Sergen Yalçın

Sergen Yalçın — Biography

Known professionally as Sergen Yalçın (full name Ali Rıza Sergen Yalçın), born 5 November 1972 in Istanbul, he is regarded as one of Turkish football's most gifted attacking midfielders and later became a manager and television pundit. He is one of only two players — alongside Burak Yılmaz — to have represented all four of Turkey's traditional giants: Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor.

Joining Beşiktaş's academy, Yalçın rose to the first team in 1991 and won two league titles and a Turkish Cup with the club. A 1997 move to İstanbulspor led to loan spells at Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor, adding two more league titles with Galatasaray. Back at Beşiktaş from 2002, he scored the goal that clinched the title in the club's centenary season, won the Turkish Cup in 2006, and closed out his playing days at Eskişehirspor in 2008 after a spell at Etimesgut Şekerspor. He also earned caps for the Turkey national team, scoring five international goals.

Yalçın moved into coaching at Beşiktaş's youth academy in 2004, guiding its U-15 and U-21 sides before taking his first senior job at Gaziantepspor in 2013. After stints at Sivasspor, Kayserispor, Eskişehirspor, Konyaspor, Alanyaspor and Yeni Malatyaspor, he was appointed Beşiktaş head coach in January 2020 and led the club to a league-and-cup double in 2020–21, becoming the only person in Beşiktaş history to win the Süper Lig as both a player and a manager. He stepped down in December 2021, had a half-season spell at Antalyaspor in 2024, and returned to Beşiktaş for a third spell in August 2025 before departing in May 2026, after which he continued to appear as a football commentator.