Ünal Karaman

Ünal Karaman — Biography

Ünal Karaman was born on 29 June 1966 in Konya. A midfielder, he rose through Konyaspor's youth ranks before moving to Gaziantepspor in 1984, Malatyaspor in 1987, and then to Trabzonspor in 1990, where he spent the bulk of his career; he ended his playing days at Ankaragücü in 1999 and won many caps for the Turkey national team along the way.

After retiring he served as the national team's assistant coach from 2000 to 2004 and took charge of the under-21 side in 2005. He went on to manage Konyaspor, Ankaragücü, Adana Demirspor and Şanlıurfaspor, and between 2009 and 2013 held both a sporting-director role and an assistant-coach post under Şenol Güneş at Trabzonspor. He took over as Trabzonspor's head coach in May 2018, staying until early 2020, then managed Çaykur Rizespor and Göztepe in turn. With Trabzonspor he won the Turkish Cup twice and the Turkish Super Cup once.

After his sporting career he entered politics, winning a Konya seat for the Good Party (İYİ Parti) in the 2023 general election; he resigned from the party in January 2025, joined the AKP the following month, and was appointed to its Central Executive Board.