İbrahim Üzülmez

İbrahim Üzülmez — Biography

İbrahim Üzülmez was born on 10 March 1974 in Kocaeli; his family originally comes from Hopa in Artvin province. He was spotted by Gönenspor at 16 and went on to play for İskenderun Demir Çelik and Kardemir Karabükspor, spending his military-service years at Amasyaspor. After a season and a half at Gaziantepspor he transferred to Beşiktaş in the 2000-01 season and was part of the club's centenary championship squad.

A dispute with teammate İbrahim Toraman saw him left out of the squad during the 2008-09 season; though the two were later reconciled, he lost the captaincy, which coach Mustafa Denizli symbolically restored to him for the season's final match. He earned his first national team call-up in February 2003 for a match against Ukraine and played all four games at that year's FIFA Confederations Cup, where Turkey finished third. His Beşiktaş contract was terminated in February 2011 after another clash with Toraman. After retiring as a player he began coaching as Denizli's assistant at Çaykur Rizespor, later managing Gençlerbirliği, Gaziantepspor, Çaykur Rizespor again, Pendikspor and, most recently, Iğdır FK during the 2025-26 season.