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After a nine-year break, Fatihas Terimas returned to the helm of the Turkish national football team. He replaced Ersun Yanal in the position of head coach, who was dismissed on Wednesday due to poor team results in the qualification cycle for the 2006 World Cup.
The Turkish media reports that F. Terimas, who coached the Turkish national team from 1993 to 1996 and helped the team qualify for the 1996 European Championship, will sign a five-year contract with the Turkish Football Federation.
The 52-year-old F. Terimas is still referred to as the "emperor" in Turkey, as in 2000, the Istanbul-based "Galatasaray" team he led won the UEFA Cup and became the first Turkish club to win any European club tournament.
After this success, he went on to manage the "Fiorentina" and "AC Milan" teams, and from 2002 to 2004, he returned to lead "Galatasaray."
Turkey is currently in second place in the qualification group for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, trailing Ukraine by seven points. In this group, they also compete against the European champions Greece, Denmark, Georgia, Albania, and Kazakhstan.
