Mehmet Özdilek

Mehmet Özdilek
Personal information
Full name Mehmet Özdilek
Date of birth (1966-04-01) 1 April 1966
Place of birth Samsun, Turkey
Height 1.67 m (5 ft 5 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Youth career
1981–1984 Samsun Ladikspor
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1988 Kahramanmaraşspor 107 (63)
1988–2001 Beşiktaş 387 (130)
Total 494 (193)
National team
1990–1997 Turkey 31 (0)
Teams managed
2003–2004 Malatyaspor
2008–2013 Antalyaspor
2013–2014 Gençlerbirliği
2014 Çaykur Rizespor
2015 Kayseri Erciyesspor
2015 Gençlerbirliği

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Mehmet Özdilek (2010)

Mehmet "Şifo" Özdilek (born 1 April 1966 in Samsun) Turkish football manager and retired player who is nicknamed as Şifo after Belgian star Enzo Scifo with whom he shared a similar playing style. Having spent most of his professional career with Beşiktaş, he is regarded as one of the idols of the İstanbul side. Şifo is one of the most prolific scorers of Turkish football despite playing mainly in midfield. During his Beşiktaş days he has managed to score 130 goals which was a record for most goals scored by a midfield player in Turkish top-flight, until it was broken in 2012 by Alexsandro de Souza.

Early years

Born in Samsun, Şifo started to play at the amateur level with his hometown outfit Samsun Ladikspor. While he was only 16, he was scouted and picked up by Kahramanmaraşspor, a team which has freshly promoted to the second-tier of Turkish football. Şifo managed to make an immediate impact on his new team and became a regular of the starting line-up while Kahramanmaraşspor's record in the league improved every season. In the 1986-87 campaign, Şifo had an outstanding season and became the topscorer of the Turkish 2. League with 29 goals while his team narrowly missed promotion. The following season proved to be an even more successful one for Kahramanmaraşspor. With Şifo's contribution the team finished at the top of the league and promoted to the first-tier of Turkish football for the first time in their short history. His consistently high performance did not go unnoticed and at the end of the 1987-88 season he was transferred to Beşiktaş, the team which he spent the remainder of his career with.

Player career

In Şifo's first year Beşiktaş have won the Turkish Cup and came second in the league. The following years proved to be even more successful for the team. Under Gordon Milne's helm, Beşiktaş's young outfit started to dominate Turkish football in a way which was unprecedented before. In the 1988-89 season Beşiktaş claimed the double, winning both the league and the Turkish Cup and broke the record for the highest scoring game of Turkish football history, beating Adana Demirspor 10-0. Şifo contributed to this glorius season by scoring a goal in the Cup final against Trabzonspor. In the following year, Beşiktaş became the league champion again without breaking much sweat. The team has lost only one game throughout the campaign but the team managed to improve even more on the next season. In the 1991-92 football season, Beşiktaş became the only undefeated champion of the Turkish top-flight while Şifo netted 12 goals. This record-breaking string of results came to an end only in the following season when Beşiktaş was finally beaten by Galatasaray after 48 weeks. 1992-93 season ended bitterly for Beşiktaş when the team did not just lost the Turkish Cup to Galatasaray in the Cup final, but also lost the championship to after 3 years to the same team on goal difference while Şifo scored 13 goals in the campaign.

1993-94 season was not a successful one. For the first time in 8 years, Beşiktaş finished the league outside of the top two while Şifo had a quiet year comparing to his high standards and netted 8 goals. The sole consolation of the year was another Turkish Cup added to the club's trophy cabinet. Next year saw the arrival of Christoph Daum replacing Milne, revitalising the team and winning the league again. This was Şifo's 4. league title with Beşiktaş and he contributed to campaign with 8 goals. In the 1995-96 season Şifo was in top form again, netting 11 goals while Beşiktaş finished the league at the third place. Mehmet continued to score heavily on the next season and scored 11 goals in the league while Beşiktaş improved comparing to the last season and finishing the league at the second place after Galatasaray. The following season proved to be one of the least successful campaigns of Beşiktaş. The team finished the league at the sixth place. Along with the Turkish Cup title, Şifo's spectacular performance was a source of consolation. Mehmet scored 16 times in the league, becoming third most-scoring among all the players and the most-scoring midfield player. He also scored in the Cup final against Galatasaray. This was Şifo's 4. Cup title with Beşiktaş.

In 1998-99 season Beşiktaş once again came very close to a double and prevented by Galatasaray. The Black Eagles lost the league with just one point difference. Şifo scored heavily in this season, too, and netted 13 goals. In the next year, the scenario remained the same. Galatasaray won the league with four point ahead of Beşiktaş while Mehmet scored 11 goals in the contest. Following season proved to be the last one for Şifo and he retired from football after playing 14 years for Beşiktaş. He wore the black and white colours for the last time on the pitch in a testimonial honouring his services for his club against the Italian giants, AC Milan. Gathered money was donated to a charity which grants free education to the children in need. With 130 goals under his belt, Mehmet is still, the second most-scoring player of Beşiktaş's history after Feyyaz Uçar. During his playing career, he made 31 appearances for the Turkey national football team from 1991 to 1997.[1]

Coaching career

Following a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Turkey and Switzerland, Mehmet Özdilek was involved in a brawl between both sets of players which culminated in his resignation as assistant coach of the Turkish national team.[2] Turkish newspaper, Vatan, published photos which show Mehmet Özdilek attempting to trip a Swiss player, Benjamin Huggel, which appears to have triggered the melee.[3] The event was largely out of character for a man who didn't receive a single red card and was reputed for his great sportsmanship. On May 27, 2011, he extended his contract with Antalyaspor until 2014.[4]

Honours

Beşiktaş
Individual

Managerial stats

Last updated 4 June 2013

Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Malatyaspor Turkey 2004 2004 18 4 6 8 22.22
Antalyaspor Turkey 2008 2013 201 77 48 76 38.31
Gençlerbirliği Turkey 2013 2014 28 13 5 10 46.43
Çaykur Rizespor Turkey 2014 2015 23 6 4 13 26.09
Gençlerbirliği Turkey 2015 --- 5 1 1 3 20.00
Total 219 81 54 84 36.99

References

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