Bülent Bölükbaşı

Bülent Bölükbaşı — Biography

Bülent Bölükbaşı is a Turkish former footballer and current football coach, born on 17 June 1976 in Adana, who also earned a cap for the Turkey national team. Educated at Adana Anadolu Lisesi, he took up football in 1986 with the youth ranks of Adana Gençlerbirliği and began his professional career at Adanaspor. He went on to play for Hatayspor, Konyaspor and Gaziantepspor, had a brief loan spell at Diyarbakırspor, and joined Kayserispor in 2004, where he enjoyed the finest years of his career, captained the side and became known to fans by the nickname "Büyük Kaptan" ("Great Captain"). With Kayserispor he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup and competed in the UEFA Cup, and on 31 March 2004 he won his only international cap, against Croatia.

Surgery on both heels forced him to end the 2006-07 season early. In the years that followed he played again for Gaziantepspor, then Kocaelispor, Konyaspor once more, Ankaraspor, Giresunspor and finally his hometown club Adanaspor, before retiring as a player in 2012. He then moved into coaching, taking his first head-coaching role at Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor before later serving as director of football at his former club Kayserispor. He was appointed head coach of Ümraniyespor in January 2025, left that post before the year was out, and took over as head coach of Sarıyer in May 2026.