Fenerbahçe coach Aykut Kocaman resigns from post

ISTANBUL

Aykut Kocaman has previously resigned twice in his Fenerbahçe career. AA photo

Fenerbahçe coach Aykut Kocaman has submitted his resignation to the club’s board once again, Turkish media has reported.

Kocaman met with club chairman Aziz Yıldırım today and submitted his resignation, saying he was “exhausted,” daily Habertürk reported on its website.

Yıldırım’s response was not immediately unknown.

Board member Abdullah Kiğılı told the NTV news channel that the Istanbul club’s executives would hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss Kocaman’s resignation.

Kocaman has previously resigned twice in his Fenerbahçe career, but the board and players persuaded the Turkish coach to remain in his post after those attempts.

Most recently, Kocaman announced his resignation from the post after a 3-1 Spor Toto Super League defeat at the hands of Kardemir Karabükspor in December 2012, but later in the night, the players went to his house and pleaded with him to continue in his post. Kocaman later announced he would continue.

Turkish Cup run

Kocaman subsequently oversaw one of Fenerbahçe’s most successful recent runs, leading the club to the semifinal of the Europa League and victory in the Ziraat Turkish Cup. However, Fenerbahçe finished the season as runner-up behind Galatasaray for the second consecutive year.

This year was another turbulent season for Fenerbahçe, especially after Kocaman and chairman Yıldırım deciding to part ways with fan favorite and club icon Alex de Souza of Brazil.

Kocaman’s Fenerbahçe highlight was winning the title over Trabzonspor in the 2010-2011 Super League campaign, thanks to a memorable run of 17 wins in the last 18 matches.

But that victory eventually became the subject of a match-fixing investigation. An Istanbul court later ruled that several Fenerbahçe board members, including Yıldırım, attempted to manipulate matches from that season and sentenced them to prison terms. However, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) decided that even though there were attempts to manipulate games, those efforts were not reflected on the pitch, and refused to punish any of the teams whose officials were charged with match-fixing. UEFA, however, refused to allow Fenerbahçe to participate in the subsequent Champions League, inviting Trabzonspor to compete in its place.

As a player, Kocaman spent eight years at Fenerbahçe, scoring 164 goals in 269 games to make him the club’s most successful marksman. With his periods at Sakaryaspor and Istanbulspor, where he retired, Kocaman scored 200 Turkish league goals, making him the fifth highest goal-scorer in Turkish football, behind Hakan Şükür (249), Tanju Çolak (240), Hami Mandıralı (219) and Metin Oktay (217).