Arif Erdem (born 2 January 1972) is a Turkish retired football manager and former professional player who played in the forward position. Starting out with local club

Zeytinburnuspor Zeytinburnu SK is a Turkish football club established in 1953 and based in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul, Turkey. They hold the record for worst performance in First League history during the 96/97 season, when they lost 27 matches out o ...

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''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

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'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

, Erdem won seven

titles and five

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') 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 Kupas� ...

titles, as well as the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. 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 football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

. Erdem was capped 60 times, scoring eleven goals. He managed İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor from 2011 to 2012.

Club career

Erdem played for

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 ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known ...

). 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 nin ...

, totaling six league titles, four cup titles, and four other cup titles. Erdem left Galatasaray for Real Sociedad 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 senior team cap in 1994. 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 İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor 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 manager and a former professional footballer. He is the manager of Trabzonspor. He has also managed the Turkish national team. Career Playing career Avcı played for Vef ...

Turkey national football team The Turkey national football team ( tr, Türkiye Millî Futbol Takımı) represents Turkey in men's international football matches. The team is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation ( tr, Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu), the governing bod ...

, 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 descent. Arif Erdem reportedly fled to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

in 2016 after the failed Turkish coup of 2016, due to his supposed links to the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement ( tr, Gülen hareketi), referred to by its participants as Hizmet ("service") or Cemaat ("community") and since 2016 by the Government of Turkey as FETÖ ("Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation" or, more commonly, "Fethullah T ...

, categorized by the Turkish government as a terrorist organization.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''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 * Chancellor Cup: 1994–95 *

: 1999–2000 ;Turkey *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

third place: 2002 ;Individual * Gol Kralı: 2001–02 (21 goals)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erdem, Arif 1972 births Living people Footballers from Istanbul Turkish people of Albanian descent Turkish footballers Turkey international footballers Turkey 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 footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Süper Lig managers Expatriate footballers in Spain Association football forwards UEFA Cup winning players Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Turkish football managers