Özat obliged to call it a day

Former Turkish international Ümit Özat has been forced to call time on his career at the age of 32, the 1. FC Köln captain unable to continue playing competitive football due to complications arising from a heart problem.

Family pride
While he has fully recovered from the original setback, scars have developed which could possibly lead to an abnormal heartbeat in the future. "Cologne is the city I love, the team I love," explained the defender, who represented his country 41 times. "It made me and my family very proud that I became the first Turkish captain in the Bundesliga. My football career is now over; this is sad, of course, especially at my young age, but I will continue to work in football somewhere." Özat contested 35 league matches for Köln after joining from Fenerbahçe SK in 2007 but had not played since 29 August. He spent six years at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium following an earlier stint with Gençlerbirliği SK and a brief loan spell with Bursaspor.