Osman Akyol

Osman Akyol — Biography

Osman Akyol, born on 1 September 1969 in Trabzon, is a former Turkish-German international footballer and manager. He began playing at Hertha Zehlendorf's youth academy in Berlin, then moved to Samsunspor's youth ranks, turning professional and playing for the first team until 1994. On the recommendation of youth-national-team coach Fatih Terim he transferred to Galatasaray, was loaned to Antalyaspor after one season, and signed permanently for Antalyaspor at the end of that loan. After two seasons there he moved to Altay, left by mutual termination two months later to join Konyaspor, played two seasons there before retiring from professional football, and closed out his playing days with one amateur season at Kemerspor.

He was capped 13 times across Turkey's under-16, under-21, Olympic and senior national teams, and was part of the Turkey under-23 squad that finished runner-up at the 1991 Mediterranean Games, losing the final to the Greek Olympic team. At club level he won the Turkish First League title with Samsunspor in 1990-91 and 1992-93, finished fifth in the Süper Lig with the club in 1993-94, and took third place in the Süper Lig with Galatasaray in 1994-95.

Akyol moved into coaching in 2002 as an assistant at Sidespor, then had a brief spell in charge of Manisaspor in 2008. In 2013 he took over Antalyaspor's reserve side, and was later given his first Süper Lig managerial role at Antalyaspor itself, returning to the reserves after one drawn match in charge.