Coşkun Demirbakan

Coşkun Demirbakan — Biography

Coşkun Demirbakan is a former Turkish international defender, nicknamed "İmparator" (the Emperor), who went on to spend about 25 years as a manager. He won the league title with Fenerbahçe in 1977-78, and as a manager led Diyarbakırspor to the 1. Lig title in 2008-09 and was named manager of the year. In 2024 he took over at Sakaryaspor.

He started out in Istanbul at the amateur club Çamlıca Spor, came through the Fenerbahçe youth side and was taken into the squad by the then manager Didi; he played his first official match in 1972-73 against Giresunspor. At 19 he moved to Malatyaspor and later played for Eskişehirspor, Fenerbahçe and Sakaryaspor. With Fenerbahçe he won the TSYD Cup in 1978 and the Turkish Cup in 1978-79 as well as the league, and with Sakaryaspor he won the 2. Lig in 1980-81. He played twice for the Turkish national team, the first time in a 1-1 Balkan Cup draw with Romania on 22 March 1978. An injury ended his career in 1985 without a testimonial match.

He began coaching at Akyazıspor and went on to manage many sides, among them Alanyaspor, Erzurumspor, Malatyaspor, Eskişehirspor, Antalyaspor and Kahramanmaraşspor. In the 1. Lig he reached the play-off final with Diyarbakırspor (1999-00) and with Sakaryaspor (2000-01). Later he worked at Altay, Tavşanlı Linyitspor, Diyarbakır Büyükşehir Belediyespor and, in 2019, Eskişehirspor. In May 2024 he was brought in at Sakaryaspor after Tuncay Şanlı left, took the team to the play-off final again and departed after the final.