Ersan Gülüm

Ersan Gülüm — Biography

Ersan Adem Gülüm was born on 17 May 1987 in Carlton, Melbourne, Australia, to Turkish parents, and grew up in the suburb of Meadow Heights. A centre-back, he rose through the ranks at Hume City, then known as North Coburg United, before being spotted by coach Ersun Yanal while touring the United Kingdom with an Australian schoolboys side, a discovery that led to a move to Turkish club Manisaspor in 2006. Spells at Elazığspor and Adanaspor followed before he joined Beşiktaş in 2010.

Injuries to Beşiktaş's regular centre-backs gave him his opening, though a torn cruciate ligament suffered in a Turkish Cup tie cut his first season short -- the club still went on to lift that year's cup. He signed a four-year contract extension in 2014 and won two Süper Lig titles during his time there. In February 2016 he moved to Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune for a substantial fee, returned to Australia on a season-long loan to Adelaide United in 2017, then had spells at Whittlesea United and Western United before joining Antalyaspor in Turkey in 2020.

Eligible for both Australia and Turkey by birth, Gülüm played for the Australian under-23 side in 2007 but, after being repeatedly overlooked for senior selection, chose to represent Turkey instead, finally earning his first senior cap against Romania in September 2013. He ended his playing career at Preston Lions and now serves as president of Hume City, the club where he started out.