Ekrem Koldaş

Ekrem Koldaş — Biography

Ekrem Koldaş was born on 6 July 1934 in İzmir and died on 7 February 2015 at the age of 80. A centre-back, he began playing football at the local İzmir club Altınordu in 1951, turned professional there in 1956, and served for a time as team captain; Altınordu still counts him among the club's legendary players.

In July 1958 he moved to the Istanbul club Beykozspor, where he spent two seasons, before joining Beşiktaş in 1960. After two seasons there he returned to Altınordu for one season in 1962, then transferred to Göztepe in July 1963. He appeared for Göztepe in the 1964-65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a forerunner of the UEFA Cup, and retired from active football in 1967.

Koldaş was named to Turkey's squad for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics but did not play in any match. In May 2013 he was honoured by the İzmir Gücü Spor Vakfı with an "80 Yaş Üstü Vefa Ödülü" (Loyalty Award for the Over-80s) for his service to İzmir football. He married Aysel Bayam and had four sons, two of whom, Zafer and Önder Koldaş, also became professional footballers; Zafer played for clubs including Altay and Yeni Salihlispor.