İsmail Demiriz

İsmail Demiriz — Biography

İsmail Demiriz is a right-back whose name is tied to the Galatasaray of the 1980s and early 1990s. He spent about a decade at the club, won a long list of trophies with it and earned 27 caps for the Turkish national team. After retiring he had short spells as a manager and assistant coach before moving into business.

His career began at İzmirspor, with further stops at Kocaelispor, Denizlispor and Göztepe before a return to İzmirspor. His national-team call-up while at İzmirspor made him only the second player in league history to be picked for the senior side from the second division. A strong 1983-84 season at Gençlerbirliği brought him to Galatasaray at the end of that campaign, as one of the internationals signed for coach Tomislav Ivić. Ivić soon left and the Jupp Derwall years began, with Demiriz becoming the regular right-back, usually in the number 2 shirt. He was part of the side that reached the European Champions Cup semi-final in 1988-89 under Mustafa Denizli. He won the Süper Lig in 1986-87, 1987-88 and 1992-93 and the Turkish Cup in 1985, 1991 and 1993. In roughly 251 appearances for the club he scored seven goals, some of them in critical matches.

His coaching stints at Kasımpaşa, Karabükspor and Eskişehirspor were brief.