Okan Buruk

Okan Buruk (born 19 October 1973) is a Turkish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Süper Lig club Galatasaray.

As a former midfielder, Buruk played for Galatasaray, Inter Milan, Beşiktaş, and İstanbul Başakşehir. He was capped 56 times for the Turkey national team. Buruk represented the nation at UEFA Euro 2000, and was part of the Turkey squad which earned a bronze medal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

As a manager, he won the Turkish Süper Lig title with Istanbul Başakşehir in 2019–20, with Galatasaray in 2022–2023 and 2023–2024.

Club career
Okan Buruk played for Turkish giants Galatasaray between 1991 and 2001, winning six Turkish Süper Lig titles and the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup. He was also named man of the match as Galatasary upset Real Madrid 2–1 to win the 2000 UEFA Super Cup.

Inter Milan
In 2001, he was signed by Italian Serie A club Inter Milan along with his teammate Emre, where he played for three years. On August 26, 2001, Okan made his debut against Perugia coming in as a substitute for Clarence Seedorf. He made his first UEFA Champions League appearance for Inter in a home game win against Ajax on September 25, 2002.

On October 21, 2001, in the derby game against Fatih Terim's Milan, Okan made the assist to Mohamed Kallon where Inter lost their home game 4–2 against their rivals.

Okan scored his first goal on the 89th minute helping his team to earn a 2–2 draw in an away game against Roma on November 16, 2002. Okan was a non-stop running player with energy; he mentioned that his former coach Hector Cuper yelled at him from the bench that he should stay at his position.

Besiktas
He played two seasons for Beşiktaş and he won the Turkish Cup in 2006.

Return to Galatasaray
In July 2006, Okan made his return to his former club Galatasaray by signing a two-year contract. After becoming Süper Lig winners in 2007–08 season his contract was not extended and Okan left the club.

İstanbul Başakşehir
After his contract expired with Galatasaray, Okan joined İstanbul B.B. in July 2008 for a two-year deal.

Retirement
On May 22, 2010, he retired as a player after a friendly game against Czech Republic in Leipzig.

International career
Okan made 56 appearances for the Turkey national team, representing the country at UEFA Euro 2000 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He scored Turkey's first ever Euro goal, the equaliser of Euro 2000 in a 2–1 loss to Italy in Arnhem. Okan was also part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad, but due to an injury he made his only appearance as a substitute in the 3–2 win against host nation South Korea in the third-place play-off.

Managerial career
After his playing career, Okan became a professional manager. On 10 May 2018, he guided Akhisarspor to their second trophy in their history, the 2017–18 Turkish Cup.

After Akhisarspor, he managed Çaykur Rizespor from 2018 until 2019, before becoming the new manager of İstanbul Başakşehir on 11 June 2019. In his first season in charge, Buruk guided the club to their first ever league title.

In early 2021, he left İstanbul Başakşehir on "mutual agreement" after a string of poor results by the club under his management in the 2020–21 Süper Lig season.

2022–23 season
On 21 June 2022, Okan Buruk arrived in Istanbul from France for negotiations, and the next day, on 22 June 2022, it was officially announced to the public through KAP (Public Disclosure Platform) that he would be joining Galatasaray. On 23 June 2022, Galatasaray signed a two-year deal with Okan Buruk, with an option for an additional year.

Under Buruk's coaching, Galatasaray achieved an impressive 14-game winning streak, setting a new record for the most consecutive wins in the league and also the longest winning streak in the club's history.

With just two weeks remaining in the 2022–23 season, Okan Buruk led the team to secure the championship, marking his second Süper Lig title in his coaching career.

2023–24 season
During the 2023–24 season, Galatasaray successfully secured a spot in the Champions League group stage by overcoming three challenging qualifying rounds. Following a 0–0 draw with Kayserispor in the opening week of the league, the team impressively clinched victory in ten consecutive league matches. The club eventually achieved a record of 102 points in the 2023–24 Süper Lig, clinching their second consecutive title under Buruk.

2024–25 season
On 7 June 2024, it was announced that a new 2-year contract was signed with Galatasaray.

Personal life
He is originally from Akçaabat, Trabzon. He married model and former Miss Turkey and Top Model of the World 2003 winner Nihan Akkuş on 3 July 2007. His brother, Fuat, was also a professional footballer and currently a coach.

Club
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International
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Player
Galatasaray
 * UEFA Cup: 1999–2000
 * UEFA Super Cup: 2000
 * Süper Lig: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2007–08
 * Turkish Cup: 1992–93, 1995–96, 1998–99, 1999–2000
 * Turkish Super Cup: 1993, 1996, 1997

Beşiktaş
 * Turkish Cup: 2005–06

Turkey
 * FIFA World Cup third place: 2002

Individual
 * UEFA Super Cup Man of the Match: 2000

Manager
Akhisarspor
 * Turkish Cup: 2017–18

İstanbul Başakşehir
 * Süper Lig: 2019–20

Galatasaray
 * Süper Lig: 2022–23, 2023–24
 * Turkish Super Cup: 2023