Tufan Ersöz

Tufan Ersöz — Biography

Mehmet Tufan Ersöz was born on 2 December 1980 in İzmir. A 2.00 m (6 ft 6 in) shooting guard, he came up through Efes Pilsen's youth system, winning four Turkish Cup titles before breaking into the club's first team in the 1998-99 season.

Loaned to Antalya Antbirlik for the 2000-01 season, he averaged around 18 points a game there before moving to Beşiktaş, where he became the team's top scorer over two seasons. He joined Galatasaray for 2003-04, finishing that season as the club's third-leading scorer, then played for Darüşşafaka and Tekelspor -- leaving the latter after it ran into financial trouble -- before returning to Galatasaray Cafe Crown for the 2006-07 season, where he went on to captain the team.

In 2009 he became linked to a jersey-swap scandal after teammate Cemal Nalga, serving a suspension, played a friendly match wearing Ersöz's number 7 shirt; Nalga received a two-year ban while Ersöz himself was suspended for four months, returning to action that December. He also played 67 matches for Turkey's junior national team over the course of his career.