Gökhan Zan

Gökhan Zan — Biography

Gökhan Zan was born on 7 September 1981 in Antakya, Hatay, into a family of Arab descent. Standing 1.94 m tall, the centre-back began his professional career at Hatayspor in 1999, then moved to Çanakkale Dardanelspor, where he made close to eighty league appearances, before joining Beşiktaş at the start of the 2003–04 season.

Loaned out to Gaziantepspor for a season, Zan went on to win two Turkish Cups, a Super Cup and the 2008–09 league title with Beşiktaş, and was part of the Turkey squad that reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2008. He signed for Galatasaray in 2009, where he added three more league titles and a Turkish Cup to his honours.

After retiring he moved into politics, standing as an İYİ Parti candidate in the 2023 general election without being elected, leaving the party later that year, and running as the Workers' Party of Turkey's candidate for Hatay metropolitan mayor in the 2024 local elections. He returned to coaching in December 2025 at İskenderunspor, stepped down for family reasons in March 2026, and took charge of Şanlıurfaspor in July 2026.