Bülent Eken

Club career

Bülent Eken began his career in 1942 with Galatasaray's A Team. He played as a right-back, left-back, center-back, winger, midfielder, and even as a goalkeeper in this club. Eken won an Istanbul League Championship with Galatasaray. In 1950, he transferred to Salernitana in Italy and later played one season with Palermo. He returned to Galatasaray in 1953 and retired from football a year later.

International career

Eken played 13 times for the national team. He represented his country at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1954 FIFA World Cup. He scored a goal once while being part of the national team, in a match where Syria was defeated 7:0 in the qualifiers of World Cup 1954.

Managerial career

After retiring from football, he received coaching education in Italy. In 1963, he managed the Turkish national football team. In 1967, he went to Turkey as an assistant coach for Galatasaray SK. Eken later served as a coach for clubs such as Karşıyaka, Göztepe SK, Altay, İzmirspor, Vefa SK, Adanaspor, Orduspor, and Rizespor.

He was the brother of former Galatasaray footballers Danyal Vuran and Reha Eken. Eken died on 25 July 2016, nineteen days after the death of his teammate Turgay Şeren.

Galatasaray

Istanbul Football League: 1948–49, 1954–55