Taner Savut

Taner Savut — Biography

Taner Savut was a football man who, after about eighteen years as a professional right back, moved into sporting management and last worked at Atakaş Hatayspor. He died in Antakya on 6 February 2023, and in 2024 the Turkish Football Federation named its Football Management Certificate Programme after him.

He started in the İzmirspor academy at 12 and turned professional with the club in 1994. He joined Fenerbahçe in 1997; his only European match was the UEFA Cup first-round game on 29 September 1997, a 2-1 home defeat to Steaua București. He moved to Göztepe in 1999 and a year later to Siirtspor, where in a 3-0 win over Gençlerbirliği on 6 May 2001 he scored the only goal of his 71 top-flight appearances. He then played in the lower divisions for Sakaryaspor, Alanyaspor and Tokatspor and retired in 2011, after about 500 official matches.

After his playing days he moved into administration, serving as sporting director at Alanyaspor for five seasons, until the parting of ways in December 2017, and also at Manisa FK for two, and he held a UEFA B coaching licence and the TFF sporting director certificate. He joined Hatayspor as sporting director in July 2022. The club confirmed his death on 21 February 2023, and he was buried the next day at the Karabağlar Paşaköprü Cemetery in İzmir.