Yılmaz Vural

Yılmaz Vural — Biography

Yılmaz Vural was born on 1 January 1953 in the Adapazarı district of Sakarya, and after finishing school there he began playing as a midfielder for amateur clubs in the region before turning professional at Sivasspor and later turning out for Tekirdağspor, Hacettepespor and Demirspor in Ankara. Once his playing days ended he moved into coaching, studying football at a sports academy in Ankara and then travelling to Germany in 1980 for postgraduate coaching studies, eventually graduating from the Cologne Sports Academy; along the way he earned Turkish B and A coaching licenses and, later, a UEFA Pro Licence from the German federation. Over his career he has taken charge of more than thirty clubs, working with nearly every Turkish side outside the traditional "big three" of Istanbul football. Known for his frequent club changes, he has become the most cited example in the Turkish press of that managerial type. He carries German citizenship in addition to his Turkish one, and has divided his life between the two countries since the mid-1980s. Beyond football, he has made a handful of screen appearances: a small part in the 1985 Kemal Sunal comedy Gurbetçi Şaban, a guest role in Oflu Hoca'nın Şifresi, and the character İmdat Hoca in the series Seksenler.