Nihat Kahveci (born 23 November 1979), better known mononymously as Nihat, is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a forward and right winger for Beşiktaş, Real Sociedad and Villarreal. He works as a football commentator for TRT. He has a UEFA Pro Licence.
Biography Like most Turkish players, his shirt carries his first name, Nihat, rather than his family name, Kahveci. He married Pınar Kaşgören on 5 July 2003. Their daughter Selin was born in May 2008.
Club career
Beşiktaş Nihat is a product of Beşiktaş's youth system and was discovered by Hürser Mustafa Cindir when Nihat played in Beşiktaş in the 1996–97 season. He joined the first team at Beşiktaş in the 1997–98 season when he was just 17, at the time John Toshack was the coach. Since then, Nihat became a key player.
Real Sociedad In January 2002, Nihat was transferred to Real Sociedad for €5 million by his former Beşiktaş coach Toshack. Nihat also joined his Turkish team-mate Tayfun Korkut in Spain.
He had his debut on January, 26 in a 3–1 loss against Celta de Vigo, coming on as a substitute in the 72nd minute for Xabi Alonso and played for 18 minutes.
His first goal came in a 2–2 draw against Rayo Vallecano on 24 February 2002. In the first half of the season, Nihat played 11 matches and scored one goal.
In 2002–03, his second season in Spain, Nihat scored a brace in the Basque derby, the opening match of the season, helping his team to win 4–2. He finished the season with 23 goals making him the league's joint-second highest scorer for the season behind Roy Makaay (29 goals) and tied with Ronaldo. That season, Real Sociedad finished second in the league that season, just two points behind Real Madrid, mostly thanks to a very fruitful strike partnership with Serbian forward Darko Kovačević, such that sports journalist Phil Ball nicknamed the pair "Little and Large", in reference to the height difference between the two (Nihat's height is 1.75 m and Kovačević's is 1.87 m). His consistent, good performances have led to interests from other clubs, to which Nihat turned a deaf ear.
In his third season at Real Sociedad, Nihat made 32 appearances scoring a total of 14 goals. Nihat also played in the UEFA Champions League with Real Sociedad as the club was paired with Juventus, Galatasaray and Olympiacos. La Real qualified to the knockout stage, but was eliminated by Olympique Lyonnais, losing 2–0 on aggregate. By the end of the season, Nihat won the Don Balón Award for Best Foreign Player.
In his fourth season, Nihat made 23 appearances and scored 13 goals. In the middle of the season, Nihat tore his ACL during a match against Sevilla which caused him to be out of action for six months.
In June 2005, reports claimed that Nihat was linked to Russian club CSKA Moscow for €20 million Euros but the move never materialized. Nihat insisted he had to concentrate on the club to prevent relegation: "I can't go now. I can't walk out on Real Sociedad, We are fighting to try and secure some tranquillity and I am one of those who thinks that the more strength there is in the team, the better. On Sunday we took a very important step in Santander, and now it is a question of continuing to take steps forward in the league.". Nihat was also linked with clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United.
In his fifth and last season at Real Sociedad, Nihat made his return from injury in a 3–0 loss in the Basque derby, against Athletic Bilbao. He went on to make 32 appearances and score seven goals. During that season, Nihat was about to sign for Russian club Spartak Moscow but had to stay for the remainder of the season due to Kovačević's injury.
Villarreal On 16 May 2006, Nihat agreed to join Villarreal CF, on a five-year contract, on a Bosman transfer after rejecting a new contract at Real Sociedad. He tore his ACL again on 22 November 2006 during a training ground collision with team-mate Javi Venta and was out for months. He seemed to catch up form in his second season with 18 goals in the league and four goals in the UEFA Cup, helping his club to finish the season as second in La Liga where he formed a formidable offensive pair with Robert Pires. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo named Nihat as the best player on the team. However, in the 2008–09 season, due to injuries again, Nihat made 19 appearances equalling 764 minutes of playing time but failed to score a single goal.
Return to Beşiktaş
On 27 June 2009, Nihat returned to the club where he started his career by signing for Beşiktaş J.K. on a four-year deal. Return to Turkish football wasn't very fruitful for Nihat. Over two seasons he managed 34 appearances in the league, netting only three goals. On 25 April 2011, in a match against Konyaspor which turned out to be his last game, Nihat and the new Beşiktaş favourite Ricardo Quaresma had quarrel on the pitch. Nihat was upset at Quaresma for failing to pass the ball and the altercation was broken up by teammates. On 18 May 2011, Beşiktaş terminated Nihat's contract despite two years left on his contract and he told Turkish media: "I don't want to play in Turkey anymore.".
Retirement Following his release by Beşiktaş, Nihat was linked with returning to Spanish clubs like his former club Real Sociedad and Castellón and as well as MLS side Los Angeles Galaxy.
After a six months without a club, on 12 January 2012; Nihat announced his retirement from football with immediate effect, saying: "I would like to share my decision to put an end to my professional career as a footballer,". After some days, Nihat told NTV Spor that his retirement was prompted by his age limiting his ability on the pitch and admitted that returning to Beşiktaş was a mistake and ill-judged, although stated there were some beautiful moments.
International career
2002 World Cup Nihat made his international debut against Sweden in October 2000. In Group C at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Nihat made his only appearance as a 79th-minute substitute for Yıldıray Baştürk against Costa Rica. His only other appearance was as a substitute in the 1–0 victory over Japan where he replaced, the goalscorer, Ümit Davala. Turkey went on to finish in third place with a 3–2 victory over Guus Hiddink's South Korea.
Euro 2008 In the final match of Euro 2008 Group A, Nihat scored twice in a pivotal match against the Czech Republic. Both teams were level on points, both having beaten Switzerland and lost to Portugal, with exactly the same number of goals scored and conceded, a win would guarantee a quarter-finals spot whilst a draw would mean penalty-shootouts would be required in the group stage. The Czechs took a 2–0 lead through a Jan Koller header and a Jaroslav Plašil goal and the score remained 2–0 until the 75th minute, when Arda Turan scored making it 2–1. Nihat's first goal came in the 87th minute; Hamit Altıntop's cross was dropped by Petr Čech allowing Nihat tap the ball into the net. He scored his second goal one minute later; a brilliant, curling strike from outside the box, helping Turkey win the match 3–2.
Nihat was ruled out of Turkey's semi-final with Germany due to a thigh injury, which ultimately required surgery and prevented him from playing for Villarreal in the early part of the 2008–09 season.
Coaching career On 6 July 2012, it was reported that Nihat has joined the coaching staff at his former club Villarreal as an assistant-manager of the youth team.
Career statistics
Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational cupEuropeOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsBeşiktaş1997–981.Lig1120000–1121998–991.Lig2870000112981999–20001.Lig3270000–3272000–011.Lig3252000–3452001–02Süper Lig1564122–219Total1142761221112331Real Sociedad2001–02La Liga11141––1522002–03La Liga352300––35232003–04La Liga32140080–40142004–05La Liga231300––23132005–06La Liga32700––327Total133584180–14559Villarreal2006–07La Liga902321–1342007–08La Liga34182063–42212008–09La Liga1900040–230Total621843124–7825Beşiktaş2009–10Süper Lig2333200102752010–11Süper Lig1102064–194Total343526410469Career total343106197281021382124
International Scores and results list Turkey goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nihat goal.
+ List of international goals scored by Nihat KahveciNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 6 October 2001 Stadionul Republican, Chişinău, Moldova 2–0 3–0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification2 21 August 2002 Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon, Turkey 3–0 3–0 Friendly3 12 October 2002 Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia 2–1 2–1 UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying4 7 June 2003 Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia 1–0 1–0 UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying5 11 June 2003 BJK İnönü Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey Macedonia 1–1 3–2 UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying6 20 August 2003 Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium, Ankara, Turkey 1–0 2–0 Friendly7 24 May 2004 Telstra Dome, Melbourne, Australia 1–0 1–0 Friendly8 9 October 2004 Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey 2–0 4–0 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification9 13 October 2004 Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark 1–1 1–1 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification10 26 May 2006 Ruhrstadion, Bochum, Germany 1–0 1–1 Friendly11 2 June 2006 Trendwork Arena, Sittard, Netherlands 2–1 3–2 Friendly12 6 September 2006 Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt, Germany 1–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying13 17 November 2007 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway 2–1 2–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying14 21 November 2007 Ali Sami Yen Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey 1–0 1–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying15 25 May 2008 Ruhrstadion, Bochum, Germany 2–1 2–3 Friendly16 15 June 2008 Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland 2–2 3–2 Euro 200817 3–218 22 May 2010 Red Bull Arena, New Jersey, United States 2–0 2–1 Friendly19 3 September 2010 Astana Arena, Astana, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 3–0 3–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
Honours Beşiktaş Turkish Cup: 1997–98, 2010–11 Turkish Super Cup: 1998
Turkey FIFA World Cup: third place: 2002 FIFA Confederations Cup: third place 2003 UEFA European Championship: semi-finals 2008
Individual Milliyet Sports Awards Footballer Of The Year: 2002 La Liga Best Foreign Player: 2002–03 Beşiktaş J.K. Squads of Century (Silver Team)
Order Turkish State Medal of Distinguished Service
References
External links