Oktay Mahmuti

Oktay Mahmuti — Biography

Oktay Mahmuti is a basketball coach known for the strong team defense of the sides he has led. Four league titles with Efes Pilsen, the EuroCup Coach of the Year award at Benetton Treviso and Galatasaray's first EuroLeague season are the main marks of his career. His second spell at Galatasaray ended in 2018.

Born in Skopje, he was interested in football as a young man but turned to basketball from middle school, and began coaching at twenty after military service. He graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy at Istanbul University and, modeling himself on Božidar Maljković, came to Turkey in October 1991. In 1992-93 he joined Efes Pilsen as an assistant coach, and with Aydın Örs and Ergin Ataman laid the groundwork of the club's 1990s approach. In February 2001 he replaced Ataman as head coach, took the team to third place in the SuproLeague, won the league four years running (2002-2005) and reached the EuroLeague quarter-finals twice. He left in 2007 with 86 wins in 138 European games for Efes.

At Benetton Treviso (2007-2009) he reached the EuroCup quarter-finals. At Galatasaray from 2010 to 2012 he reached the league play-off final, won the 2011 President's Cup, and led the team into the EuroLeague for the first time in the club's history. At Anadolu Efes he reached the EuroLeague quarter-finals in 2012-13; the contract was ended by mutual consent in December 2013. He coached Darüşşafaka Doğuş from 2014 to 2016 and returned to Galatasaray in January 2018, leaving in July. In 2026 he looked back on his career in an interview series by journalist Naci Özonay on Basketfaul.