Borussia Dortmund bid adieu to Salih Ozcan in their final home game of the 2025-26 Bundesliga season on 9 May, when he was honored among other departees before the kick-off.
Head coach Niko Kovac subbed him into the clash during the closing stages as Ozcan played the final 12 minutes of his career at Dortmund before watching the final game from the bench.
A defensive midfielder by trade, Ozcan made only 11 appearances for the club in the league and most of them were off the bench too.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Dortmund won't be extending his contract beyond the summer as Ozcan will be available for free in the market after 30 June 2026.
World Cup call-up with Turkey
His lack of gametime didn't appear to deter his World Cup hopes yet, as Turkey national team coach Vincenzo Montella has named Ozcan in his preliminary squad.
The departing Dortmund player is among the seven midfielders listed in the temporary team although it will be interesting to see if he makes the final cut too.
The Crescent Stars are going to make their first appearance in the competition since 2002 and will be aiming to make a big impression upon their World Cup return after 24 years.
Ranked 22nd in the world, Turkey have been drawn alongside Australia, Paraguay and co-hosts USA in a seemingly doable Group D and Montella won't be taking any chances with his selection.
Ozcan was a part of their matchday squad for all six games, but made only four appearances and started just once. But in that one start, the midfielder was on target too.
He struck the second goal of their 2-2 draw with Spain, demonstrating his value to the squad if given appropriate gametime.
Then in March, Ozcan was once again called up for their friendlies to Romania and Kosovo, but was an unused substitute in the first before getting seven minutes in their second game.
International career stats
Salih Ozcan was eligible to play for both Turkey and Germany, for whom he played in the youth sides too and even started in the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final.
But just a few months later, he was called up to Turkey's national team by Stefan Kuntz and officially made his debut on March 2022 against Italy.
Ozcan was later summoned for their Euro 2024 campaign too and played in all but one game as the side achieved a respectable quarter-final finish.
He's made a total of 28 appearances for Turkey so far.
Add us as a preferred source on Google