Metin Türel

Metin Türel — Biography

İbrahim Metin Türel began as a goalkeeper and made his name as a coach, and is known for helping many players and coaches into Turkish football. Besides his club work he managed the Turkey national team in 1977-1978 and later led the Saudi Arabia national team. He was called the "teacher of teachers" in Turkish football and also worked as a sports writer.

He started out in goal for his school team at Galatasaray High School. He kept goal for Galatasaray, Vefa, Şekerspor, İstanbulspor and PTT, and one source also mentions Taksim SK. After retiring as a player in 1963 he turned to coaching and managed Afyonspor, Vefa, Beşiktaş, Adana Demirspor, Trabzonspor, Antalyaspor, Gençlerbirliği, Samsunspor and İstanbulspor in turn. He had two spells at Beşiktaş (1974-1975 and 1980-1981) and won the Prime Minister's Cup and the President's Cup there in 1974; his time at Trabzonspor was in 1987-1988.

Türel died in Istanbul on 17 November 2018 and was laid to rest the next day. His death was widely mourned in football, notably by Galatasaray and the Turkish Football Federation, and Trabzonspor was still remembering him years later.