Yılmaz Yücetürk

Yılmaz Yücetürk — Biography

Yılmaz Yücetürk was born on 12 March 1941 in Gönen and, after retiring as a player, became a Turkish football coach and former youth international. He came up through Fenerbahçe's youth ranks and, in the rest of his playing career, wore the colors of MKE Ankaragücü and PTT; at national level he made two appearances each for Turkey's under-18 and under-21 sides, four caps in all.

After leaving the pitch he went to Germany for sports coaching education before returning to Turkey, where he headed the Turkish Football Federation's Research, Planning and Education department. He first took charge of Fenerbahçe's youth setup, then was appointed the club's senior-team head coach two weeks before the end of the 1986-87 season. He took over Kuşadasıspor in December 1987 and left that post in November 1988; in 1993 he wrote a book on training concepts, principles and planning. He later served Fenerbahçe as an administrative manager and coached Zeytinburnuspor and Erzurumspor.

Between 2000 and 2002, as part of Turkey's "Meridian" aid project for Eritrea, Yücetürk coached the Eritrea national football team and trained a large number of local coaches during that period. He was survived by his wife and two sons; he died on 20 May 2005 at Acıbadem Kozyatağı Hospital in Kadıköy, Istanbul, where he had been receiving treatment.