Alparslan Erdem

Alparslan Erdem — Biography

Alparslan Erdem is a Turkish-German former footballer and coach, born on December 11, 1988, in Vechta, Germany, where he grew up; he played as a left-back. He started playing at the age of five with Varnesch, then played for Lutten, SFN Vechta and Blau-Weiß Lohne before joining Werder Bremen's academy in 2003 and being promoted to the club's third-division youth side in 2007.

He moved to Galatasaray at the start of the 2008-09 season, came on as a substitute for his first official Süper Lig appearance against Kocaelispor and set up a goal for Milan Baroš, and won the Turkish Super Cup with the club that year. On January 18, 2010, he signed a two-and-a-half-season deal with Gençlerbirliği, before moving to Bucaspor at the start of 2011-12, to İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor (now İstanbul Başakşehir) in the summer of 2013 and to Fatih Karagümrük in the summer of 2019. He also played for Kayserispor during his career. He won 8 caps for Turkey's under-21 side and 1 for the Turkey A2 team.

After retiring as a player he moved into coaching, taking charge of Fatih Karagümrük in May 2023 and staying until December 2023, then managing Macedonian First Football League club KF Shkupi. In July 2026, sixteen years after leaving the club, he returned to Galatasaray, this time as head coach of the under-19 side.