Mustafa Denizli

Who is Mustafa Denizli?

Mustafa Denizli is a former Turkish football player and now a coach who currently manages Khazar Lankaran. He has managed many Turkish notable football clubs, including "Istanbul Big Three" and has won the Süper Lig title three times. He is currently the only manager in history to win the Süper Lig with three different clubs. He also has worked in outside of Turkey, Alemannia Aachen in Germany, Pas and Persepolis in Iran and Khazar Lankaran in Azerbaijan. He managed the Turkish national team for four years and reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2000. On 23 December 2011, he was returned to his former club, Persepolis but was resigned at the end of the season. He spent 17 years with his hometown club Altay in İzmir, gaining a reputation as one of the best left-sided forwards in the league.

In 1980, he became topscorer with 12 goals. Denizli transferred then in 1983 to Galatasaray after Altay's relegation in 1982–83 season, but retired at the end of the season 1983–84 from active sport. During his playing time, he was capped 33 times for the national team. He started his next career as the assistant coach to German Jupp Derwall and served three years in this position at Galatasaray. In 1987, he took over his master’s position as head coach of the club and won the Süper Lig in the same year. For the same season, Denizli was appointed caretaker head coach of the Turkish national football team. In the season 1988–89, he reached the semi-finals of the European Cup with Galatasaray, but the road to the final was blocked by Steaua Bucuresti.