Manager Christoph Daum has passed away

The 70-year-old manager had been battling cancer for some time.

In a social media post, Özat shared a photo taken with Daum and added the following note:

"I have just received the news of my coach Daum's passing. I don't know what to say. Thank you for everything you contributed to me. May your soul rest in peace, sleep in the light."

WHO IS CHRISTOPH DAUM?

Christoph Paul Daum was born on October 24, 1953, in East Germany. He won league titles in Germany, Turkey, and Austria. He worked in Turkey for many years and led Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe to championships. His last coaching role in Turkey was with Bursaspor.

Daum began his football career in 1971 with the Sportfreunde Hamborn 07 team. After playing there for one season, he wore the Eintracht Duisburg jersey for 3 seasons. In 1975, at the age of 22, he transferred to the Köln II team. Daum's greatest achievement there was the German Amateur Championship they won in 1981. Daum, however, did not play in the final match. At the end of that season, at the age of 28, he ended his football career.

After receiving his coaching license, he began working as an amateur in 1981. Throughout his coaching career, he lost the championship in the final weeks three times after entering as the leader. He lost championships due to points dropped in the final week in the 1999-2000 season with Bayer Leverkusen, and in the 2005-2006 and 2009-2010 seasons with Fenerbahçe.

BEŞİKTAŞ ERA

Beşiktaş, which had a poor start to the 1993-94 season, parted ways with its long-time coach Gordon Milne and made an offer to Daum. In January 1994, Daum began his first career abroad with Beşiktaş. When Daum took charge of Beşiktaş, the team was in 5th place, 10 points behind the leader. After a few friendly matches before the second half, he played his first official match against his arch-rival Fenerbahçe in the Turkish Cup, and they eliminated their opponents by winning 2-1. Daum also started the league with a victory against Gençlerbirliği. Beşiktaş finished the league in fourth place at the end of the season. Taking his team to the final in the Turkish Cup, Daum drew 0-0 in the first match against Galatasaray and won the Turkish Cup with Beşiktaş by defeating his opponent 3-2 in the second match. Closing the season with the Presidential Cup match, Daum's Beşiktaş also won this cup by defeating Galatasaray 3-1.

Daum prepared for the 1994-95 season with significant transfers. He signed former German national team goalkeeper Raimond Aumann, his student from Stuttgart Eyjólfur Sverrisson, and Norwegian footballer Ronny Johnsen. Additionally, Ertuğrul Sağlam was added to the team from Samsunspor for a high transfer fee. The team, which finished the first half of the season in second place behind Galatasaray with a worse goal difference, took the lead at the beginning of the second half and continued as the leader until the end of the season. Thus, Daum achieved his second championship in his career and his first in Turkey. In Europe, they were only able to reach the second round in the Cup Winners' Cup. No success came in the Turkish Cup and the Presidential Cup.

In the 1995-96 season, the famous German footballer Stefan Kuntz joined the team. Beşiktaş faced its first major test in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers. Although Beşiktaş suffered a surprise 3-0 defeat away against the Norwegian team Rosenborg, they won the home match 3-1 but could not qualify for the group stage. Success did not come in the league this time either, and they remained behind their rivals Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor. They were also eliminated by Galatasaray in the quarter-finals of the cup. Daum resigned from Beşiktaş 2 matches before the end of the season, and his assistant Roland Koch managed the team in the last two matches.

After the cocaine case, unable to receive offers from German teams, Daum returned to his former team Beşiktaş in the 2001-02 season. The Beşiktaş management controversially fired Nevio Scala, who still had a contract, citing health problems. Taking charge of Beşiktaş in March 2001, Daum led the team to fourth place. In the 2001-02 season, Beşiktaş did not show much presence in the league and finished third. Although he took the team to the final in the Turkish Cup, they lost the cup by being defeated 4-0 by Kocaelispor. Having to go to Germany frequently due to the ongoing cocaine case in Germany, Daum could not achieve the successes of his first Beşiktaş period and left the team at the end of the season.

FENERBAHÇE ERA

Returning to Turkey for the 2003-04 season, the manager took charge of another Istanbul team, Fenerbahçe, this time. He had a very bad start to the season. The team, which lost 3-0 to İstanbulspor in the first match, also experienced a goalkeeper problem after sending their new transfer Robert Enke away. Alongside the decline experienced by their rival Beşiktaş, especially in the second half, Daum's Fenerbahçe showed a very successful performance and achieved their first league championship with Fenerbahçe with 76 points.

The following season, they competed on three fronts. First, they said goodbye to the UEFA Champions League groups with only 1 win. Later, they lost in the Turkish Cup final, where they had eliminated Galatasaray in the quarter-finals, to Beşiktaş in extra time and finished second. In the league, they had a fierce struggle with Galatasaray. They entered the final week with the same points as Galatasaray but with a +11 better goal difference. With a victory they would get against Denizlispor in Denizli, they would experience the joy of the championship once again. In the eventful match, Denizlispor entered the final minutes ahead with a goal by Mustafa Keçeli in the 89th minute. Although Fenerbahçe equalized with Tuncay Şanlı a minute later, the Fenerbahçe players could not find the winning goal in the match that extended for 16 minutes, and Fenerbahçe failed to become champion for the third consecutive time for the first time in its history. At the end of the season, when his illness was added to this situation, he had to leave the team for treatment. Fenerbahçe president Aziz Yıldırım brought Daum back to the helm for the 2009-10 season, which they entered with the motto of championship, as a name who knew the team. He started the season with the Turkish Super Cup championship they won by defeating Beşiktaş 2-0 on August 2, 2009. The team started the season very well. They won all of their first 8 matches in the league.

Later, they showed the success of qualifying from the UEFA Cup groups with 5 wins in 6 matches. They also advanced from the group in the Turkish Cup. First, they were eliminated from the UEFA Cup in February. Later, on May 5, 2010, they lost 3-1 to Trabzonspor and lost the Turkish Cup in the final for the third time during Daum's tenure. They had entered the final week of the league 1 point ahead of their closest rival Bursaspor. However, in the last match, Trabzonspor and Fenerbahçe drew 1-1 at the Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium and lost points. When Bursaspor defeated Beşiktaş 2-1 in the other match, they moved 1 point ahead of Fenerbahçe and experienced the first Süper Lig championship in their history. At the end of the season, it was rumored that he would be sent by the management and replaced by sporting director Aykut Kocaman, but Daum announced that he would remain at the head of the team and did not resign. Later, his contract was terminated for 2.3 million euros.