Şenol Güneş (, born 1 June 1952) is a Turkish football manager and former player who is currently the director of professional football for Süper Lig club Trabzonspor. His most notable managerial achievements to date include coaching the Turkey national team to third place in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and winning two Süper Lig titles; both of them with Beşiktaş. He is also noted for stints in his boyhood club Trabzonspor. His playing career there saw the club win six of their seven Süper Lig titles.
Playing career Güneş began his amateur career at Erdoğdu Gençlik as a goalkeeper. Shortly after he was recruited for the Trabzonspor development team, and began playing for the senior team soon after. He played for Trabzonspor for twelve years between 1975 and 1987. During this period he won six league championships. In the 1978–79 season, he set the Süper Lig clean sheet record by not conceding a single goal for 1,110 minutes. He was part of the "Trabzonpor Efsanesi" ("The Legend of Trabzonspor", a name given by the Turkish press) along with other local players such as Turgay Semercioğlu, Necmi Perekli and Ali Kemal Denizci. Güneş has 31 caps for the Turkey national team, being the captain in five games.
Managerial career His managerial career started at Trabzonspor, where he was assistant manager before being promoted. He came close to winning Süper Lig in the 1995–96 campaign after leading all season, but in the end his team came second. That year, Trabzonspor also played in the 1996–97 UEFA Cup where they were knocked out by Schalke 04. He left the club soon after, and worked at Antalyaspor and Sakaryaspor.
In 2000, he was hired to manage the Turkey national team. Turkey qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and finished third. Güneş won the UEFA Coach of the Year award for 2002. After the World Cup, he received many offers from Greece, Brazil and Spain, but he wanted to stay with Turkey. After the national team failed to qualify for UEFA Euro 2004, Güneş was sacked as manager.
He returned to Trabzonspor in January 2005, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract but left after finishing narrowly in second place. At this time, there were rumours that Güneş would be taking a coaching job in Iran or in the United Arab Emirates.
On 8 December 2006, FC Seoul, one of the leading football clubs in the K League, announced their three-year contract with Güneş starting from 2007.
Three years later, Güneş returned to his hometown as head coach of Trabzonspor for the fourth time, replacing Hugo Broos. In the 2010-11 campaign, he again led the entire season with Trabzonspor, but finished second once again at the end of the season. Later, it was revealed the 2011 Turkish sports corruption scandal was the main cause of this. After Trabzonspor, he signed with Bursaspor on a one-year contract. Bursaspor finished in sixth place in 2014–15 Süper Lig and reached the Turkish Cup final that year. On 11 June 2015, he signed with a two-and-a-half year contract with Beşiktaş. Güneş led Beşiktaş to their 14th title (and first since 2009) in 2016. For Güneş, it was his first title as manager. He led them to their 15th and second title in a row in 2017.
On 28 February 2019, it was announced that Güneş would take the Turkey national team managerial post for a second time on a four-year deal, 15 years after his last stint, effective from 1 June 2019. He oversaw Turkey's 2–0 win over Albania in the opening UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers.
On 28 October 2022, Güneş joined Beşiktaş for his second stint, following the departure of French head coach Valérien Ismaël.
On 10 September 2024 Şenol Güneş signed a two-and-a-half year contract with Trabzonspor, becoming the club's head coach.
Personal life Güneş was born in Trabzon, Turkey, and graduated from Karadeniz Technical University. He taught at a middle school in Trabzon between 1978 and 1983.
He and his wife Semra have two daughters.
Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueTurkish CupEuropeIncludes European Cup, UEFA Cup, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup,OtherIncludes Atatürk Cup, Chancellor Cup, Turkish Super Cup and TSYD CupTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsSebat Gençlik 1970–71 2. Lig ––––––––––1971–72 ––––––––––Total57–––––––57–Trabzonspor 1972–73 1. Lig100––––––1001973–7418060––––2401974–75 Süper Lig26070––103401975–76 2408080403601976–77 28010030404501977–78 2806020203801978–79 30020––103301979–80 3006020103901980–812902020103401981–823105020103901982–833407020104401983–843309020104501984–853207020104201985–8628030––––3101986–8732060––––380Total41308401701805320Career total47008401701805890
International + Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsTurkey197620197740197840197960198030198150198230198320198400198500198600198720Total310
Managerial statistics
TeamFromToRecordGWDLWin %Trabzonspor13 September 198817 August 1989Boluspor19 October 198930 June 1992 Trabzonspor23 September 19933 February 1997 Antalyaspor28 July 199730 June 1998 Sakaryaspor1 September 19988 February 1999Turkey1 July 20006 March 2004Trabzonspor17 January 200526 September 2005 FC Seoul8 January 200725 November 2009 Trabzonspor4 December 200929 January 2013 Bursaspor10 June 20144 June 2015 Beşiktaş12 June 201531 May 2019Turkey18 March 201910 September 2021Beşiktaş28 October 20226 October 2023Trabzonspor3 September 202412 March 2025 Total
Honours Player Sources:
Trabzonspor Süper Lig: 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1983–84 Turkish Cup: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1983–84 Turkish Super Cup: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983
Manager Trabzonspor Turkish Cup: 1994–95, 2009–10 Turkish Super Cup: 1995, 2010
Beşiktaş Süper Lig: 2015–16, 2016–17
Turkey FIFA World Cup third place: 2002 FIFA Confederations Cup third place: 2003
Awards and achievements UEFA Team of the Year: 2002 IFFHS's third best national team coach of the world: 2002 2002 Turkish State Medal of Distinguished Service
See also List of football managers with the most matches Şenol Güneş Stadium
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External links