoff.

On 4 June 2022, he was confirmed as the new head coach at Schaffhausen, as Andermatt's contract was not renewed. This appointment is contingent on Yakin entering the course to receive his UEFA Pro Licence. As a result, he was briefly removed from the sidelines, but was later confirmed as head coach on 5 September 2022. On 20 May 2023, he departed Schaffhausen, following a 2–0 loss to Aarau. Due to middling results in his first season as head coach, the club had decided not to renew his contract for the coming season. For personal reasons, Yakin stepped down from his post for the last two games of the season.

Career statistics

Club

Club performance League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Switzerland League Schweizer Cup Continental Total
1994–95 Basel Super League 9 5 - - - - 9 5
1995–96 34 6 - - 4 1 38 7
1996–97 24 3 - - 2 2 26 5
1997–98 Grasshopper Super League 11 1 - - - - 11 1
St. Gallen Super League 14 1 - - - - 14 1
1998–99 21 7 - - 1 0 22 7
Grasshopper Super League 6 2 - - - - 6 2
1999–00 29 10 - - 4 2 33 12
2000–01 19 10 - - - - 19 10
Basel Super League 11 4 - - - - 11 4
2001–02 27 13 - - 7 3 34 16
2002–03 29 13 2 1 16 3 47 17
2003–04 6 3 1 0 4 1 11 4
Germany League DFB-Pokal Continental Total
2003–04 VfB Stuttgart Bundesliga 8 0 - - - - 8 0
2004–05 1 0 2 0 - - 3 0
Turkey League Turkish Cup Continental Total
2004–05 Galatasaray Super League 2 0 - - - - 2 0
Switzerland League Schweizer Cup Continental Total
2005–06 Young Boys Super League 21 6 2 0 2 1 25 7
2006–07 31 10 4 1 2 1 37 12
2007–08 32 24 4 0 3 0 39 24
Qatar League Cup Continental Total
2008–09 Al-Gharafa Sports Club Qatar Stars League 15 5 - - - - 15 5
Switzerland League Schweizer Cup Continental Total
2009–10 FC Luzern Super League 29 10 4 2 - - 33 12
2010–11 32 12 3 0 2 0 37 12
2011–12 18 4 2 1 - - 20 5
2011–12 AC Bellinzona Challenge League 14 6 - - - - 14 6
2012–13 18 7 - - - - 18 7
Total Switzerland 429 157 21 5 47 14 497 176
Germany 9 0 2 0 - - 11 0
Turkey 2 0 - - - - 2 0
Qatar 15 5 - - - - 15 5
Career total 455 162 23 5 47 14 525 181

International goals

Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 19 February 2000 Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat  Oman 4–1 4–1 Friendly
2. 26 April 2000 Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern  Germany 1–0 1–1 Friendly
3. 16 August 2000 Espenmoos, St. Gallen  Greece 2–2 2–2 Friendly
4. 15 August 2001 Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna  Austria 2–1 2–1 Friendly
5. 1 September 2001 St. Jakob-Park, Basel  Yugoslavia 1–0 1–2 2002 World Cup qualifier
6. 12 February 2002 Makario Stadium, Nicosia  Cyprus 1–1 1–1 Friendly
7. 13 February 2002 Tsirion Stadium, Limassol  Hungary 2–0 2–1 Friendly
8. 21 August 2002 St. Jakob-Park, Basel  Austria 1–1 3–2 Friendly
9. 8 September 2002 St. Jakob-Park, Basel  Georgia 2–1 4–1 Euro 2004 qualifier
10. 16 October 2002 Lansdowne Road, Dublin  Republic of Ireland 1–0 2–1 Euro 2004 qualifier
11. 12 February 2003 Nova Gorica Sports Park, Nova Gorica  Slovenia 1–0 5–1 Friendly
12. 11 October 2003 St. Jakob-Park, Basel  Republic of Ireland 1–0 2–0 Euro 2004 qualifier
13. 28 April 2004 Stade de Genève, Geneva  Slovenia 2–1 2–1 Friendly
14. 8 September 2004 St. Jakob-Park, Basel  Republic of Ireland 1–1 1–1 2006 World Cup qualifier
15. 13 October 2007 Letzigrund, Zurich  Austria 2–1 3–1 Friendly
16. 11 June 2008 St. Jakob-Park, Basel  Turkey 1–0 1–2 Euro 2008
17. 15 June 2008 St. Jakob-Park, Basel  Portugal 1–0 2–0 Euro 2008
18. 2–0
19. 20 August 2008 Stade de Genève, Geneva  Cyprus 2–0 4–1 Friendly
20. 6 September 2008 Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan  Israel 1–0 2–2 2010 World Cup qualifier

Managerial

Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat. From To Record
G W D L Win %
Schaffhausen (Caretaker) Switzerland 12 August 2021 31 August 2021 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&03.&&&&&03 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&02.&&&&&02 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&01.&&&&&01 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&00.&&&&&00 &&&&&&&&&&&&&066.67000066.67
Schaffhausen Switzerland 4 September 2022 20 May 2023 &&&&&&&&&&&&&029.&&&&&029 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&09.&&&&&09 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&06.&&&&&06 &&&&&&&&&&&&&014.&&&&&014 &&&&&&&&&&&&&031.&3000031.03
İstanbulspor Turkey 16 October 2023 present &&&&&&&&&&&&&013.&&&&&013 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&02.&&&&&02 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&02.&&&&&02 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&09.&&&&&09 &&&&&&&&&&&&&015.38000015.38
Total &&&&&&&&&&&&&045.&&&&&045 &&&&&&&&&&&&&013.&&&&&013 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&09.&&&&&09 &&&&&&&&&&&&&023.&&&&&023 &&&&&&&&&&&&&028.89000028.89

Honours

Club

Grasshoppers

Basel

Galatasaray

  • Turkish Cup: 2004–05

Young Boys

  • Uhrencup: 2007

Individual

  • Axpo Swiss Super League Player of the Year: 2003, 2008
  • Swiss Super League top scorer: 2007–08 (24 goals)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Hakan Yakın para niños

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