Fatih Terim
Fatih Terim is one of the most successful football players and trainers of Turkey. He is considered to be one of the best managers of the game due to his ability to motivate his players and for his aggressive game strategies. Currently, he is the coach of the Turkish national team. Born on September 4, 1953 in Adana, Turkey into a poor family, he attended a vocational high school but soon dropped out of school to play the beautiful game.
Playing career
In 1969 Terim's professional football career began as a junior player with Adana Demirspor. Because of his financial difficulties, he was the only player in the team who was being paid secretly by the club at the time. Within three years, he became the captain of the team. He recalls his first game with the captain badge: "Just before the game, I cheered up my teammates, as a captain has to do, and ran out to the field. As I looked back on the field, no one was behind me. I was so fast that nobody could follow me. I was so excited." Terim played 6 more years with Adana Demirspor.
As a successful central defender, he joined Galatasaray SK in 1974 and played for 11 years for the club. However, during his time with Galatasaray, the club was not able to win the championship trophy in the Turkish league. Terim was capped to the Turkish national team 51 times, from 1984 to 1995, and was the national team captain for 35 international games, establishing the national record for both categories at his time.
Managerial career
Terim's coaching career began when he was appointed the coach of MKE Ankaragücü. He coached the club for two years and moved on to coach Göztepe in İzmir which lasted one year. He did not have any significant success in these teams. In 1990 he was appointed as assistant to Turkey's national coach Sepp Piontek, where he also coached the U21 team. After serving as assistant coach for three years, he was appointed Turkish national team coach in 1993. Three years later, the Turkish national team succeeded in qualifying for the final tournament of the Euro '96 for the first time in its history under his management. Although the national team did not perform well in the tournament (losing all the games, and not being able to score a single goal), the qualification to the tournament was still considered a great achievement for Turkish football. After Euro '96, Fatih Terim signed a contract with Galatasaray S.K. Under his management Galatasaray won the championship in the Turkish league for four successive years. Crowning his achievements by winning the UEFA Cup in 2000, made Fatih Terim the most successful Galatasaray manager in its history. His success in Galatasaray lead Terim to Serie A, signing a one year contract with ACF Fiorentina, Italy.
His aggressive and offensive style of football, and his tense relations with the club president and owner Cechi Gori made Terim a favorite amongst Fiorentina fans. In Fiorentina, Terim had a significant start, beating Milan (4-0) and holding Juventus to a (3-3) thrilling draw, and eliminating Milan 4-2 on aggregate to reach the final of the Coppa Italia. However, in the middle of the 2000-20001 season, Terim declared that he was not going to extend his contract with the club since Cechi Gori did not intend to make the investments that he requested. After his declaration, the team's performance declined significantly, and his continuing clashes with the club president urged him to resign before the season ended.
In the summer of 2001, he was named the coach of AC Milan. He was instrumental in bringing Rui Costa and Umit Davala to the club. He transformed AC Milan's system, playing with a system very smiliar to the Total football style of Rinus Michels. It was a simple 4-3-1-2 formation with Rui Costa as the playmaker. While he was coaching AC Milan, the team won the TIM Cup and reached the third round of the UEFA Cup. However, after several disappointing results, he was fired, making his AC Milan career last only 5 months.
In the summer of 2002 he returned to Galatasaray. Due to internal problems amongst Galatasaray’s management, financial difficulties of the club, and failure of his transfer policies, he had a disappointing performance. In the first year his return to Gala, they lost the championship title to rival Besiktas JK. Second year was a complete failure, not qualifying from the Champions League groups and bad performance in the Turkish Super League, which led him to resign and take a break in his managing career in March 2004. In summer of 2005, Terim was asked to coach the Turkish National Team. He signed a five years contract with the Turkish Footbal Federation, where he still coaches.
Terim, a coach who values professional discipline and organization and amateur passion, was nicknamed "Imparator" (Turkish for "Emperor") in Turkey. In a survey conducted by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) in 80 countries, Fatih Terim was placed among the best eight soccer coaches in the world. He received his award at a ceremony held in Rothenburg, Germany on January 8, 2001.
Coaching Style
Terim's vision in football is a clear one, he prefers an attacking type of football where every player has a role in it, when he was coaching AC Milan he used a 4-3-1-2 formation where a playmaker is in function the back players push up front and their places are filled up with another team player, good attacking and entertaining football are the key to succes in Terim's system.
Managing career
- MKE Ankaragücü 1987-1989
- Göztepe 1989-1990
- Turkish national U-21 football team 1990-1993
- Turkish national football team 1993-1996, 2005-
- Galatasaray SK 1996-2000, 2002-2004
- Fiorentina 2000-2001
- A.C. Milan 2001-2001
Achievements
- 1 UEFA cup
- 4 Turkish championships
- 2 Turkish cups
- 1 Mediterranean Games gold medal with Turkish national U-21 football team
- 1 TIM cup with AC Milan
- Coach of the year award 2000 in Rothenburg, Germany
