Yıldırım Demirören

Yıldırım Demirören (born October 16, 1964 in Istanbul ) is a Turkish industrialist and football official.

After elementary and middle school and high school, Demirören attended the Leysin American School. He is the son of the industrialist Erdoğan Demirören and is the managing director of his conglomerate , Demirören Holding .

Yıldırım Demirören was on the board of Beşiktaş Istanbul until 2004 . After Serdar Bilgili resigned, he became president of the association on May 30, 2004 and held this office until February 2012. After his inauguration, the Inönü Stadium was renewed and modernized. The club's own television channel was also set up to provide information on the club's latest events. During his tenure, the addition was merchandising with memorabilia expanded.

Demirören gave the club massive financial support and hired well-known coaches such as Vicente del Bosque , Jean Tigana and Bernd Schuster . Football players like Matías Delgado , Édouard Cissé , Guti , John Carew , Aílton , Ricardo Quaresma , Kléberson , Simão , Hugo Almeida , Manuel Fernandes and Ricardinho were also signed . Due to the resulting high debt, the salaries of some players could no longer be paid after his tenure, whereupon many left the club.

Demirören has been President of the Turkish Football Association since February 27, 2012 . As the managing director of Demirören Holding, he is also the owner of the high-circulation daily newspapers Milliyet and Vatan , and he is accused of abusing his office. For example, the sports journalist Uğur Meleke , who worked for Milliyet for many years and is highly respected in Turkey, was fired after he discussed the grievances of the Turkish national team in his column and criticized the national coach Fatih Terim .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Profile on uefa.com
2. ↑ Demirören elected new president of TFF Homepage of the Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu , February 27, 2012 in English. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
3. ↑ hurriyet.com.tr: "Böyle milli takıma, böyle kaptan" (accessed on June 16, 2017)