Erhan Önal
Personal information
Date of birth (1957-09-03)3 September 1957
Place of birth İzmir, Turkey
Date of death 16 March 2021(2021-03-16) (aged 63)[1]
Position(s) Centre-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1975–1976 Bayern Munich II
1976–1977 Bayern Munich 18 (1)
1978–1983 Standard Liège 62 (7)
1981–1982 → Fenerbahçe (loan) 7 (0)
1983–1985 Türkgücü München
1985–1992 Galatasaray 185 (12)
Total 272+ (20+)
International career
1979–1987 Turkey 12 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Erhan Önal (3 September 1957 – 16 March 2021) was a Turkish footballer who played as a centre-back.

Career

Born in İzmir, Önal played for FC Bayern Munich II, FC Bayern Munich, Standard Liège, Fenerbahçe, Türkgücü München and Galatasaray.[2][3]

Önal was the first Turkish immigrant in Germany to play in the Bundesliga.[4]

In 2015, he stated that the mentality when he went on loan to Fenerbahçe was "'Erhan came, he should play, the team should come and sleep".[3] Onal also said that the money he brought was a problem for everybody else and that the facilities were much worse than in Germany.[3]

While playing for Standard Liège, Önal received an offer from Bayer Leverkusen. However, the transfer never happened because Liège kept its transfer fee too high. In response to this, he left for amateur club Türkgücü München, causing some people to assume he had retired.[3]

Despite playing for the Turkey national team, he considered himself to be Bavarian and spoke better German than Turkish.[5]

His daughter Bige Önal is an actress.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Turkish Football Federation official newsletter (in Turkish) Retrieved 17 March 2021
  2. ↑ "Erhan Önal". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 İlk gurbetçi futbolcularımız fourfourtwo.com.tr (Archived)
  4. ↑ Das erste türkische Migrantenkind in der Bundesliga: Erhan Önal soccer-warriors.de (Archived)
  5. ↑ Ein Türke mit bayerischem Dialekt: Torjäger Önal abendblatt.de
  6. ↑ "Bige Önal kimdir? Bige Önal hayatı ve biyografisi!". haberler.com. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
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