Kennedy Bakircioglu

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Kennedy Bakircioglu
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Bakircioglu in 2013
Personal information
Full name Kennedy Bakircioglu
Date of birth (1980-11-02) 2 November 1980 (age 43)
Place of birth Södertälje, Sweden
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Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Hammarby
Number 10
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1998 Assyriska 34 (10)
1999–2003 Hammarby 127 (38)
2003–2005 Iraklis 24 (4)
2005–2007 Twente 66 (23)
2007–2010 Ajax 35 (6)
2010–2012 Racing Santander 39 (6)
2012– Hammarby 82 (33)
International career
1999–2001 Sweden U21 14 (1)
2001–2008 Sweden 14 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 September 2015

Kennedy Bakircioglu (Turkish: Bakırcıoğlu; Turkish pronunciation: [baˈkirt͡ʃoːɫʊ];[1]born 2 November 1980) is a Swedish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Hammarby.

He spent most of his career with Hammarby, first joining in 1999 then returning for a second spell in 2012. He also competed professionally in Greece, the Netherlands (with both Twente and Ajax) and Spain.

Bakircioglu was a Swedish international for seven years.

Early life

Bakircioglu's family is ethnic Assyrian, followers of the Syriac Orthodox Church.[2] The family arrived in Sweden in 1972 from Midyat, Turkey.

Born in Södertälje, Bakircioglu was named after United States president John F. Kennedy.[3] His father, Benjamin, was one of the first to play for newly founded Assyriska Föreningen, a club established by the Assyrian diaspora.[4]

Club career

Sweden/Greece

Bakircioglu started off his professional career with Assyriska in 1996, playing three seasons with the team. During this timeframe, he had a trial with Manchester United, but did not do enough to secure a contract with the English club.[5]

In the summer of 1999, Bakircioglu joined Hammarby IF, and remained there for the next five years. In 2001, he scored eight goals in 26 games to lead the team to its first Allsvenskan championship and, four years later, was voted the club's fourth greatest player of all time in an online poll held on its website.

In January 2004, Bakircioglu moved abroad to play in Greece for Iraklis Thessaloniki FC, being sparingly used in his only full campaign in the Super League.

Netherlands

File:Kennedy.JPG
Bakircioglu playing for Ajax.

Bakircioglu moved teams and countries again in the 2005 off-season, signing with FC Twente in the Netherlands and impressing manager Fred Rutten straight away to become a first-team regular. In 2006–07, he scored a career-best 15 goals in the Eredivisie as the Enschede side finished fourth and qualified to the UEFA Cup. His efforts did not go unnoticed and, on 5 May 2007, newspaper De Telegraaf announced that the player had reached an agreement with fellow league side AFC Ajax.[6] He was officially signed ten days later, and scored on his official debut, an 8–1 away routing of De Graafschap.[7][8]

In August 2008, new Ajax manager Marco van Basten deemed Bakircioglu surplus to requirements,[9] but the player decided to stay,[10] being restricted to only 17 league games in two seasons combined. He did score, however, a crucial club for the Amsterdam team, in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, in a 1–0 away win against ACF Fiorentina in the round-of-32 (2–1 aggregate success).[11][12]

Spain

Bakircioglu left Ajax in June 2010, signing for Spain's Racing de Santander early in the following month.[13][14] He started in all but two games he appeared in his first season, as the Cantabrians retained their La Liga status; three of his league goals came in the last month of competition, against RCD Mallorca (2–0 home win),[15] Atlético Madrid (2–1, home)[16] and Athletic Bilbao (1–2 home loss).[17]

Bakircioglu spent the vast majority of 2011–12 nursing an achilles tendon injury,[18] and Racing would also return to Segunda División after one full decade.

Back in Sweden

At the end of August 2012, Bakircioglu returned to Hammarby as the club was now in the Superettan.[19] In 2014, whilst also acting as team captain, he led all scorers with 17 goals and contributed with seven assists, helping to a return to the top flight.[20]

International career

Bakircioglu gained 14 caps for Sweden, after appearing in as many games for the under-21s. His debut came in 2001 whilst at Hammarby, but he never appeared in a major international tournament.

Club statistics

As of 27 September 2015[21][22]
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Assyriska 1996 1 0
1997 8 1
1998 25 9
Total 34 10
Hammarby 1999 25 2
2000 26 5
2001 26 8
2002 25 11
2003 25 12
Total 127 38
Iraklis 2003–04 7 2
2004–05 17 2
Total 24 4
Twente 2005–06 32 8
2006–07 34 15
Total 66 23
Ajax 2007–08 18 3
2008–09 8 1
2009–10 9 2
Total 35 6
Racing Santander 2010–11 32 6
2011–12 7 0
Total 39 6
Hammarby 2012 9 5
2013 23 7
2014 28 17
2015 22 4 4 1
Total 82 33
Career total 407 119

Honours

Club

Hammarby
Ajax

Individual

References

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  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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