İrfan Buz

İrfan Buz — Biography

İrfan Buz was born on 15 April 1967 in Istanbul to a family of Bosnian descent and emigrated with them to Germany in 1971, where he trained as a construction technician. After playing for several German clubs he moved to Turkish football in 1988 with a transfer to Sarıyer, subsequently turning out for Vanspor and Sakaryaspor before returning to Germany in 1995 to begin his shift into coaching.

Buz earned his UEFA B licence in 1999 and his UEFA A licence in 2005, spending years coaching youth sides for the German football federation before becoming a scout for the Turkish national team in 2009. After serving as Christoph Daum's assistant at Bursaspor, he took over as head coach there in 2014, and went on to manage Gençlerbirliği, Yeni Malatyaspor, Osmanlıspor, Samsunspor, Bursaspor again and Kasımpaşa. He was appointed Sakaryaspor's head coach in April 2025 and left the role that August. Holding both Turkish and German citizenship, he has more recently become a familiar voice in Turkish sports media, commenting on transfer stories.