Ersan Adem Gülüm (; born 17 May 1987) is a former professional

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 ...

who last played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for Preston Lions in the

NPL Victoria 3 The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian association football, soccer league based in Victoria (state), Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VP ...

and current president of Hume City FC. Born in Australia, Gülüm played for Australia at under-23 level before electing to represent

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in senior competition.

Early life

Gülüm grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Meadow Heights.

Career

Gülüm progressed up the ranks after playing exceptional football for Hume City as an 18-year-old. He was originally transferred to Turkish Super League team Manisaspor in 2005, after being spotted by Leading Teams Operations Manager Ezel Hikmet and referred to experienced Turkish coach

Ersun Yanal Kazım Ersun Yanal (, born 17 December 1961) is a Turkish football manager and former player. His style has always been attacking football doubled up with tactics unprecedented in Turkish football. He enjoys a very respectable place amongst Turki ...

whilst playing for and captaining the Australian School Boys team touring the United Kingdom. Impressed with the raw talent of the young defender, Gülüm was a part of the senior squad for the entire season as a backup defender, but only managed 2 Super League and 2 Turkish Cup matches. Gülüm was transferred to Elazigspor in February 2008, where he managed to play in every match, gaining a reputation as a strong left footed defender. After a solid second half of the season, Gülüm was transferred to Adanaspor for the 2008–09 signing a lucrative three-year deal, where he played 30 League matches and was rewarded for his great form by being selected in the team of the year as the best central defender in the competition. On 17 July 2010, despite being heavily linked with Galatasaray, Gülüm transferred to rival Turkish club

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 ...

with Adanaspor acquiring an option to loan Gülüm back for one season. After he had a productive season with Beşiktaş, they acquired Gülüm's full rights for a fee of €4 million. ErsanGulumAUFC

On 17 July 2017, Gülüm transferred to Adelaide United on a season long loan from Hebei China Fortune Adelaide United announced that Gülüm had returned to Hebei China Fortune after making 22 appearances on loan to the Adelaide club. In November 2018, Gülüm returned to Melbourne, joining Victorian State League Division 1 side Whittlesea United as player-manager. On 7 May 2019, Gülüm signed for new A-League club Western United for the upcoming 2019–20 A-League season.

International career

Gülüm was born in Australia to Turkish parents, meaning that he was eligible to play for Australia and Turkey from birth as per the FIFA eligibility criteria.

Australia under-23s

Gülüm was involved in Australia's qualifying campaign for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, he made his international debut for the Australia national under-23 association football team as an 84th-minute substitute replacing Ruben Zadkovich on 6 June 2007 away to Jordan in Ammam. In November 2010, it was speculated that he would be selected for Australia's friendly against Egypt. After the call-up did not come, Gülüm chose to represent Turkey and said that he often felt overlooked by

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...

: "For me it has been a case of being overlooked at all levels in the past for Australia, for whatever the reason has been."

Turkey

Former Australia head coach

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

swooped and added Gülüm to the Turkish squad scheduled to play the Netherlands on 17 November 2010, although he did not make his international debut for the Crescent Stars in that match. The following month, Australia coach Osieck had met with Gülüm while the Australian men's team was touring Europe and stated that Gülüm was "very positive" about representing Australia. Gülüm was named on the 50-man shortlist for Australia's

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the secon ...

campaign, but was not selected in the final 23-man squad. Osieck told the press that Gülüm's father "said Ersan should opt for Turkey because he plays in Turkey and makes his living there and they both feel a lot of pressure from the Turkish media and the Besiktas supporters". When Gülüm was again called up to the Turkey national team in November 2012, this time by Abdullah Avcı he said he was proud to be a part of the national team. He was left off the team on the roster when the team played

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

on 12 October 2012. He was an unused sub in Turkey's 6 September 2013 match against

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

. He made his first appearance for Turkey as a 90th-minute substitute on 10 September 2013 in a

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

qualifying game against

Honours

;Beşiktaş *

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 ...

: 2015–16, 2016–17 * Türkiye Kupası: 2010–11

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gulum, Ersan 1987 births Living people Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Australian people of Turkish descent Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Hume City FC players Manisaspor footballers Elazığspor footballers Adanaspor footballers Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Hebei F.C. players Adelaide United FC players Western United FC players Süper Lig players A-League Men players Chinese Super League players Expatriate men's footballers in China Men's association football central defenders People from the City of Hume Soccer players from Melbourne Turkish expatriate men's footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in China Australian expatriate sportspeople in China Australia men's youth international soccer players 21st-century Turkish sportsmen 21st-century Australian sportsmen