The \u201c2024 Sports Awards,\u201d determined by the votes of our students and staff, were presented at a ceremony held at the Bekir Okan Culture, Art and Congress Center. The ceremony, the 12th of its kind, was coordinated by our Head of Sports Management Department, Prof. Dr. Lale Orta. Our Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Bekir Okan, expressed his happiness at rewarding and motivating those who have contributed to the development of Turkish sports.<\/p>\n
Vincenzo Montella: \u201cI will cherish the support of our fans, especially those in Germany, in my heart for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Vincenzo Montella, the head coach of the Turkish National Football Team and recipient of the Coach of the Year Award, shared his happiness with these words: \u201cI haven\u2019t spoken in front of such an enthusiastic crowd in a long time. The fact that this award was given by young people is especially meaningful to me. I accept this award on behalf of the entire team. When I accepted the position of head coach of the Turkish National Football Team, I knew it would be a difficult task. I am aware of the responsibility and the expectations. But I was very well received. You never left us alone. We have extremely talented, characterful, and successful players. We have built family and friendship relationships among ourselves. We have also achieved great results. We were able to work with the national team players for nine months. We took the team to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024. We have a long way to go. With the support of our fans, our motivation is very high. We have millions of fans supporting us. I will cherish the support of our fans, especially those in Germany, in my heart for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Hakan \u00c7alhano\u011flu:<\/strong> \u201cWe are a generation that will end the more than 20-year World Cup drought\u201d<\/p>\n In a video message after winning the Player of the Year Award, Hakan \u00c7alhano\u011flu said, \u201cI would like to express my endless gratitude to the valuable students, academics, and staff of Istanbul Okan University who deemed me worthy of the Player of the Year Award. I would have loved to be with you today and receive the award in person. However, my match schedule prevented this. While I am trying to represent our country in Italy in the best way possible, I am also experiencing the pride of being the captain of our National Team. We had a very good year in 2024. I won the championship with Inter Milan. In the national team, under the management of our coach Vincenzo Montella, we did something that hadn’t been done for many years in the Euro 2024 European Championship and advanced from the group stage. We reached the quarter-finals. Our team has the strength to do even better. I wholeheartedly believe this. This autumn, our 2026 World Cup campaign will begin. I think we are a generation that will end the more than 20-year World Cup drought. But before that, in the Nations League, A “We will have playoff matches against Hungary next month to qualify for the league. We expect your enthusiastic support at our home game in Istanbul,” he said. Vincenzo Montella accepted \u00c7alhano\u011flu’s award on his behalf.<\/p>\n The 25th Anniversary Special Award, given on the occasion of our university’s 25th anniversary, was received by Murat Aksu, President of the Turkish National Paralympic Committee. In his speech, Aksu stated that they won a total of 28 medals in the Paris Paralympic Games medal standings: “Following the success at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Paralympic awareness has increased.”<\/p>\n Musa Tahsin Do\u011fan, Vice President of the Turkish Federation of Sports for the Physically Disabled, who gave the award acceptance speech on behalf of the Turkish National Amputee Team, which won the Honorary Award in Sports of the Year, underlined that they are representatives of determination, struggle, and never giving up on the field. \u201cOur greatest motivation has been to show that obstacles only exist in the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n Another Sports Honorary Award went to the Turkish Women’s National Volleyball Team. Team manager Pelin \u00c7elik accepted the award. \u00c7elik said, \u201cWe will continue to wave our Turkish flag and advance Turkish volleyball every day. 2025-2026-2027-2028 will be the years of Turkish women’s volleyball. Keep supporting us!\u201d<\/p>\n Melike \u00c7elik, the recipient of the Sports Presenter of the Year Award, said in her speech, \u201cThis award given by university students is very valuable to me. I hope I will be worthy of it.\u201d<\/p>\n F\u0131rat Ayd\u0131nus, who received the Sports Commentator of the Year Award, stated that he received the Referee of the Year Award at the Istanbul Okan University Sports Awards in 2017. He thanked them for this second award.<\/p>\n Erman Ya\u015far, chosen as Announcer of the Year, thanked the students and shared his wish: \u201cMay we do our announcing in a healthy sports environment where clubs and fans love and respect each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Istanbul Okan University 2024 Sports Awards Winners<\/strong><\/p>\n Bekir Okan Special Sports Award
\nYusuf Dike\u00e7 – \u0130layda \u015eahin
\n25th Anniversary Special Award Murat Aksu
\nPresident of the Turkish National Paralympic Committee
\nSports Honorary Award of the Year
\nNational Amputee Football Team
\nNational Women’s Goalball Team
\nNational Women’s Volleyball Team
\nLifetime Achievement Award
\nSemih Sayg\u0131ner
\nTeam of the Year (Women)
\nFenerbah\u00e7e Opet Women’s Basketball Team
\nTeam of the Year (Men)
\nGalatasaray Men’s Football Team
\nCoach of the Year
\nVincenzo Montella – Head Coach of the Turkish National Football Team
\nAthlete of the Year Kuzey Tun\u00e7elli
\nNational Swimmer
\nFootballer of the Year
\nHakan \u00c7alhano\u011flu
\nSports Program of the Year Gamer
\nBEIN SPORTS \/ Erdem Bitik and Tugay Kosova
\nSports Channel of the Year
\nTRT Spor
\nDigital Sports Program of the Year
\nTRT Spor
\nSports Commentator of the Year
\nF\u0131rat Ayd\u0131nus TV8,5
\nSports Presenter of the Year
\nMelike \u00c7elik A Spor
\nSports Announcer of the Year
\nErman Ya\u015far S Spor<\/p>\n\n\t\t