Çağdaş Atan (; born 29 February 1980) is a 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 Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He is the manager of İstanbul Başakşehir of 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 ...

. He began his career at Altay and

Marmaris Marmaris () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Muğla Province, Turkey. Its area is 906 km2, and its population is 97,818 (2022). It is a port city and tourist resort on the Aegean Sea, Mediterranean coast, along the shorel ...

before playing for clubs like Denizlispor,

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

, and

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 ...

. He also had a brief stint with Germany's

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the German reunification, reunificatio ...

. Atan joined

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in 2009, winning domestic titles and playing in European competitions. He later played for Turkish clubs like Mersin İdman Yurdu, Akhisarspor, Gaziantep BB, and Manisaspor before retiring in 2015. Atan represented the Turkey national team, earning his first cap in 2004 and scoring his debut goal in a friendly against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. He briefly played for the U21 team as well. After retiring, he transitioned into coaching, working as an assistant manager and eventually becoming the head coach of

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü, known as Corendon Alanyaspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are play ...

in 2020. He continued his managerial career with

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 2022, achieving respectable finishes in the Süper Lig. Atan is recognized for his contributions to

Turkish football Association football, Football is the most popular sport in Turkey, followed by basketball, tracing its roots to the Ottoman Empire. The first matches were played in Ottoman Thessaloniki, Salonica in 1875. The sport was introduced by English pe ...

both as a player and manager.

Club career

Early career

Atan began his career with Altay before moving to

, where he signed his first professional contract, in 2000. He returned to Altay in 2001 and played for two seasons. After that, he signed for Denizlispor and

On 1 June 2006, he transferred to

, based in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

port city of

Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

. In the summer of 2008 Atan signed a two-year contract with German club

FC Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

. But because the team suffered relegateion he stayed with the club just one season. After their relegation Energie Cottbus had made Atan an offer for the 2. Bundesliga, but the financial ideas of the two sides were too far apart.

Basel

On 25 June 2009 it was announced that Atan had joined

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

on a free transfer. He joined Basel's first team in advance of their 2009–10 season under head coach

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, who is the head coach of Belgian Pro League club KRC Genk. Playing career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to S ...

. After playing in three test games, Atan played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the Kybunpark on 12 July 2009 as Basel won 1–0 against St. Gallen. He scored his first goal for his new club in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 20 February 2010. It was the winning goal of the match as Basel won 2–1 against

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the d ...

. Basel joined the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spai ...

in the second qualifying round. Basel advanced to the group stage, in which despite winning three of the six games the ended in third position and were eliminated. They finished four points behind group winners

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

and one behind

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, against whom they lost 3–2 in the last game of the stage. Atan played the full 90 minutes. At the end of the 2009–10 season he won the

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

with his club. They won the League Championship title with 3 points advantage over second placed Young Boys. The team won the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, winning the final 6–0 against Lausanne-Sport. Basel started in the

2010–11 UEFA Champions League The 2010–11 UEFA Champions League was the 56th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 19th under the UEFA Champions League format. The final was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 28 May 2011, where Ba ...

third qualifying round and advanced to the group stage, but ended the group in third position. Therefore, they dropped to the 2010–11 Europa League knockout phase, but here they were eliminated by Spartak Moscow. Atan played in six of the 10 Champions League matches, scoring a goal in the qualification game against Hungarian team

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

. He also played in 10 of the 18 domestic league matches in the first half of the season, however, in the second half of the season he was no longer considered by head coach Fink. With Basel, Atan won his second Swiss Championship at the end of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. The club decided not to extend Atan's contract. In his two seasons with the club, Atan played a total of 92 games for Basel scoring a total of four goals. 44 of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

, five in the

, 16 in the

UEFA competitions UEFA competitions (), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur association football and futsal. Th ...

and 27 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league, one in the Champions League and the other two were scored during the test games.

2011–2015: Later career

On 18 August 2011, it was announced tha Atan had joined the Turkish club Mersin İdman Yurdu, which had been promoted to the

in the previous season. After just one season with Mersin İdman Yurdu, he left the club and moved within the league to newly promoted Akhisar Belediyespor. Unable to reach an agreement for a contract extension with his club during the summer, Atan moved to the second-tier team Gaziantep BB. However, he left Gaziantep BB during the next mid-season and instead joined league rival Manisaspor. Following the 2014–15 season, he retired from his career.

International career

On 18 February 2004 Çağdaş wore the Turkey national team jersey for the first time in a match against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

.On 31 March 2004, he scored his first national team goal in a friendly match against

. He also played for the

Turkey national under-21 football team The Turkey national Under-21 football team (), also known as Turkey Under-21s or Turkey U-21s, is the Under-21 years of age team of the Turkey national football team. History This team is for Turkish players aged 21 or under at the start of a tw ...

3 times and scored 1 goal.

Managerial career

Early career

In 2016 Atan started several tenures as assistant manager under

Sergen Yalçın Ali Rıza Sergen Yalçın (; born 5 November 1972), known as Sergen Yalçın, Turkish professional football manager and former player. Yalçın is the first individual in Turkish football to win the Süper Lig both as ...

in various clubs. In 2020, he had the opportunity to take charge of a football team for the first time and became the head coach of

. During his tenure, he successfully managed the team, finishing the

2020–21 Süper Lig The 2020–21 Süper Lig, officially called the Süper Lig 2020–21 season, was the 63rd season of the Süper Lig, the highest tier football league of Turkey. Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, ...

season in 7th place. On 15 June 2022, he continued his managerial career by signing with

. In his first season he led

to finish the

season under his leadership in 9th place. With his football knowledge and managerial abilities, Atan is considered as one of the important figures in

. In the 2023–24 season,

made a promising start by securing one win and three draws in their first four matches under the guidance of Atan. However, the team faced a challenge as the transfer window remained closed since the season's commencement. Atan consistently communicated his concerns to the club's board about the team's unaddressed transfer needs. On 6 September 2023 following the closure of the transfer window, Atan officially announced his departure from

via a statement posted on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

İstanbul Başakşehir

On 9 September 2023, After

Emre Belözoğlu Emre Belözoğlu (, born 7 September 1980), simply known as Emre, is a Turkish football manager and former professional player who is currently serving as the head coach of Antalyaspor. A midfielder, usually in a playmaker role, Belözoğlu cam ...

's departure, İstanbul Başakşehir announced the appointment of Atan as the new manager. On 11 September 2023, Atan signed an official contract with a duration of 2+1 years with the İstanbul Başakşehir. Atan took charge of a team facing significant challenges, as they were positioned at the bottom of the league table in 19th place and had not recorded any wins at the time of his appointment. Despite this difficult start, Atan implemented strategic changes and effectively motivated the squad, leading to a remarkable turnaround in the team's performance. By the end of the season, İstanbul Başakşehir finished in 4th place in the league, demonstrating Atan's managerial capabilities. This impressive rise not only secured the team a spot in the UEFA Conference League second qualifying round but also marked a successful campaign, laying a foundation for future growth. In the 2024–25 season, Atan led İstanbul Başakşehir into European competitions for the second consecutive year. The club successfully advanced through the

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

qualifying rounds, defeating La Fiorita (10–1 aggregate), Iberia 1999 (3–0 aggregate), and St Patrick’s Athletic (2–0 aggregate), reaching the league phase. Despite a strong start,

Başakşehir Başakşehir is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 107 km2, and its population is 514,900 (2022). It is in the European part of Istanbul. The district is home to İsta ...

struggled in the league phase, finishing 26th overall. Domestically, the team secured 5th place in the

with 54 points, earning another shot at European qualification. In the

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 ...

, Başakşehir competed in Group C, finishing 3rd behind

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club), commonly referred to as Konyaspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya, one of the largest cities in central Anatolia. Due to sponsorship agreements, the club is also officially known ...

and

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 ...

, although level on points and goal difference with

, they narrowly missed out on progression due to the fair play rule, having received one more yellow card. Atan’s second season demonstrated his consistency in guiding the club to European stages, while also reinforcing its competitive standing in Turkish football. On 29 May 2025 Recognizing the consistent progress under Atan’s leadership, the club announced that the club extended Atan’s contract for two more years. The signing ceremony, marking the extension of his tenure, was held with the participation of club president Gümüşdağ, board members, and players. Under Atan, Başakşehir has continued to strengthen its institutional structure and competitive presence in both domestic and European football.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Turkey's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Atan goal.''

Managerial Statistics

Honours

Player

Beşiktaş

(1): 2005–06

Basel

(1): 2009–10 *

(1): 2009–10

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atan, Cagdas 1980 births Footballers from İzmir Living people Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Turkey men's B international footballers Men's association football central defenders Altay S.K. footballers Denizlispor footballers Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Trabzonspor footballers FC Energie Cottbus players FC Basel players Mersin Talim Yurdu footballers Akhisarspor footballers Gaziantep F.K. footballers Manisaspor footballers Süper Lig players Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players Swiss 1. Liga (football) players TFF 1. Lig players Turkish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Beşiktaş J.K. non-playing staff Turkish football managers Alanyaspor managers Kayserispor managers Süper Lig managers 21st-century Turkish sportsmen