Hakan Yakin

Hakan Yakinimage:Hakan Yakin |Hakan Yakin is a Swiss football player who plays for Swiss Super League club FC Lucerne along with the Swiss national team. Born in Basel, Switzerland, he grew up in Munchenstein suburban which is close to the borders of Germany and France.

Yakin started playing football in a professional way with hometown club, FC Basel. Due to club transfers, his career got overshadowed as his time outside his hometown was not lucky enough for him. Some of the clubs he played for outside his hometown includes Calatasaray, Paris Saint-German and VfB Stuttgart. In 2005-06, he returned to Switzerland and joined BSC Young boys. By 2008, he signed a contract with Al-Gharafa, the Qatar champions for 2.5 million euros per year.

To stay fit he began training with the Grasshopper-Club Zurich under 21 which was coached by his brother, Murat in 2009. Later on, Yakin signed a contract in 2009 in the month of June in Switzerland with FC Lucerne, which is on contract basis ending till 30 June 2011.

Hakan made 74 appearances for Switzerland, with his first cap being in 2000. He was offered Turkish nationality prior to being called up to the Swiss squad. However, due to personal reasons, it turned down. In 2008, he scored the opening goal in the second Euro match in the 32nd minutes of the game against Turkey. In the final group match against Portugal, he added two second half goals. Under Ottmar Hitzfeld, the new national team coach, Yakin participated in 7 of Switzerland’s ten qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup in 2010.

=== Career Highlights ===

Hakan played in UEFA Euro in 2004, 2008 and in FIFA World Cup in 2006 and in 2010 with his country.