Nadir Çiftçi is a Turkish footballer who currently plays as a forward for Scottish
Premiership club Dundee United.
He has previously played professionally for Portsmouth in England, Kayserispor in Turkey
and NAC Breda in the Netherlands.
He has represented both the Netherlands under-17 and Turkey under-19 teams.
Club career Portsmouth
Çiftçi moved from Dutch side ADO Den Haag to Portsmouth at the start of the 2007–08
Premier League season when he was just 15 years of age for a fee of around £80,000.
He signed professional terms in June 2010.
After an impressive pre-season tour of the United States, he made his the first-team
debut on 7 August 2010 as a substitute in a 2–0 defeat against Coventry City.
On his first competitive start for Portsmouth, Çiftçi scored his first goal for the club
against Stevenage on 9 August 2010 in the first round of the League Cup.
This goal proved vital for Portsmouth as they won the match 2–1.
He scored the opener in Portsmouth's first home game against Reading in the 2010–11
Championship season, his second goal in three competitive games.
Following the arrival of Liam Lawrence, Çiftçi's playing time became more limited, but manager
Steve Cotterill was reluctant to send him out on loan due to the club's lack of squad
depth.
He finished the season making 22 appearances and scoring two goals in all competitions.
Kayserispor and NAC Breda On 14 May 2011, Çiftçi turned down the offer
of a new contract with Portsmouth and signed with Turkish club Kayserispor.
Because of his age, Portsmouth received £100,000 for the transfer.
His contract was mutual terminated in June 2012 before trialling at NAC Breda and former
club ADO Den Haag.
Following a trial, Çiftçi joined NAC Breda on a three-year contract.
After one season, Çiftçi would leave the club.
Dundee United On 2 July 2013, Çiftçi went on trial to
Scottish Premiership club Dundee United.
On 25 July, he joined United on a two-year contract.
Two days later, he scored for Dundee United with a stunning strike, in a 1–0 win against
Wigan Athletic in a pre-season friendly.
Çiftçi scored his first competitive goals for Dundee United on 28 August 2013 in their
3–2 win in the League Cup second round tie against Dumbarton; he came on as a second-half
substitute and quickly equalised before going on to score the winning goal in the dying
minutes of the game.
On 15 September 2013, Çiftçi scored his first league goal for Dundee United against
Ross County.
He followed this up seven days later with another goal, against Motherwell.
On 5 October 2013, Çiftçi scored a twenty-yard volley low and hard without the ball hitting
the ground, which proved to be the winner against Kilmarnock.
On 29 October 2013, Çiftçi was red-carded as Dundee United lost 2–1 against Inverness
Caledonian Thistle in the League Cup.
On 1 November 2013, with Dundee United having appealed against the ordering off, Çiftçi
was then accused of grabbing an assistant referee by the throat and grabbing the face
of an Inverness player during the same match.
On 7 November 2013, the SFA judiciary panel ruled that the charge of grabbing the opponent
was unproven and also reduced his red card to a yellow card.
On 3 December 2013, Çiftçi was given a two-match suspension by the SFA, with one of those matches
suspended until the end of the season.
This was after the initial charge of "seizing hold" of the assistant referee "by the throat"
was amended to "excessive misconduct at a match by placing an open hand into the lower
area of the assistant referee's throat".
On 12 April 2014, Çiftçi scored Dundee United's third goal in a 3–1 Scottish Cup semi-final
victory over Rangers.
International career Although Çiftçi has represented the Netherlands
at youth level, he has chosen to play for Turkey.
In November 2010, Turkey national team coach Guus Hiddink met Çiftçi to persuade him
to switch his national allegiance to Turkey, and subsequently received a call-up after
Çiftçi announced his desire to play for the country.
On 8 March 2011, Çiftçi made his debut for Turkey, but on U19 team, in the match against
Montenegro.
This game ended 3–0.
On 10 March 2011, Çiftçi made his first goal for U19, in the match against Montenegro.
This game ended 3–3.
On 2 July 2013, Pierre van Hooijdonk revealed that Çiftçi was about to make his senior
Turkey debut but his passport application fell through, causing him out to miss out
on a first international cap at senior level.
References
External links Nadir Çiftçi – UEFA competition record
Nadir Çiftçi career stats at Soccerbase