Gündüz Tekin Onay

Gündüz Tekin Onay

Personal information
Date of birth	(1942-05-31)31 May 1942
Place of birth	Çankırı, Turkey
Date of death	4 January 2008(2008-01-04) (aged 65)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1957–?	Eskişehirspor
	Bursa Akınspor
	Karabükspor
	Muhafızgücü
	Karşıyaka
	Şekerspor
	Kastamonuspor
International career
	National Army Football Team
Managerial career
1968–	Kastamonuspor
	Turkey (assistant coach)
	Adanaspor
1975	Zonguldakspor
1975–1976	Beşiktaş
1977–1979	Zonguldakspor
1980–1981	Adanaspor
1981–1982	Bursaspor
1982–1983	Mersin İdmanyurdu
1984	Adana Demirspor
1984–1985	Ankaragücü
1986	Kayserispor
1986–1987	Zonguldakspor
1988–1989	Adanaspor
1989	Gençlerbirliği
1992–1993	Denizlispor
1994	Konyaspor
1994–1996	Adanaspor
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gündüz Tekin Onay (31 May 1942 – 4 January 2008) was a Turkish footballer and coach who also trained Istanbul club Beşiktaş between 1976 and 1977. He is known for his success in discovering starlets and for his modesty. Additionally, he was the author of a system to explore and breed young talents for Turkish football.

Playing career

Onay was born in Çankırı. He began his professional career in 1957 as a player of Eskişehirspor. Respectively he played for Bursa Akınspor, Kardemir Karabükspor, Muhafızgücü, Karşıyaka, Şekerspor and Kastamonuspor beside National Army Football.

Managerial career

Onay began to manage when he was 26 with coaching Kastamonuspor in 1968. Afterward, he became the assistant of Abdullah Gegiç for National Team in 1969. He maintained this duty until 1972 as an employer of TFF. Onay entered Turkish League as the coach of Adanaspor at the age of 30. He worked in numerous teams for non-stop 21 years, which is record in Turkish football history as total of 462 matches. He coached successively Zonguldakspor, Beşiktaş, Bursaspor, Mersin İdmanyurdu, Ankaragücü, Kayserispor, Gençlerbirliği, Adana Demirspor alongside Konyaspor, Denizlispor when the teams were competing in Division 2. He was also chairman of Adanaspor.

Later life

After ending his managerial career, he contributed the Turkish football in different cases, including the top-adviser function of TFF as well as general co-ordinator of the Researching, Planning, Education and improvement Department (ARPEG). During his task, he created Van Football Village Project, which aimed to gather and train youngsters from different cities, and compose a synthesis of eastern and western Turkish football.

After UNESCO declared 2007 as Year of Rumi, he achieved the clemency and example behaviour prize by Turkish Football Coaches Association. Additionally in 2007, he was awarded the special Namık Sevik Prize after the 54th annual Sportsmen of the Year survey of daily newspaper Milliyet.

Onay worked as a sports columnist various newspapers and was the author of 14 books devoted to football.

Personal life and death

Onay was married and had one daughter and one son. His son Güntekin Onay, is a well known Turkish sports commentator who currently works for Turkish TV station NTV.

Onay died in Istanbul, Turkey due to cancer during his treatment period. He was inferred on 5 January 2008 in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery in Istanbul. There were several sports persons at his funeral such as UEFA vice president Şenes Erzik, former TFF president Haluk Ulusoy, Turkey manager Fatih Terim, Sivasspor chairman Mecnun Otyakmaz, and national footballer Emre Belözoğlu.