Mehmet Aurélio (born 15 December 1977), originally Marco Aurélio Brito dos Prazeres, is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Formed at

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

, where he made over 100 appearances, Aurélio spent most of his career in Turkey, making 254

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 ...

appearances and scoring 29 goals for

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 ...

, Fenerbahçe and

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 ...

, winning three league titles with the second of them. He also played two seasons in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

for

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. Born in Brazil, Aurélio was naturalised as a Turkish citzen and made 44 appearances for the Turkey national team between 2006 and 2011, scoring twice and reaching the semi-finals of

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

. From 2015 onwards, he coached several lower-league clubs in Turkey.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Aurélio began his career at Bangu before playing for hometown club

from 1995 to 2001. He signed for Olaria in 2001 and later that year joined

in the Turkish

, where he won 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 ...

in 2003.

Fenerbahçe

In 2003, Marco Aurélio signed for Fenerbahçe from

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. He played 218 games over five years, scoring 18 goals and assisting 35. He helped them win the league in 2004, 2005 and 2007, the last of those coming in the club's centenary. He highlighted the quarter-final win over Chelsea in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

in 2007–08 as a career highlight, although the English club won the tie over two legs.

Real Betis

In July 2008, Spanish

club

signed Mehmet Aurélio on a three-year deal. He played 29 games and scored 4 goals in his first season – including two in a 4–2 win at Numancia on 9 November – as his team suffered relegation. From April to November 2009, he was sidelined with a right knee ligament injury. Club owner Manuel Ruiz de Lopera described his team as the "

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

of the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

", but they did not achieve promotion in 2009–10. Mehmet Aurélio described his time in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

as a low point of his career.

Beşiktaş and Olaria

In August 2010, Mehmet Aurélio returned to Istanbul, signing for

on a two-year deal on a free transfer. On 11 May 2011, he converted his

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

the shootout The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium is an annual non-championship pre-season NASCAR Cup Series exhibition event held in February before the season-opening Daytona 500. The event was held each year at Daytona International Speedway from the ...

as his team won the

against

İstanbul BB Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

(4–3, 2–2 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

). His contract expired in the summer of 2012. Mehmet Aurélio signed with his former club Olaria on 1 March 2013, where he retired at the end of the season.

International career

In July 2006, after five years of work in Turkey, Marco Aurélio was naturalised as a citizen of the country and adopted the given name Mehmet. He was immediately called up by the

Turkey 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 ...

for a friendly against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, where he would become the first naturalised player to represent the nation. Mehmet Aurélio started in the 1–0 win at the

Stade Josy Barthel The Stade Josy Barthel is the former national stadium of Luxembourg, and the former home of the Luxembourg national football team. The stadium, which also hosted rugby union and athletics events, is located on route d'Arlon, in the Luxembourg ...

on 16 August. His debut caused controversy in Turkish society. Columnist wrote in ''

Daily Sabah The ''Daily Sabah'' () is a Turkish pro-government daily newspaper published in Turkey. Available in English and owned by Turkuvaz Media Group, ''Daily Sabah'' published its first issue on 24 February 2014. Since 2018, the editor-in-chief is � ...

'' that integration was a Turkish tradition, dating back to the ''

Devshirme Devshirme (, usually translated as "child levy" or "blood tax", , .) was the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of Islam ...

'' abductions of Christian children by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. Chief referee argued with manager

Fatih Terim Fatih Terim (born 4 September 1953) is a Turkish people, Turkish professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. He is the manager of Saudi Pro League club Al Shabab FC (Riyadh), Al-Shabab ...

that it was a "degradation" of the national team. Some Turkish liberals mentioned that Bulgarian-born Olympic weightlifter

Naim Süleymanoğlu Naim Süleymanoğlu (; 23 January 1967 – 18 November 2017) was a Bulgarian Turks, Turkish Olympic weightlifting, Olympic weightlifter. He was a seven-time World Weightlifting Championships, World Weightlifting champion and a three-time Lis ...

was welcomed by Turkish society; when people countered that Süleymanoğlu was an ethnic Turk and a Muslim, it was brought up that the Turkish constitution does not discriminate by race and religion. On 12 September 2007, Mehmet Aurélio scored his first international goal in a 3–0 home win over

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

. At the finals in Austria and Switzerland, he played every minute of the group stage. Having been booked in the latter two games – wins against

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 ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

– he was suspended for the quarter-final that his team won on penalties 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 ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He returned for the semi-finals, where his team lost 3–2 to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Managerial career

Mehmet Aurélio returned to Turkey in April 2015 as assistant manager to

Önder Özen Zeki Önder Özen (born 17 October 1969 in Eskişehir) is a Turkish football coach and former player. He managed Bugsaş Spor and had been an assistant coach and match analyst of Fenerbahçe. He qualified for a coaching license in 1997. He has ...

at Kasımpaşa, later joining him at Göztepe. Following Özen's resignation, Mehmet Aurélio managed the latter club for the final seven games of the

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig (), currently referred to as Trendyol 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization ...

season, debuting on 10 April 2016 with a 2–0 home win over

Karşıyaka Karşıyaka () is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 51 km2, and its population is 346,264 (2022). The district extends for twelve kilometres along the northern and eastern coastline of the tip of the Gulf of ...

. After a spell as assistant at

Sakaryaspor Sakaryaspor Kulübü Derneği is a Turkish professional football club playing in the TFF First League, which is the second level of Turkish football. History The club was formed in 1965 after the merger of ''Adapazarı Gençlerbirliği'', ''Adap ...

, Mehmet Aurélio managed

Çorumspor Çorumspor is a Turkish football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' g ...

in the

TFF Third League The TFF 3. Lig (), currently referred to as Nesine 3. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in the 2001–02 season as a continuation of then third level division Turkish Third Foot ...

from September 2018 until the following January. He won 9 and drew 1 of his 18 games and his team were in 4th place. In May 2020, Mehmet Aurélio returned to Fenerbahçe as assistant manager, graduating to technical director two years later. In May 2024, he became assistant manager at

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...

Alex Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people * Al ...

, a Brazilian who was his teammate at Fenerbahçe.

Career statistics

Honours

Trabzonspor *

: 2002–03 Fenerbahçe *

: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07 *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup, known as Turkcell Super Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a super cup tournament in Turkish football. Founded in 1966 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2025 by four teams: the winners ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Beşiktaş *Turkish Cup:

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 ...

Turkey *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

bronze medalist:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

References

External links

* * *
CBF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurelio, Mehmet 1977 births Living people Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian men's footballers Naturalized citizens of Turkey Naturalised association football players Brazilian emigrants to Turkey Turkish people of Brazilian descent Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers UEFA Euro 2008 players Expatriate men's footballers in Spain La Liga players Real Betis players Men's association football midfielders Olaria Atlético Clube players CR Flamengo footballers Süper Lig players Trabzonspor footballers Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. (football) non-playing staff Turkish expatriate men's footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian football managers Turkish football managers Antalyaspor non-playing staff TFF 1. Lig managers