Levent "Lev" Yalcin (Turkish: Yalçın; born 25 March 1985) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or striker. Born in England, he is a former youth international for Turkey.
Yalcin agreed to sign his first professional contract with York in March 2004, for the 2004–05 season.[8]
He attracted interest from abroad, training with Antalyaspor and Denizlespor for a period in 2004, and Royal Antwerp were also believed to be ready to give him a trial.[9] He was reported to have joined Darlington on a one-month loan in September 2004,[10] but it was later revealed that the deal, which saw David McGurk join York on loan, was only one way and Yalcin had not moved.[11] He went on to score his first goal for York against Morecambe in October 2004.[12] He had a trial at Yeovil Town in January 2005.[13] He signed a new contract with York in June 2005.[14]
Yalcin had moved to Northern League Division Two club Stokesley Sports Club by late 2007.[22] In the 2009–10 season he scored 28 goals from 38 matches for Stokesley, helping them to promotion to Northern League Division One for the first time in their history[23] as Division Two champions.[24] During his time at Stokesley he worked on oil rigs in the North Sea.[7] He signed for Northern League Division One club Spennymoor Town on 5 June 2011[25] but having not been involved in any fixtures signed for their divisional rivals Norton & Stockton Ancients on 15 September 2011.[26] Yalcin signed for another Northern League Division One club, Marske United, on 23 October 2012,[27] making his debut as a substitute at Bishop Auckland on 17 November.[28] He scored with a powerful low shot in their 2–1 extra time win over Whitley Bay in the 2014 Northern League Challenge Cup final, played at St James' Park on 6 May 2014.[29]
International career
Yalcin was eligible to represent Turkey at international level as his father is Turkish.[2] He made his debut for the Turkey national under-18 team when starting their 0–0 away draw with the Netherlands in a friendly on 6 March 2002.[30] He scored his first goal for them in his following appearance, a 1–1 draw away to Germany in a friendly on 2 April 2002.[30] Yalcin made three appearances at the 2002 Balkan Youth Championship, scoring in Turkey's 1–1 draw with Bulgaria on 7 July 2002 and their 2–0 win over Greece on 9 July.[30] Shortly after the tournament he scored on his debut for the under-19 team, in their 3–1 home victory over Israel on 29 July 2002.[30] In total Yalcin earned nine caps and scored four goals for the under-18s (in 2002) and earned three caps and scored one goal for the under-19s (from 2002 to 2004).[30]
Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition