Hamit Altintop

Hamit Altıntop (born 8 December 1982 in Gelsenkirchen, West Germany) is a German-born Turkey national association football. Hamit Altintop is a versatile midfielder and can play either in a defending or attacking role. Hamit Altintop is well known for Hamit Altintop flair of long-shot ability, as shown when Hamit Altintop played for FC Schalke 04 and so far with FC Bayern Munich.

Hamit Altintop is the identical twin brother of footballer Halil Altıntop, who was born 10 minutes after Hamit.

Schalke

Altıntop started Hamit Altintop professional career in local German club SG Wattenscheid 09 in 2000 along with Hamit Altintop brother. As successful performances grabbed the attention of bigger clubs, Hamit Altintop was transferred to FC Schalke 04 in 2003, where Hamit Altintop played in a primarily defensive midfield role. In the 2006–07 summer transfer window, Schalke signed Hamit Altintop brother Halil from 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Schalke came second in the Fußball-Bundesliga, only pipped by VfB Stuttgart by two points.

Bayern Munich

Hamit joined FC Bayern Munich for the Fußball-Bundesliga 2007–08 on a free transfer from FC Schalke 04. Hamit Altintop scored Hamit Altintop first goal in Hamit Altintop first game for Bayern when they faced the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champions São Paulo Futebol Clube. Munich went on winning the game 2-1 after Hamit Altintop spectacular free-kick. Remaining as one of Munich's starters, Hamit Altintop scored another left-foot goal out of 30 meters distance against SV Werder Bremen in the Liga-Pokal. Munich completed the match with a 4-1 victory.

Altıntop also scored against Aberdeen F.C. in the first leg of their tie in the UEFA Cup competition on 14 February 2008. The initial penalty kick was saved by Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield, however Altıntop was quick to score the rebound. The match finished 2-2.

Honours

- Schalke 04
- - Liga-Pokal: 2006
- - Fußball-Bundesliga Runner-up: 2007
- FC Bayern Munich
- - Liga-Pokal: 2007
- - Fußball-Bundesliga Champions: 2008
- - DFB-Pokal: 2008
- Turkey national football team
- - Carlsberg UEFA EURO 2008 Man of the Match Award (vs Croatia)
- - UEFA EURO 2008 EURO 2008 Awards

International career

Goals for Turkey

Euro 2008

Hamit played in all five of Turkey's matches. Hamit Altintop assisted all three goals in the comeback against the Czech Republic national football team and in the quarter finals against Croatia national football team Hamit Altintop had another solid game and scored the third penalty to make it 3:1 in the shoot out. After goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber saved the next Croatian penalty, Turkey advanced to the semi-finals against Germany national football team. Turkish coach Fatih Terim used Hamit Altintop as a right defender in the first two games of the tournament, a move that was heavily criticized by the media, since Hamit is a midfielder for Hamit Altintop club Bayern Munich. After the match against Switzerland national football team, Terim switched Hamit Altintop to midfield for the remainder of the tournament, which boosted both Turkey's and Hamit Altintop own performance. Hamit Altintop bold playing style and decisive passes made Hamit Altintop a dominant player in the Turkish midfield. Hamit Altintop was awarded with the Carlsberg Man of the Match award following the quarter final match against Croatia.

At the conclusion of the tournament, Altıntop was universally acknowledged to be one of the tournament's stars, and was included in UEFA's official 23-man "UEFA Euro 2008 Awards". Hamit Altintop is the first (and only) Turkish player to appear in the list.