Kerem Tunçeri

Kerem Tunçeri — Biography

Mehmet Kerem Tunçeri is one of the best-known Turkish point guards of the 2000s. He won titles with both Efes and Real Madrid and two silver medals with the national team. In the semi-final of the 2010 World Championship he scored a layup with three seconds left against Serbia to send Turkey to the final, and later described that moment as the best memory of his career.

He began his professional career in 1997 at Galatasaray, where he came through the youth ranks, and entered the national team in 1999 as a backup point guard; when Orhun Ene was injured he took on the responsibility and finished third in assists at the tournament. At Efes Pilsen he won the Turkish league in 2002, 2003 and 2004, then moved to Ülkerspor. In 2005-06 he was the star of Beşiktaş Cola Turka, being named assist leader and regular-season MVP and drawing offers from Tau Ceramica and Barcelona. He then joined Real Madrid, winning the Spanish league and the EuroCup in 2007. In 2008 he signed with Triumph Lyubertsy in Russia, terminated the contract and returned to Efes, winning a fourth Turkish league title in 2009. He had also won silver at EuroBasket 2001.

He retired in 2016. He worked as manager of the national team, became general director of Galatasaray's men's basketball team in 2021 and left the post in January 2023. With his brother Kemal Tunçeri he runs Tunçerispor, which looks for young talent.