Club Career
As a child Yakin played in the youth teams of his local side FC Concordia Basel. He signed his first professional contract with hometown club FC Basel in January 1995. He played his League debut for Basel on 12 April 1995 in the 1994–95 season in the match against Lausanne Sports. He was brought on as substitute the 60th Minute as replacement for Alexandre Rey and with his first touch of the ball, just 18 seconds later, he scored the 3:0 with a header (end result 5:0).
After two and a half years in Basel he transferred to Grasshopper-Club Zürich, with manager Christian Gross, but could not set himself through, making most of his appearances as substitute. Therefore he was loaned to FC St. Gallen for the second half of the 1997-98 season. Yakin moved immediately into the starting eleven and therefore the loan was prolonged, before Yakin returned to the Grasshoppers.
During January 2001 he transferred back to Basel. At the end of the 2001–02 season Yakin won the national Double with Basel and a year later won the Swiss Cup again. He recalls the 2002–03 Champions League Group B match on 12 November 2002 against Liverpool in St. Jakob-Park as the "match of his life". The game was drawn 3:3 and Yakin gave all three assists as Basel cruised to a 3:0 half time lead as they qualified, one point above Liverpool, for the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League second group stage.
His career was then overshadowed by some trouble regarding his club transfers, as his engagements outside Switzerland (Paris Saint-Germain, VfB Stuttgart, and Galatasaray) were not accompanied by luck. In 2005–06, Yakin returned to Switzerland, joining BSC Young Boys. In July 2008, Yakin signed a contracted with Qatar champions Al-Gharafa, for a salary of around €2.5 million per year.
In March 2009, it was reported that Yakin has been training with the Grasshopper-Club Zürich U-21 side, coached by his brother Murat, in a bid to get fit. Yakin then signed a contract on 25 June 2009 in his homeland Switzerland with FC Luzern; the contract runs through to 30 June 2011. In Summer 2011 his brother Murat became his manager at FC Luzern.
During the mid-season break in January 2012 Yakin transferred to AC Bellinzona in the Challenge League, the 2nd tier of Swiss football. He played his team debut on 26 February in the 2:0 home win against Stade Nyonnais. He scored his first two goals for the club in the 3:2 away win against Aarau on 9 April 2012.
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