Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈhaːkan ˈtʃaɫhanoːɫu], born 8 February 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Inter Milan.

In 2017, Çalhanoğlu signed for Milan for an initial €20 million fee, before joining city rivals Inter on a free transfer in the summer of 2021.

He signed a four-year deal to join Hamburger SV in the 2012 summer transfer window, being loaned back to Karlsruhe for another season.

[9] Hamburg were initially unwilling to sell Çalhanoğlu to other German teams, but their purchase of Pierre-Michel Lasogga from Hertha Berlin made such an exception no longer financially viable.

[10] On 4 July 2014, he left Hamburg for league rivals Bayer Leverkusen, signing a five-year contract[11] for a transfer fee of €14.5 million.

[13] The move was later criticised by Son Heung-min, as a response to Çalhanoğlu calling his former Leverkusen teammate's transfer to Tottenham Hotspur "badly advised".

[14] He made his debut for the club on 19 June, starting in a 3–2 away win at Copenhagen in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League qualification play-off.

[24] On 26 August, he opened a 3–0 win over Lazio as Bayer came back from a first-leg deficit to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League.

[25] In their first game of the group stage, Çalhanoğlu scored twice — including a penalty earned by a handball of his free kick — in a 4–1 home rout of BATE Borisov.

[26] He opened his 2016–17 goalscoring account on 14 September in the 2–2 home draw against CSKA Moscow in a Champions League group stage game — the 50th goal in his senior club career.

[30] He was assigned the club's prestigious number 10 jersey, previously owned by the likes of Gianni Rivera, Ruud Gullit, Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, Rui Costa, Clarence Seedorf and Keisuke Honda.

[31] He made his Rossoneri competitive debut a month later in the second leg of the Europa League third qualifying round, replacing Suso for the final 25 minutes of a 2–0 win (3–0 aggregate) over Universitatea Craiova at the San Siro.

[37] Çalhanoğlu scored and assisted a goal on his Inter Milan debut, a 4–0 win over Genoa on the opening day of the 2021–22 Serie A season.

[41] On 4 November 2023, he scored his tenth consecutive penalty in a 2–1 away victory over Atalanta, only fewer than Romelu Lukaku with 14; in addition, he managed to equal Sükrü Gülesin's record as the highest Turkish scorer in Serie A with 36 goals.

In their second group game on 28 June, Çalhanoğlu scored Turkey's equaliser in a 2–1 win over Australia at the Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium in his ancestral city.

[45] He made his senior international debut on 6 September 2013 in a World Cup qualifier in Kayseri, replacing Gökhan Töre for the last eight minutes of a 5–0 win against Andorra in Fatih Terim's first match back in charge.

[47] Çalhanoğlu was sharing a hotel room with national team defender Ömer Toprak in October 2013 after a World Cup qualifying defeat to the Netherlands, when Gökhan Töre and an unknown armed friend entered the room, and threatened both roommates at gunpoint, ostensibly due to Töre's ex-girlfriend dating a friend of Toprak.

The following month, with both players back to fitness and form, both were left out by Terim for a friendly against Brazil and a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Kazakhstan while Töre remained.

[60] Former England international Owen Hargreaves said on BT Sport in August 2015 that Çalhanoğlu's style of play would fit Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur.

However, his dribbling, technique, passing (both short and long), crossing, and vision, as well as his eye for goal and striking ability from distance, have been referred to as his strengths.

[83] The younger Çalhanoğlu was also formed at Waldhof Mannheim and Karlsruher SC, and went on to play in the lower divisions of Austrian and Turkish football.

[87][88][89] That same day, he stated his open support for the Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria with a post on Twitter, which drew criticism from numerous Italian football fans on social media.