Ertuğrul Sağlam (born 19 November 19 1969) is a Turkish football coach and former player. He was recently voted one of the top 20 most promising coaches by respected football magazine Champions. He previously managed Besiktas for a short period, and now manages Bursaspor who also play in the Turkish Süper Lig.

Playing career

As a player he scored 11 goals in 26 caps for Turkey, and was selected for the Euro 1996 squad. He played for Fenerbahçe PAF, Gaziantepspor, Samsunspor and Beşiktaş J.K. between 1990 and 2003. When he was transferred from Samsunspor to Beşiktaş, he had been the biggest signing of all time. For the transfer, his former club was paid 70 Billion TL, equivalent to around 3 Million Dollars, at 1994. For the time being, that amount of money was unprecedented in Turkish Football history. He played as an offensive midfielder and as a striker before joining Beşiktaş. But John Toshack used Ertuğrul as a central defender. He was quite successful in that position too. After he was traded in exchange with defender Erman Güraçar from Samsunspor, he could not stop his tears at the airport. In his six years in Besiktas, he scored 103 goals in 167 games.

Managerial career

After retiring from football, his first managerial role was with Samsunspor. After a year in charge he took over at Kayserispor in 2005. In his first season with Kayseri he led the club to a fifth place finish in the Süper Lig. Through their league position they earned a place in the now defunct Intertoto Cup in 2006; the clubs first ever European competition. Kayseri won the Intertoto Cup 2006 defeating MFC Sopron and Larissa along the way. They advanced to the qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, now the Europa League. In the UEFA Cup Kayserispor beat Albanian side KF Tirana but were then eliminated by AZ Alkmaar 4-3 on aggregate.

In 2007 Sağlam became the manager of Turkish giants Beşiktaş. However, he became a part of football history when his team lost 8-0 away game to Liverpool in November 2007. On 7 October 2008, Ertuğrul resigned from Besiktas.

He is currently the coach of Bursaspor. Going into December 2009, in gameweek 14, Bursaspor are second in the table, between Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, and sit on 29 points. They have recorded a 1-0 victory over Galatasaray, as well as an astounding 6-0 victory over Istanbul B.B..

Honours

Managerial

• Kayserispor
  • 2006 Intertoto Cup: Winner

References

1. Ertuğrul Sağlam to coach Beşiktaş