İlknur Kurtuluş

İlknur Kurtuluş
Personal information
Born 1972 (age 53–54)
Turkey
Teams managed
Years Team
2023–
 Nilüfer Bld.

İlknur Kurtuluş (born 1972) is a Turkish former school teacher and serves as a handball coach. She is the successful female head coach of a top-level men's team in Turkey.

Sport career

Kurtuluş started her career coaching girls' teams during the time she worked as a school teacher of physical education. After she moved to Bursa, she joined Nilüfer Bld., and served as the coach of the youth system team. The boys' youth team, she led, won championships in Bursa and later at national level.[1]

In July 2023, she was appointed as the head coach of the Nilüfer Bld., which compete in the Turkish Men's Handball Super League. With this role, she became the first woman to head a men's handball team in the top-level league. She assembled a young squad with an average age of around 22.5 years she knew from the club's youth system, and began preparations for the upcoming season.[2] The team's assistant coach was her student already from the primary school time. Most of the technical staff are teachers of physical education.[1]

Nilüfer Bld. completed the 2023–24 Super League season on the fourth place after defeating Spor Toto in the play-off for 4th/5th place match.[3] The 2024–25 Super League season ended for her team as the runner-up after they lost the play-off series final to Beşiktaş.[4] She won with her team the 2025 Super Cup in August after defating the league champion and the title-defender Beşiktaş in the play-off final series by 3–0.[5][6] It was her team's first cup victory.[5] Her achievent as the first female head coach to lead a men's handball team to a top-level cup made history in Turkish sports.[1] Under her leadership, Nilüfer Bld. reached the quarterfinals at the 2025–26 EHF European Cup.[7]

Personal life

lknur Kurtuluş was born in 1972.[8]

She studied Physical Education and Sport in the Faculty of Sports Science at Bursa Uludağ University, and completed her education in 1993.[6] After graduation, she worked as a teacher of physical education in a primary school,[1] and later in a middle school in Osmangazi, Bursa.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Erkek hentbol takımını şampiyon yapan ilk kadın başantrenör, Türk spor tarihine geçti". Demirören News Agency (in Turkish). 6 September 2025. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  2. ^ "İlknur Kurtuluş" (in Turkish). Nilüfer Belediyespor. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  3. ^ "Bursa Nilüfer Belediyespor sezonu 4'üncü tamamladı". Seyir Haber (in Turkish). 29 May 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  4. ^ Sezgin, Sergen; Fatih Çapkın (25 May 2025). "Hentbol Erkekler Süper Ligi'nde şampiyon Beşiktaş oldu". Anadolu News Agency (in Turkish). Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  5. ^ a b "ilknur Kurtuluş Türk Spor Tarihine Adını Yazdırdı!". Hentbol Haber (in Turkish). 26 August 2025. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  6. ^ a b "İlknur Kurtuluş'tan Tarihi Başarı: Süper Kupa Şampiyonu" (in Turkish). Byrsa Uludağ Üniversitesi Spor Bilimleri Fakültesi. 26 August 2025. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  7. ^ "Buzau and Nilüfer overcome deficits to join EHF European Cup quarter-finals". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  8. ^ "Kurtulus, Ilknur". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  9. ^ "İlknur Kurtuluş" (in Turkish). Bursa Osmangazi Sakarya Ortaokulu. Retrieved 23 February 2026.

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