Selçuk İnan

Selçuk İnan — Biography

Selçuk İnan is a midfield playmaker known for his free kicks, remembered as one of Galatasaray's captains and now a head coach. In nine seasons at Galatasaray he won four Süper Lig titles, three Turkish Cups and five Turkish Super Cups; he earned more than 60 caps for Turkey and his free-kick goal against Iceland proved decisive in Turkey's qualification for Euro 2016. He is now in charge of Kocaelispor.

He grew up in İskenderun as the only son among five children of a grocer, started out in amateur football at Karaağaç Belediyespor, moved to Çanakkale Dardanelspor at 14 and reached the first team in 2002. At the 2006 mid-season break he joined Ersun Yanal's Manisaspor, almost captained them, but could not stop relegation. In 2008 he moved for 2 million euros to Trabzonspor, again under Yanal, took the number 8 shirt, scored the club's 2,000th league goal, and set up Umut Bulut's equalizer against Fenerbahçe in the 2009-10 Turkish Cup final. In 2011 he joined Galatasaray on a free transfer; his midfield partnership with Felipe Melo delivered the title in his first season, when he scored 13 goals and made 16 assists, and fans nicknamed him "Xelçuk" after Xavi.

He retired in 2020 and spent two years as Fatih Terim's assistant. He began as a head coach at Kasımpaşa, then managed Gaziantep FK and finally Kocaelispor, where he signed a new three-year contract.