Fatih Terim

Fatih Terim (born 4 September 1953) is a Turkish professional football manager and former player.

He is the current manager of Greek Super League club Panathinaikos.

During his football career, he played for Ceyhanspor, Adana Demirspor and Galatasaray.

In 1969, Terim began his professional football career 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.

He became the team captain three years later.

He attracted attention with the game he displayed in Adana Demirspor, who became the champions of the 2nd League in the 1972-73 season.

Terim played for Adana Demirspor until 1974, when he joined Galatasaray as a sweeper on 8 July 1974.

He beat police inspector and Galatasaray Council Board member Gündüz Aktuğ who opposed his transfer.

An arrest warrant was issued against Terim, who beat Aktuğ until he fainted.

Aktuğ claimed that around ten thousand liras of his money and his ring were stolen by Terim.

Although Aktuğ filed a lawsuit against Terim, with the insistence of the club executives, Aktuğ withdrew the lawsuit.

He played for the Turkey national team 51 times between 1974 and 1985 and was the national team captain for 35 international matches, setting the national record in both categories at that time.

In his eleven years of playing time for Galatasaray, he won the Prime Minister's Cup in 1975 and in 1979, the Turkish Cup in 1975-1976, 1981-1982 and 1984-1985 seasons and the Turkish Super Cup in 1982 with the club.

In 1980, he was arrested for fighting with police officers at the end of a match, but his sentence was later commuted to a fine.

In 1981, he was arrested for raiding a casino for Turkish film actress Müjde Ar, but he was saved with the efforts of Galatasaray's club management and the police.

As the team captain, he had to fill in for injured defenders and eventually he ended up playing regularly as a sweeper/defender.

Terim played eleven years for the Istanbul club.

During that time, the club never won the Turkish league championship trophy.

In 1985, he had a fight with referee Hamza Alan for showing a red card to his teammate in a match and Terim was also shown a red card.

It is alleged that Terim refused to leave the field, provoked the tribunes and was removed from the field by police forces.

He decided to quit football after receiving a five-match penalty.

Terim's jubilee was held at Ali Sami Yen Stadium.

He showed up to his jubilee match, which was between Trabzonspor and Galatasaray, by landing on the pitch by helicopter while the game was being played.

During his time as a footballer, he drew attention with his undisciplined behaviour and was frequently fined.

Abdullah Gegiç, a famous football coach with Partizan in the former Yugoslavia and Eskişehirspor in Turkey, knew Terim from his days as a central defender and described him as an intelligent defender with "Beckenbauer-like" qualities.

Gegiç attributed Terim's successes as a coach to the unique understanding of the game that he developed while playing as a central defender.

After retiring from professional football, his first training appointment came from Jupp Derwall while they were both at Galatasaray.

Terim's coaching career began when he was appointed the coach of Ankaragücü.

He coached the club for 18 months before moving on to coach Göztepe in İzmir for a year.

He had no significant success with either team.

In a survey conducted by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) in 80 countries, he was placed among the best eight managers in the world, receiving his award at a ceremony held in Rothenburg, Germany, on 8 January 2001.

On 25 April 2007, Terim received the order of "Commendatore" awarded by the Italian state.

Terim, whose father is of Turkish Cypriot origin, is married to Fulya Aksu Terim.

He has two daughters, Merve Terim Çetin and Buse Terim Bahçekapılı.

Terim received a nomination for UEFA manager of the year 2008, and Eurosport named him the best coach at UEFA Euro 2008.

In December 2008, he was ranked the seventh-best football manager in the world by World Soccer magazine in 2008.

His Turkish nickname is "İmparator", and his Italian nickname is "Imperatore".

Both names mean "emperor".

Terim has managed several clubs in Italy (Milan and Fiorentina) and Turkey, as well as the Turkey national team, most recently from 2013 to 2017.