Ali Güneş

Ali Güneş — Biography

Ali Mehmet Güneş was born in the German town of Donaueschingen to a Turkish family with roots in the Çayıralan district of Yozgat. He took up football at the age of five with local youth clubs before joining SC Freiburg's academy, and in 1998 he broke into the club's professional squad during a Second Bundesliga match. A midfielder, he went on to play for Bochum, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş and Kasımpaşa, winning the Turkish league title twice with Fenerbahçe and cup honors with Beşiktaş. With Turkey's under-21 side he was part of the squad that reached a European championship final round for the first time in the country's football history, and he also earned caps with the senior national team.

He closed out his playing days with spells at clubs including Kasımpaşa and Bucaspor, finally retiring near his hometown at lower-division side FC Furtwangen. Güneş then moved into coaching in Germany, and he currently manages Türkischer SV Singen, a club he guided to a championship and promotion to a higher regional league in his very first season there.