Atilla Birlik

Atilla Birlik — Biography

Atilla Birlik (born 27 November 1977 in Ludwigshafen, West Germany) is a German-born Turkish former professional footballer who played as a forward, standing 1.75 m tall.

Birlik began playing in the youth system of SV Waldhof Mannheim, started out in the reserve side, was promoted to the first team in 1996 and spent three seasons there. Ahead of the 1999-2000 season he was signed by Beşiktaş under coach Karl-Heinz Feldkamp, but made only six scoreless appearances that single season before being sold to Antalyaspor. At Antalyaspor he scored 16 goals in his first season and 9 in his second; after the club was relegated he returned to Germany and joined Greuther Fürth.

A season later he transferred to Süper Lig side Malatyaspor, scoring 12 goals in his first season and 4 in the first half of his second. He then moved to Gençlerbirliği, but was sold to Diyarbakırspor at the end of that season and transferred to Sivasspor mid-season. After that spell ended he returned to his former club Malatyaspor, by then relegated to the 1. Lig, scoring 8 and then 3 goals over two seasons. His final stop was second-tier side Tokatspor, where injuries limited him to just 10 appearances before he retired. In the UEFA Cup he had faced Werder Bremen with Antalyaspor in 2000 and FC Basel with Malatyaspor in 2003. After retiring he founded his own football academy.