Nadir Çiftçi (born 12 February 1992) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a forward for TFF Second League club Karaman FK.
In a nomadic career he has played for Portsmouth, Kayserispor, NAC Breda, Dundee United, Celtic, Eskişehirspor, Pogoń Szczecin, Plymouth Argyle, Motherwell, Gençlerbirliği, Çaykur Rizespor, Samsunspor, Ankaragücü and St Johnstone.
Çiftçi moved from Dutch side ADO Den Haag to Portsmouth at the start of the 2007–08 Premier League season when he was just 15 years of age for a fee of around £80,000.
After an impressive pre-season tour of the United States, he made his first-team debut on 7 August 2010 as a substitute in a 2–0 defeat against Coventry City.
[7] Following the arrival of Liam Lawrence, Çiftçi's playing time became more limited, but manager Steve Cotterill was reluctant to send him out on loan due to the club's lack of squad depth.
On 5 October 2013, Çiftçi scored a twenty-yard volley low and hard without the ball hitting the ground, which proved to be the winner against Kilmarnock.
[9][25] However, Dundee United were beaten 2–0 by St Johnstone in the final on 17 May 2014, although Çiftçi came close to scoring early in the second half when he hit the post from a free kick.
[30] During his time with Dundee United, Çiftçi garnered a reputation for indiscipline; aside from his red cards against Inverness and Hamilton Accies, he was also accused of kicking Celtic's Scott Brown on the head during a bad tempered Scottish Cup tie in March 2015[31] and then at the end of the season he was cited for "excessive misconduct" after being accused of biting Dundee's Jim McAlister on the leg in May 2015.
[34] On 7 July 2015 Dundee United confirmed that they had accepted £1.5 million bid from Celtic and had allowed the player to speak to the Glasgow club regarding a transfer.
[37] He made his debut the day after signing, coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against Real Sociedad and providing the assist for Gary Mackay-Steven's goal in a 1–0 win.
[38] Çiftçi started each of Celtic's first four Champions League qualifier games, but failed to score so was dropped to the bench for the first leg of the play-off round against Malmö.
[40] Çiftçi was chosen by manager Ronny Deila to start in the Scottish Premiership match against St Johnstone on 13 December 2015, in place of the injured Leigh Griffiths.
[42] The loan deal was confirmed by Deila the following day during a press conference, with the Celtic manager stating that "Nadir was very keen to get out and play consistently" and adding "He's a young player and we felt it was a good idea and he will be back again in the summer.
[48] In the start of June 2017, Ciftci suffered an ankle injury and was sent back home to Celtic, having failed to net a single goal in eight appearances.
[56] Çiftçi made his competitive debut for Gençlerbirliği on their opening league fixture of the season on 12 August 2018, coming on as a substitute on 81 minutes in a 1–0 win over Hatayspor.
[57] After just a month long stint at Çaykur Rizespor, Çiftçi signed a two-year deal with the TFF First League club Samsunspor.
[citation needed] On 5 January 2022, Çiftçi returned to Scotland after signing with Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone until the end of the season.