Hüseyin Er (14 January 1985 – 16 May 2021) was a deaf Turkish-born footballer who grew up and mostly lived in London. He was a member of the Turkey national deaf football team. ^{[1] [2]}

Private life

Er was born to Haydar and Çiçek in Göksun, Kahramanmaraş Province, southern Turkey in 1985. ^{[3] [4] [5]} He had eight siblings, of whom four are also deaf. ^{[4] [5] [6]} He had a twin brother, Hasan, who also became a football player. ^{[4] [6]} The family migrated to the United Kingdom when he was two years old. ^[6]

Club career

Er started playing football at a very young age. Memnos Costi, a deaf footballer and coach, who knew the twin brothers since their age of six, taught them to play football. At 14, the quick-learning boy became a member of Tottenham Deaf Football Club (DFC). ^{[5] [7]} He then played for Arsenal DFC, ^[7] and also for St John's DFC. ^[4] With St John's DFC, he won all of the domestic trophies. ^[8]

In 2012, Er transferred from the British Arsenal DFC to the 2011–12 Turkish league champion Kartal Municipality DFC in Istanbul, Turkey together with his brother Ali. ^[9] In the second half of the 2019–20 season, he transferred to İzmirspor in the Turkish Regional Amateur League. ^{[10] [11]}

International career

Er became a member of the Turkey deaf football team in 2006. ^[7]During his career, his national team took the runners-up position at the 2008 World Championships and EuroDeaf 2011, ^[6] and champion titles at the World Championships ( 2012, 2016), ^[12] 2017 Deaflympics, and European Championships ( 2015, ^{[6] [12]} 2019). ^{[4] [5] [13]} He was named Best Player of the 2008 World Championships. ^[6]

Er played at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics held in Samsun, Turkey. He scored one goal in the match against Italy, ^[2] and two goals against Saudi Arabia. ^{[12] [14]} At the EuroDeaf 2019 in Heraklion, Greece, he netted four goals in total. ^[15]

Er took part in the Group F of the qualification round for the EuroDeaf 2019 held in Wales. The opponents were Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, and Wales. ^[16]

International gaols

Year	Competition	Opponent	Result	Goals	Ref
Turkey national deaf football team
2017	Summer Deaflympics	Italy	W 4–0	1	[2]
		Saudi Arabia	W 3–1	2	[12] [14]
2019	EuroDeaf	Denmark	W 6–1	4	[15] [17]
		Ireland	W 6–0
		Hungary	W 8–0
		Greece	L 2–4
		England	W 2–0
		Russia	W 2–1

Death

Er died from a heart attack after a training session in London at the age of 36 on 16 May 2021. ^{[1] [5] [10] [18]} He was interred at Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield, London. ^{[13] [4]} His family later held a memorial and religious service at the London Alevi Cultural Centre and Cem-Evi. ^[4]

Honours

Individual

Best player (1): 2008 World

International

Turkey national deaf football team

Champions (4): 2012 World, EuroDeaf 2015, 2016 World, 2017 Deaflympics, EuroDeaf 2019

Runners-up (1): 2008 World, EuroDeaf 2011

References