Yılmaz Özlem

Yılmaz Özlem — Biography

Yılmaz Özlem is a defensive midfielder known for a combative and at times fiery style of play, who went into coaching after he stopped playing. He had the best spell of his career at Ankaragücü and is remembered as the captain of the Bucaspor side that took the club into the second tier for the first time. He was born in Bulgaria.

He began in the youth ranks of Merinosspor; in his early years he played center-back, then moved to a more defensive midfield role and established himself there. After strong displays at Gaziantepspor and Adana Demirspor he joined MKE Ankaragücü. His aggressive play against Deportivo Alavés in the UEFA Cup was remembered. As he got older he moved to Manisaspor, then to Diyarbakırspor and Adanaspor; with Adanaspor he won over supporters with a free kick against their arch-rivals Adana Demirspor.

At Bucaspor, where he arrived at the start of 2008-09, he became captain in his first year, scored 11 goals and led the team to the first-ever promotion to the 1. Lig in the club's 81-year history; in 2009-10 he celebrated going up to the Süper Lig with Bucaspor. When coach Bülent Uygun did not count on him for 2010-11 he moved to Göztepe, the contract was terminated by mutual consent on January 2, 2011, and he retired at the end of the season. As a coach he took charge of Kahramanmaraşspor in 2013-14 and resigned on November 26, 2013; he also served as sporting director at Bandırmaspor and coached Ceyhanspor, Silifke Belediyespor, Göztepe and Ankaragücü.