For the fifth time this season, Turkish Süper Lig club Gençlerbirliği has chosen to replace the manager on the coaching bench. And with this latest switch, they have set a new, involuntary record.
It’s full speed ahead in the door disco at the Turkish top club Gençlerbirliği. At least if you are in the coaching position.
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It will be very difficult to keep up. – One thing is for sure, frequent changes of coach are not a good sign.
On Tuesday, the club chose to hire Metin Diyadin. It is thus the fifth time this season that the Ankara club has changed coach (considered the sixth coaching term, as one person has visited twice). With this, Gençlerbirliği became the first club in Süper Lig history to have had six different coaching spells in a single season.
The revolving door in Ankara
The Ankara club was promoted to the top flight in Turkey before this season, after a four-year absence. Then it was with Hüseyin Eroğlu at the head of the crew. But back in October, he was fired.
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He was replaced by former Fenerbahçe goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, who only managed six games as manager. Then Metin Diyadin took over the post for the first time. However, it would only last 64 days before he was fired, and in mid-February, Levent Şahin was appointed as the new head coach.
That too was a short affair. After only three games, the club’s management chose to change again.
Then Volkan Demirel got the chance again. But this time too, it didn’t last. In his second term, he managed to sit for 59 days before the club fired him again on Monday.
“Eternal optimists”
On Tuesday, it was Metin Diyadin’s turn again to try to get the Süper Lig club in order. “Welcome home, Metin Diyadin,” the club wrote in a press release, adding that they wish “a new period filled with success”.
Gençlerbirliği is currently in 16th place in the Turkish league.
Record for the club
This is the first time in the history of the Süper Lig that a club has six different coaching periods in one season. The previous record for coaching changes during a season in the Turkish top division was five.
In summary – coaching changes in Gençlerbirliği this season:
- Hüseyin Eroğlu – season start until October 2025
- Volkan Demirel (1st period) – October to December 2025 (6 games)
- Metin Diyadin (1st period) – December 2025 to February 2026 (64 days)
- Levent Şahin – February 2026 (3 matches)
- Volkan Demirel (2nd period) – February to May 2026 (59 days)
- Metin Diyadin (2nd period) – May 2026 to present
What is the overall record for manager changes in European football?
Gençlerbirliği’s six coaching spells in one season is extremely extreme, but the absolute record for the most frequent head coach changes in a single season in top-flight European football is held by Palermo.
During the Italian club’s 2019/20 season in Serie B (tier two), they changed managers five times in one season, resulting in seven different coaching periods (when some returned for a second term). In European top-flight football, this is the highest recorded frequency. Gençlerbirliği’s situation in the Süper Lig is unusual, but comes with six periods close to Palermo’s record.
