Aykut Kocaman

Aykut Kocaman (, born 5 April 1965) is a former Turkish footballer, who played as a striker.

He is the former manager of İstanbul Başakşehir.

Before he made his debut 1980 with the amateur club Kabataş Altınmızrak in Istanbul, Kocaman performed gymnastics at the club Eczacıbaşı, winning 40 medals and reaching second place at the national level.

1984, he moved to Sakaryaspor in Adapazarı, Sakarya and turned professional.

In 1988, Kocaman signed a contract with Fenerbahçe, where he played and contributed much to the success of his club until he was transferred to Istanbulspor in 1996.

He is one of only five players who have scored 200 goals in Süper Lig history.

He was dismissed by Fenerbahçe despite his championship winning goal in the third from last game of the season against Trabzonspor.

Kocaman played four seasons for Istanbulspor before retirement in 2000.

Some say he played his last years to pass the 200 goal barrier.

He was famous for a special move, where he would ease a high-pass on his chest and rocket the ball to the goal.

In his playing years some fans named this move "Aykut" after him.

After his career as a player Kocaman served as manager of Istanbulspor for four successive seasons.

Uzan Family withdrew its support from Istanbulspor in 2001.

Because of this, Istanbulspor fell into financial crisis, and became 9th in 2002–03 finally in 2003.

In 2004, financial problems at Istanbulspor forced him to leave and he signed a two-year contract to coach Malatyaspor.

He resigned in March 2005 from his duty at Malatyaspor.

He coached Konyaspor in the 2005–06 season and Ankaraspor in the 2006–07 season.

He returned to Ankaraspor in the 2008–09 season.

He mentored the talented Turkish winger Özer Hurmacı and introduced him to professional football.

He became Fenerbahçe's Director of Football in the 2009–10 season.

On 26 June 2010, Kocaman was announced as Fenerbahçe's new manager, taking over from Germany's Christoph Daum.

Kocaman officialized his new role as team coach in a signing ceremony held at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium.

Fenerbahçe's President Aziz Yıldırım said; "Everyone knows Aykut Kocaman's place in the history of Fenerbahçe. We all know how the supporters and community appreciate him. It gives me pleasure to see what we expected to take place in three years to actually happen today".

Kocaman when joining as Fenerbahçe's Manager;

"There are no words to describe this moment. I highly appreciate the club's management for their utter support i am thrilled and excited. I hope this new role of mine will be beneficiary to both myself and Fenerbahçe. In my personal life, I am a fearless person. I am never afraid of anything, however, what worries me most is not living up to people's expectations. Apart from that, I don't have any other concern".

Kocaman Despite a bad start which included being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League in the third qualifying round by Young Boys and knocked out of the UEFA Europa League in the Play-off round by PAOK.

However, in January Fenerbahçe knocked out of the 2010–11 Türkiye Kupası in the group stage.

On 22 May 2011, Fenerbahçe won an 18th Süper Lig title in the 2010–11 season with a 4–3 win over Sivasspor moving ahead of the 17 titles won by arch-rivals Galatasaray.

Despite a 9-points deficit after 16 games, Fenerbahçe went on to an astonishing 17 wins and one draw from the last 18 games of the season and won the title with 82 points.

Trabzonspor also finished on 82 points but were held back to due head-to-head goal average in favor of Fenerbahçe.

Kocaman is the only name in Fenerbahçe history‚ who won the championship both as a player and as a manager.

In July 2011, as part of a major match-fixing investigation by authorities in Turkey, nearly 60 people suspected to be involved with fixing games were detained by İstanbul Police Department Organized Crime Control Bureau and then arrested by the court due to its involvement in the 2011 Turkish football match-fixing scandal.

On 19 July 2011, the TFF announced that the Turkish Super Cup game between Süper Lig champion Fenerbahçe and Türkiye Kupası winner Beşiktaş was postponed to an unknown date due to prosecution investigation.

As a consequence of the match-fixing allegations, UEFA demanded that Fenerbahçe withdraw from the 2011–12 Champions League.

The club refused but, under pressure from UEFA, the TFF withdrew them from the competition, giving Fenerbahçe's place to second-placed Trabzonspor.

On 5 September, Fenerbahçe have appointed the lawyers Emin Öztürk and Jean-Louis Dupont and opened a court case against UEFA and the TFF at the CAS over their exclusion from the Champions League.

The case is opened with a demand now for €45 million and reserving the right for more in connection with our material loss due to the said exclusion.

The following season, after this scandal Fenerbahçe on 12 September 2011 in the opening match of the Super Lig season, have a victory 1–0 against Orduspor.

On 16 September 2011 Süper Lig second round Fenerbahçe was winning against Gaziantepspor with score 3–1.

On 6 November 2020, the Turkish court declared all suspects innocent in the investigation.