Jimmy Durmaz


Jakup Jimmy Durmaz, formerly known as Jimmy Touma, is a Swedish footballer who plays as a winger for The Turkish club Galatasaray and the Swedish national team.
He began his career at BK Forward and moved in 2008 to Malmö FF, where he won the Allsvenskan title in 2010. He had two seasons each with Gençlerbirliği of Turkey and Olympiacos of Greece, winning two Superleague Greece titles and one Greek Cup.
Durmaz made his senior international debut for Sweden in 2011. He was part of their squads for UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Early life

Durmaz was born in Örebro, into an Aramean family of the Syriac Orthodox faith. His father Semun is an Aramean who migrated to Sweden from Midyat in southeastern Turkey, while his mother is an Aramean from Lebanon.

Club career

Malmö FF

Touma came to Malmö FF from BK Forward in July 2008. He made his Allsvenskan debut on 14 July 2008 against Hammarby IF. Prior to the 2009 season, he decided to switch his surname to Durmaz. His breakthrough came in the 2010 league winning season when he started in 15 games and played 27. Durmaz scored the opening goal against A.C. Milan in an exhibition game on 14 August 2011. Durmaz continued to the play regularly for the club during the 2011 season and finished the season with 27 league matches played and four goals scored.

Gençlerbirliği

In June 2012, Durmaz signed a three-year contract with Turkish club Gençlerbirliği S.K. During his time with the Ankara based side, Durmaz scored 11 times and provided six assists in 61 league appearances.

Olympiacos

After two seasons in Turkey, Durmaz signed for Greek Super League club Olympiacos Durmaz in August 2014. He scored his first goal for the club with a close-range effort against OFI Crete on 14 September. His first hat-trick came in an 8-0 win over Tyrnavos in a Greek Cup game on 29 January 2015.

Toulouse

Durmaz moved to Ligue 1 club Toulouse in August 2016, for a fee in the region of €2.5 million. On 26 August 2017, Durmaz scored two goals in Toulouse's 3–2 Ligue 1 home win over Stade Rennais to bring his 2017–18 Ligue 1 goal tally to three and improve on the two Ligue 1 goals he scored in the whole of the 2016–17 Ligue 1 season.

Galatasaray

On 2 July 2019, Durmaz joined reigning Süper Lig champions Galatasaray S.K. on a free transfer after his contract with Toulouse ran out. He signed on a three-year deal, earning 6 million Turkish lira for the first season, increasing by a million in each subsequent campaign.
Durmaz made his debut for the club in the Turkish Super Cup on 7 August 2019, playing 81 minutes in their 1–0 win over Akhisar.

International career

Durmaz made his debut for Sweden on 8 February 2011 in a friendly game against Cyprus. Durmaz was selected for the annual training camp for the Sweden national team in January 2012. The squad selection for the camp traditionally feature the best Swedish players in domestic and other Scandinavian leagues.
Durmaz represented Sweden at Euro 2016.
He was named in Sweden's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, but only made one appearance in the tournament, coming on as a substitute against Germany in the group stage. After conceding a last-minute free kick in the game, from which Toni Kroos scored to beat Sweden 2–1, Durmaz was subjected to racial abuse and threats of violence on social media. Expert analysis found that the most abusive posts were almost all bot generated, rather than from genuine users.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.23 January 2012Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar1–05–0Friendly
2.12 October 2014Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden2–02–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
3.9 June 2017Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden1–12–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

;Malmö
;Olympiacos
;Galatasaray