Ümit Karan (born October 1, 1976) is a Turkish football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Menemenspor. He played for

Gençlerbirliği S.K. Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü (pronounced ), commonly known as Gençlerbirliği, is a Turkish sports club based in Ankara. Formed in 1923, Gençlerbirliği are nicknamed ''Ankara Rüzgârı'' (The Wind of Ankara) or simply ''Gençler'' (The You ...

Ankaraspor Ankaraspor Kulübü (), formerly known as Osmanlıspor (), is a Turkish professional football club based in the country's capital Ankara. Founded in 1978, the club competes in the TFF Second League. History Ankaraspor was founded as "Ankara Bel ...

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other dep ...

and

Eskişehirspor Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in Eskişehir. Eskisehirspor has a total of six trophies, making them the sixth most trophies holders in Turkey. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division ...

. He made his international debut for

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

in 1999, and earned a total of 10 caps, scoring 3 goals.

Club career

After playing for Gençlerbirliği for 5 seasons and scoring 91 goals, Ümit moved to

at the start of the 2001-02 season and was a key player in Mircea Lucescu's squad as the main striker after Mario Jardel's departure. During the 2004-05 season, he was loaned to

by manager Gheorghe Hagi due to his dip in form. However, Ümit made a strong return for the 2005-06 season with Galatasaray's new manager

Eric Gerets Eric Maria Gerets (, born 18 May 1954) is a Belgian football manager and former player who played as a right back. He started his playing career as an amateur for his local team AA Rekem, before achieving success with Standard Liège and PSV. ...

. Getting along well with Gerets and his playing style, Ümit scored 81 goals in 18 matches at the start of the season. But early in 2006, Umit's season was cut short by a knee injury, which kept him out of the game for 6 months. At the start of the 2006-07 season, Ümit regained his place on the team after the injury layoff, scoring his 100th goal in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

on September 18, 2006, against

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

. Ümit has great finishing ability and he is usually in chase of sensational goals, particularly with volleys and bicycle kicks. His most sensational goal is arguably the one he scored against Vestel Manisaspor. Ümit latched onto a 40 meter pass just inside the box and struck a one time shot with his right foot and curled it around the helpless goalkeeper. He also possesses good pace, stamina and strength. He is also loved by the supporters, but he has had his share of problems with his former Galatasaray managers Fatih Terim and Gheorghe Hagi. On 24 June 2009 was fired from his 2010 contract with

and he signed a contract with Eskisehirspor for 3 years.

Managerial career

On October 4, 2018, Karan accepted an offer to become the manager of FK Shkupi. He took over the team who were struggling to meet expectations and found themselves in 9th. His first game in charge was on 21 October 2018 which Shkupi won 2-1 against fellow underperformers, Sileks. During his first season in charge of the Skopje based club, he managed to achieve a 4th place finish in the league and thus secured a Europa League Qualifying slot. On August 26, 2019, Karan left his post as manager of Shkupi. His final game in charge was a 2-2 draw with Renova. On 30 September 2020, Karan re-joined Shkupi as manager on a one-year contract.

Career statistics

Honours

Gençlerbirliği *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup (Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

: 2000–01 Galatasaray *

: 2001–02, 2005–06, 2007–08 Individual *Turkish Cup Top Scorer: 2000–01

References

External links

*
Profile at TFF.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karan, Umit 1976 births Living people Turkish footballers Turkey international footballers German footballers German people of Turkish descent Süper Lig players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Ankaraspor footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Eskişehirspor footballers Footballers from Berlin Türkiyemspor Berlin players Association football forwards Turkish football managers Survivor Turkey contestants