Ramazan Özcan


Ramazan Özcan is an Austrian professional footballer of Turkish descent, who currently plays as a goalkeeper for Bayer Leverkusen.

Career

Club

Özcan started his professional career with Austria Lustenau in 2003, and moved to Red Bull Salzburg in the summer of 2006. He spent one season and a half with Salzburg as the club's third-choice goalkeeper and only made three Bundesliga appearances in the final stages of the 2006–07 season.
He moved to German 2. Bundesliga side 1899 Hoffenheim in the winter break of the 2007–08 season on an initial six-month loan and played all seventeen league games in the second half of the season as the club secured promotion to the Bundesliga. In these seventeen games, he only conceded twenty goals. He was signed by the club on a fifty-year contract upon the end of the season, but on 30 December 2009 he left Germany to sign on loan for Beşiktaş.

International

Following Helge Payer's withdrawal due to illness, Özcan was named to Austria's 23-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals, but did not play any matches during the tournament. He made his international debut in a friendly match against Italy on 20 August 2008, replacing Alex Manninger at half-time. The match ended in a 2–2 draw.

Personal life

Özcan also holds Turkish citizenship.