Hamit Altıntop
Personal information
Full name	Hamit Altıntop
Date of birth	December 8, 1982 (1982-12-08) (age 25)
Place of birth	Gelsenkirchen, West Germany
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	FC Bayern Munich
Number	8
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000–2003 2003–2007 2007–	Wattenscheid 09 Schalke 04 Bayern Munich	075 (12) 113 0(8) 023 0(3)
National team2
2004–	Turkey	042 0(2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 22, 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of May 31, 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Hamit Altıntop (born December 8, 1982 in Gelsenkirchen, West Germany) is a German-Turks national footballer.

Hamit Altıntop is considered as one of the best players in Turkey and one of the best midfielders in the German Bundesliga. Altintop is a versatile midfielder and can play either in a defending or attacking role. He is known to score often, as shown when he played for Schalke and so far with Bayern Munich.

He is the identical twin brother of footballer Halil Altıntop, who was born 10 minutes later than Hamit.^[1]

Schalke

Altıntop started his professional career in local German club Wattenscheid in 2000 along with his brother. As successful performances grabbed the attention of bigger clubs, he was transferred to Schalke 04 in 2003, where he played in a primarily defensive midfield role. In the 2006–2007 summer transfer window, Schalke signed his brother Halil from FC Kaiserslautern. Schalke came second in the Bundesliga, only pipped by VfB Stuttgart by 2 points.

Bayern Munich

Hamit joined Germany's top-team Bayern Munich for the 2007–2008 season in a free transfer from FC Schalke 04. He scored his first goal in his first game for Munich, when they faced the Brazilian champions Sao Paulo FC. Munich went on winning the game 2-1 after his spectacular free-kick. Remaining as one of Munich's starters, he scored another left-foot goal out of 30 meters distance against 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 Altintop was quick to score the rebound. The match finished 2-2.

Honours

• Bundesliga: 2008
  • Runner-up 2007
• German Super Cup: 2007
• German Cup: 2008
• German Champions: 2007/08

Turkey Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	28 March 2007	Frankfurt, Germany	Norway	1-2	2-2	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
2.	28 March 2007	Frankfurt, Germany	Norway	2-2	2-2	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

References