Hüseyin Er

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]

Hüseyin Er

Personal information
Date of birth	(1985-01-14)14 January 1985
Place of birth	Göksun, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey
Date of death	16 May 2021(2021-05-16) (aged 36)
Place of death	London, United Kingdom
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1999–2003	Tottenham DFC
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	Tottenham DFC
	Arsenal DFC
	Kartal Municipality DFC
	St. John's DFC
	İzmirspor
International career
2006–2019	Turkey deaf	45	(7)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

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 goals

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