Bülent Eken (26 October 1923 – 25 July 2016) was a Turkish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and coach. After his club career he became a manager and served as a coach for several Turkish clubs.and also for

Turkish national football team The Turkey national football team (), recognized as Türkiye by FIFA and UEFA, represents Turkey in men's international Association football, football matches. The team is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation (), the governing body for ...

Career

Club career

Bülent Eken began his career in 1942 with Galatasaray's A Team. He played as a right-back, left-back, center-back, winger, midfielder, and even as a goalkeeper in this club. Eken won an Istanbul League Championship with Galatasaray. In 1950, he transferred to

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

in Italy and later played one season with

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

. He returned to

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 ...

in 1953 and retired from football a year later.

International career

Eken played 13 times for the national team. He represented his country at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

and the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

. He scored a goal once while being part of the national team, in a match where

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

was defeated 7:0 in the qualifiers of World Cup 1954.

Managerial career

After retiring from football, he received coaching education in Italy. In 1963, he managed the

. In 1967, he went to Turkey as an assistant coach for Galatasaray SK. Eken later served as a coach for clubs such as Karşıyaka,

Göztepe SK Göztepe (''watch hill'' in Turkish) may refer to: *Göztepe, Kadıköy Göztepe is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Kadıköy, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 40,858 (2022). The name, literally meaning "eye hill" i ...

, Altay,

İzmirspor İzmirspor is а Turkish football club based in İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the ...

Vefa SK Vefa SK is a football club in Vefa, neighborhood of the Fatih ( Eminönü between 1928 and 2008) district of Istanbul. The team currently competing at Bölgesel Amatör Lig 1st Grup which is 5th level of Turkish leagues. Vefa SK is the first a ...

Adanaspor Adanaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Adana; currently, they play in the TFF First League. The club was founded in 1954 by middle-class merchants and artisans in response to their perceived ali ...

Orduspor Orduspor is a Turkish football club founded in 1967. The club is located in Ordu, Turkey and played their home games at 19 Eylül Stadium. The team managed to qualify for the Turkish Super League again in 2011. But the last spell in top level ...

, and Rizespor.

Family and death

He was the brother of former Galatasaray footballers Danyal Vuran and Reha Eken. Eken died on 25 July 2016, nineteen days after the death of his teammate

Turgay Şeren Turkay Sabit Şeren (15 May 1932 – 7 July 2016) was a Turkish football player, who was a one-time goalkeeper of Galatasaray. He played for Galatasaray between 1947 and 1966 and was capped 52 times for Turkey, including two matches at the 195 ...

Honours

Galatasaray *

Istanbul Football League The Istanbul Football League () was founded as a regional association football, football league under the name Constantinople Football Association League by James La Fontaine and Henry Pears in Istanbul, the capital of the former Ottoman Empire, ...

: 1948–49, 1954–55

References

1923 births 2016 deaths Turkish men's footballers Turkish football managers Turkish expatriate men's footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Serie A managers 1954 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players Serie B players US Salernitana 1919 players Palermo FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Turkey men's international footballers Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Turkey Turkey national football team managers Karşıyaka S.K. managers Beyoğluspor managers Fatih Karagümrük S.K. managers Men's association football defenders Footballers from Mersin İzmirspor managers Burials at Ayazağa Cemetery 20th-century Turkish sportsmen {{Turkey-footy-defender-stub