Tufan Ersöz

Tufan Ersöz — Biography

Mehmet Tufan Ersöz is a former Turkish shooting guard who made his name above all in Galatasaray's yellow and red. Coming out of the Efes Pilsen youth system, he played for several clubs in the Turkish top flight and captained Galatasaray Cafe Crown. He stands 2.00 m tall.

He spent his youth years at Efes Pilsen, where he won four Turkish Cup titles at that level, and rose to the first team in 1998-99. On loan at Antalya Antbirlik in 2000-01 he drew attention by averaging 18 points a game; he then moved to Beşiktaş, became the team's top scorer in his first season and stayed two years. In 2003-04 he joined Galatasaray, averaged 12.4 points in 25 games and was the team's third-highest scorer. The next two seasons went to Darüşşafaka, where he struggled to fit the system, and to Tekelspor, which he left because of the club's financial trouble.

He returned to Galatasaray Cafe Crown in 2006-07 and had a very productive season, though serious injuries troubled him from the middle of it. In 2009 a suspended teammate played a preseason friendly in his shirt number and under his name, causing a major scandal; the federation gave Ersöz himself a four-month suspension, which ended on December 13, 2009. He played 67 games for the junior national team and also wore the colors of Olin Gençlik.