Jimmy Durmaz

Jakup Jimmy Durmaz (born 22 March 1989) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Swedish club Östertälje FC.

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 Super League Greece titles and one Greek Football Cup.

A full international between 2011 and 2019, Durmaz won 49 caps for Sweden and scored three times. He was part of their squads for UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Early life Durmaz was born in Örebro, Sweden, into an Assyrian family of the Syriac Orthodox faith. His father, Semun, is Turkish and his mother, Joula, They emigrated to Sweden from Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War. 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 as a domestic player in Turkey. 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 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 (both of them penalties) 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 on a free transfer after his contract with Toulouse ran out.

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.

Fatih Karagümrük On 2 October 2020, he loaned from Galatasaray to Fatih Karagümrük, one of the Super League teams. On 4 August 2021, he signed permanent contract with the team for following two seasons.

AIK On 12 January 2023, Durmaz signed a contract with AIK that will run until 31 December 2024.

Gençlerbirliği In January 2024, Durmaz returned to former club Gençlerbirliği on an eighteen-month contract.

Östertälje FC Despite having announced his retirement from football in February 2026, Durmaz signed for Division 6 side Östertälje FC in March 2026.

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.

Personal life His younger brother, Elias, is also a footballer. Both brothers are midfielders.

Career statistics Club

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 23 January 2012 Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar 1–0 5–0 Friendly 2 12 October 2014 Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden 2–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying 3 9 June 2017 Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden 1–1 2–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours Malmö Allsvenskan: 2010

Olympiacos