Yaser Yıldız

Yaser Yıldız — Biography

Yaser Yıldız is a Turkish footballer, born 1 June 1988 in Adapazarı, who stands 1.82 m tall and played mainly as a forward, occasionally on the wing. Influenced by his footballer father Dursun Ali Yıldız, he began playing young, spending a season at Harmanlıkspor before joining Sakaryaspor's youth setup, where he was called up to Turkey's under-16 national team. Spotted by Beşiktaş officials, he moved to that club's youth academy, but with little prospect of first-team football he was sent to Denizlispor in the middle of the 2004-05 season; at 16 he made 9 Süper Lig appearances there. After loan spells at Mersin İdman Yurdu and Uşakspor, he transferred to Kartalspor in 2006-07.

At the end of the 2007-08 season he signed a four-year contract with Galatasaray, where he saw little playing time and was at times left out of the squad; he is nonetheless remembered for scoring in a 2-1 UEFA Cup first-round win over Bellinzona and for winning the 2008 Turkish Super Cup. In September 2009 he was included in a swap deal that brought Ufuk from Manisaspor to Galatasaray, moving to Manisaspor himself. He signed a two-year contract with Boluspor in 2010-11 but left after disputes with the club's management, joining Adanaspor mid-season on a two-and-a-half-year deal. Later in his career he played for Vanspor, signed with Uşakspor in December 2019, and departed that club in July 2020. He was also capped for Turkey's under-16, under-17 and under-20 national teams.