Gökdeniz Karadeniz

Gökdeniz Karadeniz (born 11 January 1980) is a Turkish professional football coach and a former player who played as a winger or as an attacking midfielder, making over 250 appearances each for Turkish club Trabzonspor and Russian club Rubin Kazan.

Club career Trabzonspor Karadeniz played his first professional match for Trabzonspor in the 1999–00 season at the senior level and made ten appearances. He was at first used in defensive roles by his manager, but was gradually given a more and more offensive role in the team until the 2003–04 season when he was given an attacking midfield role. His lightning step and effective understanding with teammate Fatih Tekke enabled him to lead the club in scoring that season with 13 goals.

Rubin Kazan On 13 March 2008, he signed a five-year deal with the Russian club Rubin Kazan worth €8.7 million. Karadeniz mentioned that it was sad for him to leave Turkey and also said he chose the club because he felt that if he had joined a big team in Europe his club would not have gotten as much money for him. He won the Russian Premier League 2008 with Rubin.

On 20 October 2009, Karadeniz scored the winning goal to shock the Barcelona fans at Camp Nou, winning the match for Rubin Kazan.

On 5 May 2018, Karadeniz announced he will be retiring at the end of the 2017–18 season. His shirt number (61) was permanently retired by Rubin.

International career He played his national team debut against Czech Republic national football team on 30 April 2003. He also played 2 times for Turkey B national football team for Future Cup matches against Scotland and Germany and 16 times for Turkey U21. He was called up for the UEFA Euro 2008 for Turkey.

Coaching career On 7 July 2023, Karadeniz returned to Rubin Kazan and was appointed manager of their reserve squad Rubin-2 Kazan. He left Rubin-2 in January 2026.

Career statistics

Honours Trabzonspor Turkish Cup: (2): 2002–03, 2003–04

Rubin Kazan Russian Premier League: (2): 2008, 2009 Russian Cup: 2011–12 Russian Super Cup: (2) 2010, 2012 Commonwealth of Independent States Cup: 2010 Marbella Cup: 2012

Turkey FIFA Confederations Cup: 3rd place (1): 2003 UEFA European Championship: 3rd place (1): 2008