İbrahim Üzülmez, known by his nickname Deli İbrahim or Deli İbo –literally means İbrahim the mad, is a Turkish football coach and former player who is currently the manager of Ankaragücü.
Playing career
Üzülmez was born to a family of farmers in İzmit, Turkey. He would often sneak out of doing his farmer duties to go play football with friends. It was always his dream to play for Beşiktaş J.K. one day, as he listened to all their matches on the radio. At the age of 16, he was spotted playing football with his friends in the small town of Gönen, some people passing by were so amazed by his skill that they took it upon themselves to call in scouts to watch his play. Gönenspor immediately signed him and he played there for 1 year. He was then transferred to slightly bigger club Karabükspor. Üzülmez then did his national military duties and on his return, he signed for Turkish Premier League team Gaziantepspor. Gaziantepspor was his first major professional team he played for, he stayed there for 1.5 years. When the transfer season opened, his dreams were made reality when Beşiktaş came knocking on his door. He really shined in the 2002–03 season and was selected for the Turkish National Team. With legendary player Sergen Yalçın's departure from the club and Tümer Metin's shock signing with rivals Fenerbahçe; in 2006, Beşiktaş named its new captain, Üzülmez. His performance against Barcelona in 2000–01 UEFA Champions League group stage still remembered, He helped his team for a famous 3–0 win. He had a serious accident in June 2008, returning home from his Antalya holidays with his family, he hit another car in the western Turkish city ofManisa and then collided with a tree, but came out safe In the second half of the season 2010–11, during the half time break of a league game against MKE Ankaragücü, a fiery quarrel emerged with his teammate İbrahim Toraman in the dressing room. The details of the fight have not been confirmed, but the press commonly announced that Üzülmez lashed out a few punches on Toraman's head and Toraman remained unresponsive until other team members intervened and calmed the two down. Following the game, Üzülmez's contract has been immediately terminated by unanimous board decision, while Toraman has been strictly banished from publicly speaking about the occurrence. One day later, club chairman Yıldırım Demirören arranged a press release alongside İbrahim Üzülmez and remarked that Üzülmez has been one of the important figures in Beşiktaş history, and that his memory shall always be cherished by the community. The chairman further added that Üzülmez's all receivables shall be paid in a single sum immediately. It is still a strong opinion that the occurrence has preceding roots going back to another fight between the duo, at Beşiktaş's 2008 pre-season camp in Austria, which is generally known as the "slipper fight". Being the captain of the team, Üzülmez had asked Toraman about why he came to lunch with slippers, while all other players were wearing their sports equipments. Being the secondary captain of the team, Toraman did not take that lightly and they clenched fists. On 5 July 2011, it was announced that Üzülmez retired from professional football.
Managerial career
In October 2019, Üzülmez took over as coach of TFF First League side Çaykur Rizespor having agreed a contract until the end of the season.
