Yücel Uyar

Yücel Uyar — Biography

Yücel Uyar is one of the names most closely associated with Samsunspor: at the club he worked as a player, youth coach, head coach and general manager. He led Samsunspor to eighth place in the 2001-02 Süper Lig season, spent many years as education manager at the Turkish Football Federation, and in 2011 took charge of the Turkey women's national team. From January 2019 he served as technical manager at Yılport Samsunspor.

Born in Alaçam, Uyar played in midfield, a position some sources describe as left-back. He wore Orduspor's shirt from 1981 to 1985 and won the Second League title in 1982-83. At Ankaragücü he made 98 league appearances between 1985 and 1989, scoring 10 goals. After joining Samsunspor in 1989 he played 87 league matches, won the Second League with the team in 1990-91 and 1992-93, and retired at the end of 1992-93. In the bid to reach the 1988 Summer Olympics he wore the Turkey Olympic team shirt against the Soviet Union on 6 April 1988.

He began coaching in the Samsunspor youth setup in 1994. He coached Kadıköyspor, Çarşambaspor, Orduspor, Eyüpspor and Ünyespor; at Samsunspor he took over temporarily for the last three league matches in 1998 after Jozef Jarabinský left, was appointed permanently in April 2001 in place of Bülent Ünder, and resigned in February 2002. After leaving Ünyespor he worked for 12 years as education manager in the federation's football development unit, leaving that post on 4 January 2019. He was also in charge of the Turkey U-20 national team.