Tayfun Korkut – Footballing globetrotter

At the age of 42, Tayfun Korkut is one of the youngest coaches in the land but he has already gathered experience in three different countries – both as a player and a coach. After his first year as a pro in his Swabian homeland with Stuttgart Kickers, the great Carlos Alberto Parreira tempted him to make the move to Fenerbahce in 1995. In spite of his Turkish family name, it was off to foreign climes for Korkut. His parents emigrated to the Stuttgart area from Izmir before he was born.

Korkut spent five years at the city on the Bosphorus playing in midfield under Joachim Löw and indeed so well that he was called up to the Turkey national squad. Korkut accepted and went on to become a key player under Fatih Terim and later Mustafa Denizli. At two European Championships – 1996 and 2000 – he played alongside stars like Hakan Sükür and he made a significant contribution to Turkey reaching the quarter-finals in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Player in Turkey and Spain

His performances back then brought him to the attention of other clubs. After five years in Istanbul, the now 26-year-old Korkut moved on to Spain to play in the Basque country for Real Sociedad. "I’ve learned a lot wherever I’ve been," he once said in an interview. Above all in San Sebastian it was the then little-known short passing game. He stayed for three years helping to organise Sociedad's game playing in midfield alongside Xabi Alonso. In 2003 Real Sociedad finished runners-up in La Liga to qualify for the Champions League group stage. Even today, people talk about a unique season in San Sebastian.

Korkut then moved a little further south to the Barcelona club Espanol under the former Spain coach Javier Clemente. Korkut also played for coaching legend Vicente del Bosque – a year later, as he neared the end of his career, he returned to Turkey to play for Besiktas. In 2006 he hung up his boots at the age of 32 with 42 international caps at Genclerbirligi.

He remained true to football and himself as he changed tack: He started working as a youth coach at Sociedad before moving on to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and VfB Stuttgart where he earned his full coaching badge with the German Football Association in 2011. He is one of seven coaches from that year who have managed in the Bundesliga: Markus Gisdol, Roger Schmidt, Sascha Lewandowski, Thomas Schneider, Markus Weinzierl and Michael Wiesinger are the others.

Head coach at Hannover 96 and Kaiserslautern

On New Year's Eve in 2013 he was presented as the new coach at Hannover 96. Up to that point, Korkut was assistant coach for Turkey under Abdullah Avci before taking up his first role as head coach at the age of 39. He was in charge for 48 games at Hannover before being released on matchday 29 in the 2014/2015 season. In the first half of this season Korkut coached second division FC Kaiserslautern before being released from his contract at his own request at the end of the year.

Now he is looking to apply his wide experience at Leverkusen. "In principle, I prefer football that's not limited to playing a waiting game: Action rather than reaction, preferably a step forwards rather than one back. It’s down to my teams to take charge when attacking or defending – and with all risks that that involves." That was how Korkut once described his style of football. Flexibility and courage are also important to him – as his unusual CV confirms.