Sergen Yalçin has been fired as Besiktas trainer, the Turkish top club announced through the official channels. The 49-year-old coach has been at the helm of Besiktas since January 2020 and won the Turkish double last season. However, this season has been a lot more disappointing, and the club management has decided to dismiss Yalçin.
Yalçin was appointed almost two years ago as the successor to Abdullah Avci, who is now at the helm of Trabzonspor. In his first months, Yalçin led Besiktas to third place in the Süper Lig, but his first full year was extremely successful. Besiktas crowned himself champion last season and won the Turkish Cup, but the current football season is a lot more difficult.
Besiktas currently occupies ninth place in the Süper Lig, eighteen points behind leaders Trabzonspor. However, it now appears that Yalçin’s extremely disappointing Champions League campaign has turned out to be fatal. In a group with Ajax, Sporting Portugal and Borussia Dortmund, Besiktas did not take a single point, scored only three goals and conceded no fewer than nineteen goals. The group stage ended on Tuesday with a 5-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund.
Yalçin started his coaching career as a youth coach at Besiktas. Via Gaziantepspor, Sivasspor, Kayserispor, Eskisehirspor, Konyaspor, Alanyaspor and Yeni Malatyaspor he came back to the Black Eagles. “Sergen Yalçin and Besiktas part ways by mutual agreement,” Besiktas wrote in a statement on the website. “We would like to thank him for his work and wish him every success in his further career.”