Ünal Aysal (, born 2 June 1941) is a Turkish businessman. He was the chairman of

Galatasaray S.K. 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 ...

Business career

He graduated from

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School (, ), established in Istanbul in 1481, is the oldest and Selective school, highly selective high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational institution after Istanbul University, which was establi ...

in 1961. He then studied law at

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

and later at

University of Neuchâtel The University of Neuchâtel (UniNE) is a French-speaking public research university in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The university has four faculties (schools) and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Aysal worked with

Koç Holding Koç Holding A.Ş. () is a Turkish multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. It operates as the country's largest company, and the only to be listed on the Fortune Global 500 as of 2024. Koç Holding's contributio ...

in 1970-72 as the coordinator of the Ram Foreign Trade company and established the Unit International firm in 1974 in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Aysal has been involved in the oil business and

electric power industry The electric power industry covers the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electric power to the general public and industry. The commercial distribution of electric power started in 1882 when electricity was produced for elec ...

, since 1984. He is currently the head of the Unit Group, which comprises 23 companies. He was honored in 1999 by the

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

as the best representative of Turkish businesses abroad. As of 2011, his net worth is around $1 billion.

Galatasaray S.K.

On 14 May 2011, Aysal replaced

Adnan Polat Adnan Polat (born 1953 in Erzurum) is a Turkish businessman, manager and former president of Galatasaray SC. He graduated from Işık High School in 1971 and Long Island University Business Management department in 1976. He started working in t ...

to become the 34th president of Galatasaray, with a record of highest majority of votes in the 106-year-history of Galatasaray, winning 2998 of the 4019 votes cast. The previous record was set by outgoing

, who won 2944 of the 5234 votes during the chairmanship election in March 2008. Aysal's main target was to turn the fortunes of the club's Football team around, as well as changing the club's financial fortunes around. He brought in Former Coach Fatih Terim with which the club has achieved previous Domestic and European success to lead the shake up of the squad to help compete at the highest level again.

Trophies won by club during presidency

Football

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 ...

(2): 2011–12,Galatasaray: The 2012 Champion!
Galatasaray.org

2012–13 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 ...

* Süper Kupa (2):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* Türkiye Kupası (1): 2013–14

Men's Basketball

Turkish Basketball League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

(1): 2012–2013

Women's Basketball

* EuroLeague Women (1): 2013-14 *

Turkish Women's Basketball League The Turkish Women's Basketball League (, TKBL), is Turkish basketball league system, the second-tier level women's professional basketball division of the Turkish women's basketball league system. The league was established in 1980 and is orga ...

(1): 2013-2014 *

Turkish Women's Cup Basketball The Turkish Women's Basketball Cup ( Turkish: ''Basketbol Kadınlar Türkiye Kupası''), also known as Bitci Turkish Women's Basketball Cup for sponsporship reasons, is a basketball cup competition in Turkish basketball, run by the Turkish Basketb ...

(3): 2011–2012, 2012–2013, 2013–2014 * Turkish President Cup (1): 2011-12

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aysal, Unal 1941 births Living people Galatasaray S.K. presidents Galatasaray High School alumni Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Businesspeople from Istanbul University of Neuchâtel alumni 20th-century Turkish businesspeople 21st-century Turkish businesspeople