Suat Kaya

Suat Kaya — Biography

Suat Kaya, nicknamed Hugo (born 26 August 1967 in Istanbul), is the son of a family who had emigrated from the Macedonian town of Gostivar, and is a Turkish former international footballer and football manager who played as a defensive midfielder.

He began playing at Galatasaray's youth academy in 1979, was promoted to the first team in 1986, played for Konyaspor between 1987 and 1992, then returned to Galatasaray in 1992-93 and became one of the club's key midfielders. Scoring 44 goals in 353 Süper Lig matches, Kaya shares, with Bülent Korkmaz and Hakan Şükür, the record for most Süper Lig titles won by a player (8), and also won the Turkish Cup and, in 2000, the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Capped 15 times for Turkey over seven years, he played in three matches at UEFA Euro 2000 and set up Hakan Şükür's goal in a 2-0 win over Belgium. He retired from playing in June 2003.

He began coaching in Galatasaray's youth system, then had two spells in charge of Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor between 2006 and 2010. He resigned from Diyarbakırspor four months into the 2010-11 season over the club's financial problems, and took over at Tokatspor in December 2010. He was dismissed by Göztepe in October 2014. He managed Eskişehirspor in 2021-22 and Sakaryaspor in 2024; in February 2026 he had a brief spell at Aliağa FK before taking charge of Boluspor, leaving that post too in April 2026 after a run of poor results.