Tayfur Havutçu

Tayfur Havutçu — Biography

Born in Hanau, defensive midfielder Tayfur Havutçu is a former international who rose to the captaincy of Beşiktaş and is regarded as one of the important players in the club's history. He holds both Turkish and German citizenship and is a relative of Beşiktaş's honorary president Süleyman Seba. He played for Turkey at EURO 2000 and at the 2002 World Cup, where the team finished third, and after retiring as a player he moved into coaching.

His professional career began in Germany with SV Darmstadt 98 in the 2. Bundesliga. At the start of 1993-94 he joined Fenerbahçe, and under Holger Osieck scored in his first official match against Altay. In 1995-96 he moved to Mustafa Denizli's Kocaelispor and in 1997 won the Turkish Cup with the club. The same year he joined Beşiktaş, with whom he won the Turkish Cup and the Super Cup in 1998, the league title in 2002-03 in the club's centenary year, and the cup again in 2006. In 2004-06 he worked as a player-manager and he said farewell with a match against Shakhtar Donetsk on 18 July 2006.

Between 1994 and 2004 he made 45 senior appearances for Turkey and scored 6 goals. In 2003 the team also finished third at the Confederations Cup. He is a holder of the Turkish State Medal of Distinguished Service. As a coach he was an assistant at Beşiktaş, took over the team in 2011 when Bernd Schuster resigned, and also worked on the national team's technical staff and at Kasımpaşa.