Zafer Özgültekin

Zafer Özgültekin — Biography

Zafer Özgültekin was born on 10 March 1975 in the Kangal district of Sivas and played as a goalkeeper. He spent three seasons at MKE Ankaragücü, where he helped the club qualify for the UEFA Cup, and was picked for the national team despite lacking an ideal goalkeeper's build.

He was part of the squad that won bronze at the 2002 World Cup, serving as third-choice goalkeeper without seeing playing time in the tournament, and was awarded the Turkish State Medal of Distinguished Service for that achievement. After losing his starting place at Ankaragücü first to Orkun and then to Serkan, he moved to Erciyesspor and then Eskişehirspor in 2007, transferred to Çaykur Rizespor on 14 January 2010, and later that year joined Denizlispor, where he closed out his playing career in the 2010-11 season.

After retiring as a player he became a goalkeeping coach, first at Beşiktaş, before being appointed goalkeeping coach at Sivasspor in December 2021, replacing Cengiz Birgen.