Hakan Ünsal

Hakan Ünsal (born May 14, 1973 in Sinop) is a retired Turkish football player.

He played most of his career at Galatasaray after joining from Karabukspor in 1993/94. After being a part of the squad that won the UEFA Cup, Hakan moved to Blackburn Rovers of the English Premiership in January 2002. His return to Galatasaray was rapid as he was once again in Galatasaray colours for the 2002/03 season. After leaving Galatasaray following the 2004/05 season, he had a brief stint with Çaykur Rizespor before retiring from football.

He played for Turkey national football team and was a participant at the 2002 FIFA World Cup where he collected his third place medal.

He is most famous for an incident during the World Cup when Brazil played Turkey. Rivaldo was about to take a corner when Hakan Ünsal passed him back the ball, as Turkey wanted to hurry up the game. The ball hit Rivaldo softly on his legs but he collapsed dramatically holding his face and consequently Ünsal was sent off and Brazil went on to win the match. Rivaldo was fined, but the sanctions were criticised as too lenient.

Hakan currently works as a pundit for LigTV.