Erol Ates (born 19 June 1993) is a Finnish-Turkish

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and a former player, currently working as a manager of

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

club

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollf� ...

. Ates has completed the UEFA Pro coaching license in 2022.

Early life

Ates was born in

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

, Turkey. He was raised in Turkey until 2007, when his family relocated to Finland when he was 13 years old. They settled in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

, where Ates started playing football in the youth sector of

FC Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku () and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional association football, football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finni ...

.Jälkipeli: FC Interin Erol Ates on paljon vartijana
, aamuset.fi, 31 January 2020

Playing career

Ates played in youth teams of

Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku () and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded i ...

Turun Toverit Turun Toverit (TuTo) is a sports club based in Turku, Finland. It was established in 1929. Today it is best known of its ice hockey section TuTo Hockey. Other sections include sports like football, basketball, volleyball, wrestling and athletics. ...

and

Turun Palloseura Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, is a professional association football, football club based in Turku, Finland. Since 2024, the men's team competes in Ykkösliiga, the second highest tier. Nicknamed "''Tepsi''", the club was founded i ...

. He played also for

VG-62 VG-62 is a sports club based in Naantali, Finland. It was founded in 1962 and the name is an abbreviation of Naantali's old Latin name, "''Vallis gratiae''". VG-62 is particularly well known for their exemplary youth operations, for which the club ...

, Pargas IF, and

Åbo IFK Åbo Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, IFK (or ÅIFK for short) is a sports club from Turku, Finland. The club was founded in 1908, and originally represented the Swedish-speaking population of Finland, Swedish-speaking minority of Turku/Åbo. Bac ...

before switching to coaching.

Coaching career

Ates has worked as a youth coach for TPS,

Vaasan Palloseura Vaasan Palloseura, commonly referred to as VPS, is a Finnish football club, based in Vaasa. It currently plays in the first tier of Finnish football (''Veikkausliiga''). The club's current manager is Jussi Nuorela. The club plays its home matc ...

and ÅIFK.

Inter Turku

He returned to his former club

as a youth coach in 2018. Since the beginning of 2019, he worked as a head coach of Inter Turku II academy team in the fourth-tier

Kolmonen Kolmonen or III divisioona is the fifth level in the Finnish football league system, league system of Finnish football and comprises 108 Finland, Finnish football (soccer), football teams. The III divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mi ...

. During 2021–2022, Ates was an assistant coach of Inter Turku first team in

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

. He left the club after the 2022 season.

JäPS

On 13 June 2023, after Jyrki Ahola had stepped down due to personal health reasons, it was announced that Ates was named the head coach of

Järvenpään Palloseura Järvenpään Palloseura (abbreviated JäPS) is a football club from Järvenpää, Finland. It was formed in 1947 and is based at the Järvenpää keskuskenttä. The club currently competes in Ykkösliiga, the new second-tier level of Finnish fo ...

on a two-year deal, starting in the 2024 season in new second-tier

Ykkösliiga ''Ykkösliiga'' (English language, English: ''"League One"''; ) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams in Ykkösliiga also play a pre-s ...

. It was also announced that first Ates will work for JäPS as a technical advisor for the remainder of the 2023 season.JäPSin valmennustiimiin uusi vahvistus
, 13 June 2023 Since 2023, Ates has also worked for

Naantali Naantali (; ) is a municipalities of Finland, town in Southwest Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important centre of tourism in the country. The municipality has a population of (), and is located west of Turku. The town h ...

-based

for the coaching development in the club.

GIF Sundsvall

On 12 July 2024, Ates was named the head coach of

in Swedish

, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract with the club. The team were sitting close to relegation zone in the league standings. Ates managed to improve the team's performance and get some positive results, and led them to finish 13th in Superettan. In late November, Sundsvall successfully defended its league spot in the relegation play-offs, defeating Stockholm Internazionale 4–2 on aggregate.Gif Sundsvall spelar i superettan 2025

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

, 24 November 2024

Managerial statistics

References

External links

Erol Ates player profile
at

Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland (, SPL; ) is the governing body of football (soccer), football and futsal in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the Finland national football team, men's and Finland women's ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ates, Erol 1993 births Living people Finnish football managers Turkish football managers Association football coaches Finnish men's footballers FC Inter Turku players Turun Toverit players Turun Palloseura footballers Pargas Idrottsförening players GIF Sundsvall managers Superettan managers Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Turku Finnish people of Turkish descent Footballers from Konya Finnish expatriate football managers Turkish expatriate football managers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden VG-62 players Vaasan Palloseura non-playing staff FC Inter Turku non-playing staff Expatriate football managers in Sweden 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Turun Palloseura non-playing staff