Gökhan Ünal (born 23 July 1982) is a Turkish football manager and former player who most recently managed the Turkish club Altınordu.
During a professional career that lasted nearly 20 years, he played for 13 clubs, most notably
Kayserispor
Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, and also called Bellona Kayserispor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the RHG Enertürk Enerji Stadium ...
2005–06 Süper Lig
The 2005–06 Süper Lig season began with Turkcell signing a 5-year sponsorship deal with the Turkish Football Federation to name the league Turkcell Süper Lig.
Since Turkey dropped from tenth to eleventh place in the UEFA association coefficie ...
Kayserispor
Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, and also called Bellona Kayserispor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the RHG Enertürk Enerji Stadium ...
in 2003 and became the top goal scorer in 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 ...
scoring 25 goals in the 2005–06 season. His goal scoring ability was also apparent in European competitions, where he scored 6 goals in 8 games during Kayserispor's
UEFA Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...
campaign in the same season, in which they became the first team from Turkey to win the competition.
He attracted attention from a number of top clubs, namely
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 ...
who tried to sign him during the summer break in 2007, but Kayserispor refused all offers, as well as another from Russian team
Rubin Kazan
FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...
for €6 million. He transferred to
Trabzonspor
Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...
on 3 June 2008 for a club record €6.25 million.
Fenerbahçe
On 18 January 2010, Fenerbahçe signed Ünal from Trabzonspor until June 2013 for €3.5 million plus
Burak Yılmaz
Burak Yılmaz (born 15 July 1985) is a Turkish professional association football, football coach and former player who played as a forward (association football), forward. He is the current head coach of Süper Lig club Kasımpaşa S.K., Kasımp ...
, who was on loan at Eskisehirspor until then. Ünal scored his first goal for Fenerbahçe on 14 February against
Manisaspor
Manisaspor is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Manisa. Originally formed in 1931 as Sakaryaspor, the club changed its name to Manisaspor on 15 June 1965.Istanbul BB on a six-month loan after his poor start to the season.
Return to Kayserispor
Ünal was transferred back to his old club Kayserispor on a loan deal for the 2011–12 season.
International career
His current record for the Turkey national team is also impressive, with a goal in his only start so far. He also scored the national team's 550th goalProfile at forumfutbol.com /ref> against on 24 March 2007, scoring the second goal in a 4–1 victory over
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
. And scored his second goal against on 12 September 2007 Turkey-
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
.
Career statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list Turkey's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ãœnal goal.''
Honours
Gençlerbirliği
*
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 ...
UEFA Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...
:
2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...