Bülent Ünder

Bülent Ünder — Biography

Bülent Ünder was born on 16 April 1949 in Istanbul and became one of Turkish football's familiar midfielders during a career spent entirely at Galatasaray. Having come through the club's youth system, he joined the first team in the 1969-70 season and never played senior football for another club. He was a regular in the side remembered as legendary for winning three consecutive league titles in the early 1970s, and he also collected a Turkish Cup winner's medal during his playing days. Called up to the national side, he earned nine caps for Turkey between 1973 and 1974. He closed out his playing career in 1980 with a farewell match against city rivals Fenerbahçe.

Ünder moved into coaching in the 1991-92 season at Çengelköyspor, then took charge of second-division side Denizlispor, though that spell proved brief. Three years later he returned to Galatasaray as assistant to Fatih Terim, a partnership that brought four straight league titles, two Turkish Cups and the 2000 UEFA Cup. After Terim's departure, Ünder took over at Samsunspor for the 2000-01 season and managed to beat his former club on their own ground. He came back to Galatasaray in 2005-06 as a game analyst under Eric Gerets, then was appointed first-team manager in 2011 after Gheorghe Hagi's contract was terminated, seeing out the remainder of that season in charge.