Nihat Kahveci
Nihat Kahveci ( born November 23, 1979 in Istanbul ), usually just called Nihat, is a former Turkish football player.
- 2.1 As a national player
- 2.2 By its clubs
- 2.3 Individual Achievements / Honors
Career
In the club
He began his career at Besiktas Istanbul, where he played from 1997 to 2001.
In January 2002, he spent five million euro transfer fee to Real Sociedad. There he developed continued steadily, so that he became one of the best strikers in the Spanish league. He was in season 2002/ 03 second in the scoring charts with 23 goals ( as many as Ronaldo ) behind Roy Makaay (29 goals). He contributed significantly to the fact that Real Sociedad in the season 2002/ 03 achieved the runner-up.
On 19 February 2005, Nihat suffered a torn ACL, which is why he had to pause for half a year.
From 2006 Nihat played at Villarreal. On November 22, 2006, he withdrew again to a torn ACL and fell out for months. After his return, he became the highest-scoring player from the team of Villarreal.
In the 2007 /08 season, he finished with Villarreal in La Liga into second place behind Real Madrid and before the FC Barcelona, where he scored 18 goals for the " Submarinos " and thus ended up in fourth place of the top scorers. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo chose him as the best player of the team. The season 2008/ 09 was negative for him, he paused often because of injuries and remained scoreless over a year in the Champions League and in the league. Nihat completed 80 appearances for Villarreal before joining in July 2009 back to Turkey, to his home club Beşiktaş Istanbul for a transfer fee in the amount of 4.5 million euros. With immediate effect, he finished 15 January 2012 his career as a football player.
National
After numerous appearances for the Turkish U -21 National Team, Nihat Kahveci made his debut for the Turkish national team on 7 October 2000 at the qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup against Sweden ( Full 1:1). His first goal for the national team, he scored on 6 October 2001 in the qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup against Moldova, in which he contributed in 78 minutes the team to victory (final score 3-0).
He took the Turkish national football team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, part of the Confed - Cup 2003 and Euro 2008. In all three tournaments he reached each third place with her.
After his first cruciate ligament tear he made his comeback in the national team on 8 October 2005 in a friendly against Germany. Full of the game was 2-1 for Turkey. Even his comeback after his second torn ACL in the national team was successful. So he shot in the crucial qualifying matches for the 2008 European Football Championship in the away game against Norway ( 2-1 for Turkey) and on home soil against Bosnia- Herzegovina, each a goal.
In the group match at Euro 2008 he came against the Czech Republic after Arda scored the 1:2 goal back for the 2-2 in the 87th minute and then for the winning goal in the 89th minute. He allowed Turkey to qualify for the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 against Croatia. In the quarterfinals, Nihat injured and could not compete in the semi-final against Germany.
Achievements
As a national player
- Third parties with Turkey in the 2002 World Cup
- Third in Confederations Cup 2003
- Third parties with Turkey in the Euro 2008
With its clubs
- Turkish Cup winner: 1998 and 2011 ( with Beşiktaş Istanbul)
- Spanish runner-up: 2002 /03 ( with Real Sociedad ), 2007 /08 ( with Villarreal )
Individual Achievements / Honors
- Second in the scoring charts of La Liga in the 2002/03 season
- Best foreign player in La Liga 2003
- World Top Goalscorer 2008 according to FIFA