Foot Mercato: how did you make your first contact with Kasimpasa?
Hope Bozok : Kasimpasa, through its CEO Serkan Reçber, was one of the leaders who, at the start of the summer, was persevering and convincing in the idea of discovering the SuperLïg. He knew very well that for several seasons, I had refused different Turkish approaches because I was not particularly sensitive to them. But when you take a little height on your situation, that you go on a nightmarish extra-sporting year in Nîmes in L1 and that for a year and a half, you’ve been benching in Lorient, you tell yourself that it’s a magnificent chance to ” have the opportunity to discover and bounce back in a quality championship and show that you are still a football player. So finally, with my agent, we decide to accept the club’s invitation to come and visit the facilities.
FM: precisely, the infrastructures, what did you think of when you discovered them?
UB : one word is enough: exceptional. Kasimpasa’s infrastructure is fantastic. On our training center, there is absolutely everything to perform. It is very clearly a strength for the club because when you discover all the quality of the place, and you are not used to it, the charm already operates. And you also quickly understand why European clubs when they come for training, or have confrontations in Turkey ask to be able to train here. I am not sure that a single club in France has such infrastructure.
FM: you are Franco-Turkish, but you grew up in France. Was it hard to leave France?
UB : of course it is not easy because you are going to the concrete discovery of a country where all your roots come from, and so far, I have only spent a few weeks there in all my young life. It’s a novelty, even for a Franco-Turkish like me. But, Istanbul is a magnificent city, perhaps one of the most beautiful in the world and it is a real pleasure to immerse myself in this culture with which I grew up. I have integrated very well into the club, into the city and I am doing an Erasmus express year by working my Turkish.
FM: and in terms of sports nationality?
UB : You should know that at the time of Nîmes, in Ligue 2, the coach of the EdF wants me to be able to wear the blue jersey. But a few weeks earlier, I had been called up with the Turkish Hopes for the start of the Euro qualifiers. Quite honestly, I was happy to be called up with Turkey, but when the coach of the France Team asks you, it’s still and always a magnificent reward. You have to be right in your boots … I would have been very happy to also wear the EdF jersey, but we will not repeat history. Anyway, when 2 great footballing nations notice you, you can only be happy and proud. Now, there is no immediate choice to make because my priority is to perform with my club and obtain support as quickly as possible.
FM: you are decisive, it is true. Do you find the desire to play again?
UB : that’s exactly it, and the main reason I rushed to Kasimpasa. I became a football player again and I can practice my profession every weekend. When I come out of this terrible year in Nîmes in L1 where “little” people put you under the ban, and you continue by signing in Lorient, without having really had the opportunity to wear the jersey for a year and a half, you start to find the time long. Going to Troyes was a great experience even if my record remains starved, because you arrive during the season in a squad that purrs very well and the adaptation time must be lightning. By signing to Kasimpasa, the goal was to find playing time, fun, and the net. And when no label is attached to you, and you can chain matches, automatically, the sensations come back and even if everything is not perfect, already have several goals and assists (note: 8 goals / 3 passes) to half of the championship remains a satisfactory record.
Its future is not yet clear
FM: were you afraid of being labeled a Ligue 2 player?
UB : in football, you can’t control everything. People, human relations, behind the scenes and its nebulae, in short, there is something to eat and drink at all levels and we all know it, when we bathe in it. A player can only master certain parameters that are specific to him to be on the field on weekends: investment, work, thoroughness, state of mind and training. The rest is not up to you. So to go further, I would tell you that many have stuck an L2 label on me, even professionally speaking because some doors are closing, to be honest, I don’t care a bit. I know what I’m capable of, and if some people want to talk about level, I would like to rely more on confidence. When a coach gives you his confidence, you go into battle for him, you die on the pitch. When the spring is broken in either direction for x or y reasons, it quickly becomes complicated.
FM: precisely, you are only loaned by Lorient. Your route goes through Brittany next year?
UB : very sincerely, I have not the slightest idea and for the moment I am fully living this loan. I belong to FC Lorient until 2023 and I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I already left Lorient in January 2021, on loan at Troyes. But did I really land at FCL one day ?! The coach insisted on my coming in the summer of 2019, injuries followed, a few matches here and there, a goal for the rise in L1, the Covid, and the following summer, an XXL recruitment and a sporting choice not to have a chance. So, the future will tell if I return to Brittany, elsewhere or if the adventure continues here.
He created an Esport structure
FM: you were also known for playing FIFA and piano a lot, you have the impression that you have stopped everything …
UB : (laughs) … people who know me or follow me know that I play the piano. It’s in my upbringing and I love it. My passion for video games … I think it’s generational! We grew up with technological developments and the evolution of multimedia. I have a real appetite for it, and I played there a lot, especially in a period when I didn’t play a lot of football on weekends. But today, I really took it easy, because I don’t have much time. But I did not give up everything either, by creating with some friends, an E-sport structure (Athletec) which allows me to stay around video games and who knows, maybe our team will count in the game when my career is over.
FM: Can you tell us a little more about this project?
UB : it’s a project called Athletec which was created a year ago. It’s like a football club, it’s a structure with teams and we recruit players who play in certain games and who are competitive. This is how we participate in competitions on League of Legends, on FIFA. There are competitions on Rocket League. There are a lot of games we’re going to participate in. We also evolve on Fortnite, young gamers know it well. It’s something that takes time, but you meet beautiful people. Learning to manage a company is interesting for the post-career, it can always be useful and it’s something that I really like. Managing a company and being a coach are very closely related.
