Egemen Korkmaz

Egemen Korkmaz — Biography

Egemen Korkmaz is a Turkish centre-back who spent the last two decades of his playing career at Bursaspor, Trabzonspor, Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe, making a mark at all four. After leaving the pitch he moved into coaching and now works as head coach of the Turkey national under-21 team; he earlier served as Abdullah Avcı's assistant at Trabzonspor.

He began as an amateur at Balıkesirspor in 1999, turned professional with Kartalspor and moved on to Bursaspor. There he made 155 league appearances, captained the side and reached the 2005-06 First League title. At Trabzonspor, where he arrived in 2008, fans voted him player of the year; he became captain for 2009-10, scored a hat-trick against İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor on 14 September 2009 and won the Turkish Cup and the Super Cup with the club. Supporters called him "Gladiator" for his physical strength. At Beşiktaş in 2011-12 he played 50 matches in a single season before moving to Fenerbahçe, where he scored against Benfica in the 2013 Europa League semi-final and won the 2012-13 Turkish Cup, the 2013-14 Süper Lig and the 2014 Super Cup. He received the best defence award in 2014 and was picked for TSYD's Most Solid XI in 2015.

In 2015 he went to Switzerland with FC Wil 1900, then joined Başakşehir in 2017 and Erzurumspor in 2018. He earned 15 caps for Turkey across the youth sides and the senior team. Married with three children, he keeps a large collection of prayer beads.