Ali Beratlıgil

Ali Beratlıgil — Biography

Ali Beratlıgil was an important part of the Galatasaray side of the 1950s that, with Metin Oktay and Turgay Şeren, left a strong mark on Turkish football. He was remembered as a versatile player who could play almost every outfield position, and because a teammate, Ali Soydan, shared his first name, fans and the press called him "Büyük Ali" ("Big Ali"). After retiring as a player he worked as a coach. He died in Bursa on 1 February 2016, and the press remembered him as a "Galatasaray legend".

He began playing at 15 in the youth side of Kâğıtspor in İzmit and moved to Galatasaray in 1951. He started there as a right-back, but from 1953–54 coach Gündüz Kılıç played him as a forward; with 14 goals he was top scorer of the Istanbul Professional League in 1954–55, and he won the league that season and the next. In 1956–57 he played two European Champions' Cup matches against Dinamo București. In 1959 he left Galatasaray for Adalet and then İstanbulspor, and he retired in 1962–63 while playing for Feriköy.

He was in the squad for the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland but did not get a game; he made his Turkey A debut on 19 February 1956 against Hungary and won six A caps in all. In 1967 he agreed to coach Samsunspor, took over Tarsus İdman Yurdu the next year and worked for various teams.