Fatih Tekke

Fatih Tekke — Biography

Fatih Tekke is a former Turkey striker who came through the Trabzonspor ranks, was the Süper Lig's top scorer in 2004-05 with 31 goals and lifted the UEFA Cup with Zenit; as a coach he also brought Trabzonspor the Turkish Cup. He was known as "Sultan" in his playing days. In September 2026 he and Trabzonspor parted ways.

He joined Trabzonspor's youth setup in 1989 and reached the first team in 1994; on loan at Altay he scored a hat-trick against Galatasaray, and a move to Gaziantepspor in 2000 took him into the national team. He returned to Trabzonspor as captain in 2002 and won two Turkish Cups with the club. In 2006 he moved to Zenit for 7.5 million euros: he won the Russian Premier League in 2007, was named man of the match in the 2008 UEFA Cup final victory over Rangers, and took the UEFA Super Cup against Manchester United. He also played for Rubin Kazan, Beşiktaş, Ankaragücü and Orduspor and retired on 1 July 2012. He had been a European champion with Turkey's U-16 side in 1994.

He began coaching in 2015 at Kayseri Erciyesspor; he lifted Denizlispor out of the relegation zone in 2018, took İstanbulspor to fourth place in 2019-20 and also worked at Bursaspor and Alanyaspor. He took over at Trabzonspor in March 2025, and on 22 May 2026 won his first trophy as a coach in the 2-1 Turkish Cup final win over Konyaspor.