Arif Erdem (born 2 January 1972) is a Turkish retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former professional player who played in the forward position. Starting out with local club Zeytinburnuspor in 1990, Erdem had a decorated 15-year professional career. He scored 106 goals in 341 league matches and finished joint top scorer (''Gol Kralı'') of the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

with

İlhan Mansız İlhan Mansız (born 10 August 1975) is a German-born Turkish former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is also a competing figure skater. He is of Crimean Tatar descent. Playing career Club career Mansız gained internation ...

at the conclusion of the 2001–02 season. During his 14 years with

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

, Erdem won seven

titles and five

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () 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''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

titles, as well as the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. He was a part of the Turkey national team that finished third at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. Erdem was capped 60 times, scoring eleven goals. He managed

İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K., shortly Istanbul BB SK or IBBSK, is a multi-sports club of the Istanbul Province, metropolitan municipality of Istanbul in Turkey. Branches *İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi (volleyball team), Volley ...

from 2011 to 2012.

Club career

Erdem played for Zeytinburnuspor before signing his first professional contract with

on 1 June 1991. He made 29 total appearances in his first season with the club, scoring four goals. Erdem made fewer appearances the following season, providing four goals in 18 appearances as the club achieved a domestic treble (

, and

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup, known as Turkcell Super Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a super cup tournament in Turkish football. Founded in 1966 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2025 by four teams: the winners ...

). The next season, 1993–94, was Erdem's most successful to date. His nine goals in the league helped Galatasaray earn another league title. Erdem finished his first stint with Galatasaray after winning the

1999–2000 UEFA Cup The 1999–2000 UEFA Cup season was the 29th edition of the UEFA Cup competition. The final took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and was won by Galatasaray, who defeated Arsenal in the final. The game was scoreless through the first ninet ...

, totaling six league titles, four cup titles, and four other cup titles. Erdem left Galatasaray for

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

at the start of the 2000–01. However, he regretted joining the club, saying "the only thing I wanted was to move to a European team... I didn't even think about it, I signed the first offer I received." Erdem was plagued by injuries during his tenure, and he left the Spanish club after six months, scoring one goal in two appearances. He signed with Galatasaray on 14 November 2000. The following season, Erdem won the Gol Kralı award, an award given to the top scorer of the Süper Lig, en route to his seventh league title with the club. Erdem closed out his professional career with a

win in 2004–05.

International career

Erdem began his international career with the Turkey U21 national team in 1991, scoring one goal in 10 caps. He participated in the Akdeniz Cup with the Turkish Olympic team in 1993, and earned his first

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team cap in 1994. Two years later, Turkey qualified for

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

. He was called up, but

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didn't achieve any points. An exceptional moment of his international career came during the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

qualification, he netted three times within three minutes against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Turkey qualified and Erdem was included in squad. He was a significant part of the team, especially in a winning clash against co-host

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. During the match, he was fouled many times and caused a red card for Filip De Wilde. Turkey qualified to the next round, but lost to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. Erdem didn't score a penalty in the 46th minute. He took a part at

as well, but he didn't play much. His senior international career lasted from 1994 to 2003, where he scored 11 goals in 60 appearances.

Coaching career

Erdem had been an assistant coach with

since 2006. On 18 November 2011, after the assignation of

Abdullah Avcı Abdullah Mucib Avcı (; born 31 July 1963) is a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish football manager and a former professional footballer. He is the former manager of Trabzonspor. He has also managed the Turkey national team. Avcı's coaching career beg ...

Turkey national football team The Turkey national football team (), recognized as Türkiye by FIFA and UEFA, represents Turkey in men's international Association football, football matches. The team is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation (), the governing body for ...

, he became the new head coach of İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor. At the end of the season, his contract was terminated by club at 14 May 2012.

Personal life

Erdem is of

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

descent, through his parents who left

Kumanovo Kumanovo ( ; , sq-definite, Kumanova; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is the second-largest city in North Macedonia after the capital Skopje and the seat of Kumanovo Municipality, the List of municipalities in the Republic ...

. He reportedly fled to Greece in 2016 after the failed Turkish coup of 2016, due to his supposed links to the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement () or Hizmet movement () is an Islamist fraternal movement. It is a sub-sect of Sunni Islam based on a Nursian theological perspective as reflected in Fethullah Gülen's religious teachings. It is referred to by its membe ...

, categorized by the Turkish government as a terrorist organization.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Turkey's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Erdem goal.''Football PLAYER: Arif Erdem
/ref>

Managerial statistics

Honours

Galatasaray *

: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001–02 *

: 1992–93, 1995–96, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2004–05 *

: 1992–93, 1995–96, 1996–97 *

: 1999–2000 Turkey *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

third place:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erdem, Arif 1972 births Living people Footballers from Istanbul Turkish people of Albanian descent Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Süper Lig players La Liga players Zeytinburnuspor footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Real Sociedad footballers UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Turkish expatriate men's footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Süper Lig managers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Men's association football forwards UEFA Europa League–winning players Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Turkish football managers