Ali Çoban (football player)

Ali Çoban was born in Tekirdağ on October 1, 1955, and was one of the important names of Turkish football who passed away in Istanbul on May 28, 2014. During his years as an active athlete, he played for both the national team and various clubs, and then continued as a coach.

Çoban, who started football in Ortaköyspor's infrastructure, started his professional career in Bandırmaspor. Later, after spending one season each in Gaziantepspor and Zonguldakspor, he was transferred to Beşiktaş in 1976. The football player, who wore the black and white jersey for four years, experienced only the Prime Minister's Cup victory during this period.

Although he moved to Adanaspor in the 1980-81 season, he was soon loaned to Galatasaray and eventually won both the TSYD Cup and the Federation Cup championships in the 1981-82 season under the yellow-red jersey. During his years with Galatasaray, he scored two goals in 24 matches in the league. He was transferred to Kocaelispor in 1984-85, and after playing for Sarıyer and Karşıyaka respectively, he had to quit football due to his injury in the 1988-89 season.

Çoban, who also played in the youth categories in his national team career, played for Türkiye 28 times in total. He played eleven times with the under-18 team, seven times with the under-21 team and ten times with the national team. He first wore the youth national jersey for the first time in the special match played against Romania U-18 on 22 December 1973.

He made his first match for the national team against Romania in the Balkan Cup on 22 March 1978, and this match ended 1-1. However, he failed to score a goal in the national team.

Çoban, who started his coaching career at Pendikspor, later worked at Gaziosmanpaşa and his hometown Ortaköyspor. Çoban, who was both a football player and a coach, especially in Ortaköyspor, passed away on May 28, 2014, while struggling for health since 2012, and was buried in Ortaköy Cemetery one day later.