Salih Özcan

Salih Özcan
Özcan with Borussia Dortmund in 2023
Personal information
Date of birth (1998-01-11) 11 January 1998[1]
Place of birth Cologne, Germany
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
Borussia Dortmund
Number 6
Youth career
–2007 SC West Köln
2007–2016 1. FC Köln
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2019 1. FC Köln II 22 (4)
2016–2022 1. FC Köln 110 (3)
2019–2020 → Holstein Kiel (loan) 28 (5)
2022– Borussia Dortmund 59 (0)
2024–2025 → VfL Wolfsburg (loan) 11 (0)
International career‡
2012–2013 Germany U15 7 (0)
2013–2014 Germany U16 6 (2)
2014–2015 Germany U17 16 (0)
2016 Germany U18 1 (0)
2016–2017 Germany U19 8 (1)
2017 Germany U20 1 (0)
2019–2021 Germany U21 15 (1)
2022– Turkey 23 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Germany
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Winner 2021 Hungary and Slovenia
UEFA European Under-17 Championship
Runner-up 2015 Bulgaria
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 11 May 2025
‡ National team caps and goals as of 23:21, 23 March 2025 (UTC)

Salih Özcan (born 11 January 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. Born in Germany, he plays for the Turkey national team.[2]

Club career

Born in Germany, Özcan is of Turkish descent as he was born into a Turkish family. Özcan spent the majority of his youth career in 1. FC Köln's youth system. He first featured in 1. FC Köln's first team in September 2016 in a match against Schalke 04.[3] During the 2017–18 season he consistently started in central midfield. He scored his first league goal on 2 September 2018 in a match against FC St. Pauli.[4]

In 2017, Özcan was awarded the golden Fritz Walter Medal for the best U19 player in Germany.[5]

On 23 August 2019, Özcan joined Holstein Kiel on loan until the end of 2019–20 season.[6]

On 29 June 2021, in spite of speculations about a possible transfer, the club announced that Özcan had signed a new two-year contract with Köln.[7]

On 23 May 2022, it was reported that Özcan would join Borussia Dortmund for the 2022–23 season and that he would sign a contract with the club until 2026. The German sports magazine kicker estimated the transfer fee to be €5 million.[8]

On 28 August 2024, Özcan moved on loan to VfL Wolfsburg.[9]

International career

Özcan was eligible for both the Turkish and German national teams,[10] and played for Germany's youth teams.[11] He played his last game for Germany U21 on 6 June 2021, starting in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship final.[12]

On 25 March 2022, Özcan was called up to the Turkey national team by head coach Stefan Kuntz.[13] He debuted in a friendly 3–2 loss to Italy on 29 March 2022.[14]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 18 August 2025[15]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League DFB-Pokal Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1. FC Köln II 2015–16 Regionalliga West 16 3 — — — 16 3
2016–17 Regionalliga West 2 0 — — — 2 0
2017–18 Regionalliga West 2 0 — — — 2 0
2019–20 Regionalliga West 2 1 — — — 2 1
Total 22 4 — — — 22 4
1. FC Köln 2016–17 Bundesliga 13 0 2 0 — — 15 0
2017–18 Bundesliga 23 0 2 0 5[a] 0 — 30 0
2018–19 2. Bundesliga 15 1 2 0 — — 17 1
2020–21 Bundesliga 28 0 3 1 — 1[b] 0 32 1
2021–22 Bundesliga 31 2 3 0 — — 34 2
Total 110 3 12 1 5 0 1 0 128 4
Holstein Kiel (loan) 2019–20 2. Bundesliga 28 5 1 0 — — 29 5
Borussia Dortmund 2022–23 Bundesliga 26 0 3 0 7[c] 0 — 36 0
2023–24 Bundesliga 23 0 2 0 9[c] 0 — 35 0
2024–25 Bundesliga 11 0 — 3[c] 0 — 14 0
2025–26 Bundesliga 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 0
Total 59 0 6 0 19 0 — 85 0
VfL Wolfsburg (loan) 2024–25 Bundesliga 11 0 1 0 — — 12 0
Career total 231 12 20 1 24 0 1 0 276 13
  1. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  2. ^ Appearance in Bundesliga relegation play-offs
  3. ^ a b c Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International

As of match played 23 March 2025[16]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Turkey 2022 7 0
2023 9 0
2024 6 0
2025 1 0
Total 23 0

Honours

Borussia Dortmund

1. FC Köln

Germany U21

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b "Salih Özcan | Playerprofile | Bundesliga". bundesliga.com. DFL. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  2. ^ Salih Özcan at WorldFootball.net
  3. ^ "Drei Punkte auf Schalke". 1.FC Köln (in German). Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  4. ^ "St. Pauli verliert Torspektakel gegen Köln". NDR.de (in German). Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Auszeichnung vor Länderspiel FC-Talent: Öczan mit Fritz-Walter-Medaille ausgezeichnet". Kölner Stadtanzeiger (in German). 5 September 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Die KSV verpflichtet Özcan vom 1. FC Köln" (in German). Holstein Kiel. 23 August 2019. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  7. ^ "FC verlängert mit Salih Özcan". 1. FC Köln (in German). Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Vierter BVB-Neuzugang perfekt: Özcan kommt vom 1. FC Köln". kicker (in German).
  9. ^ "Leihe vom BVB" [Loan from BVB] (in German). VfL Wolfsburg. 28 August 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  10. ^ "1. FC Köln: Mergim Mavraj und Salih Özcan sprechen über ihre Freundschaft | Express.de". Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Salih Özcan – Spielerprofil". DFB Datencenter.
  12. ^ "Germany U21 1-0 Portugal U21 (Jun 6, 2021) Game Analysis". ESPN. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  13. ^ "Salih Özcan aday kadroya dâhil edildi". Turkish Football Federation (in Turkish).
  14. ^ "Turkey vs. Italy – 29 March 2022 – Soccerway".
  15. ^ Salih Özcan at Soccerway
  16. ^ Salih Özcan at National-Football-Teams.com
  17. ^ McNulty, Phil (1 June 2024). "Real Madrid 2–0 Borussia Dortmund". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  18. ^ "Sechs Klubs vertreten: Die kicker-Elf der Saison 2021/22". Kicker (in German). 26 May 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.