Tolunay Kafkas

Tolunay Kafkas — Biography

Hakkı Tolunay Kafkas was born in Ankara in 1968 and, standing 1.88 m tall, played as a midfielder for clubs including Denizlispor, Bursaspor, Galatasaray, Trabzonspor, Konyaspor and Erzurumspor, as well as Diyarbakırspor, Keçiörengücü and PTT, with his most successful years coming at Trabzonspor. He later played in Austria for Pasching, LASK and Admira Wacker before retiring in 2005, winning 35 caps for Turkey and taking part in UEFA Euro 1996; his honours include the Turkish Cup with Trabzonspor in 1994-95 and the league and cup double with Galatasaray in 1998-99. He moved into management at Kayserispor in 2007, winning the Turkish Cup in his first season and leading the club to a club-record fifth-place league finish. He went on to manage Gaziantepspor, serve as the Turkish federation's development director, take charge of Trabzonspor in 2013, and lead Kardemir Karabükspor to the club's first European campaign in 2013-14, narrowly losing a play-off to Saint-Étienne on penalties. Later posts included a second spell at Kayserispor, Akhisar Belediyespor, coaching Turkey's under-21 side from 2020 to 2023, and a stint at Ankaragücü that ended in October 2023, followed by Fatih Karagümrük. He now also works as a television football pundit.