Emre Belözoğlu

Emre Belözoğlu — Biography

Emre Belözoğlu (born 7 September 1980 in Istanbul) is a former Turkish international midfielder turned football manager, known during his playing career as a left-footed, tempo-setting playmaker. Rising through Galatasaray's academy, he broke into the first team at 16 and won four Süper Lig titles, two Turkish Cups, a UEFA Cup and a UEFA Super Cup.

In 2001 he joined Inter Milan for £5 million and was voted the club's player of the year in 2002–03, later moving to Newcastle United. Across three spells at Fenerbahçe he added two league titles, a Turkish Cup and a Super Cup, had a brief stint at Atlético Madrid in 2012, and captained İstanbul Başakşehir from 2015 to 2019 before closing out his playing career at Fenerbahçe in 2020.

Belözoğlu earned 101 caps and scored 9 goals for Turkey between 2000 and 2019, featuring in the squad that finished third at the 2002 World Cup and reached the semifinals of Euro 2008, and was named to Pelé's FIFA 100 list in 2004. After retiring he served as Fenerbahçe's director of football and briefly as interim head coach, then went on to manage İstanbul Başakşehir, Ankaragücü and Antalyaspor.