Ali Osman Renklibay

Ali Osman Renklibay — Biography

Ali Osman Renklibay is a Turkish forward remembered as the player who finished as top scorer at every league level he played in. The peak of his career came at MKE Ankaragücü in the 1970s: in 1975-76 he scored 17 goals and shared the top-flight golden boot with Fenerbahçe's Cemil Turan. After leaving the pitch he worked as a manager for many years.

Brought up in the youth system of Selçukspor in Konya, Renklibay carried his scoring on through Ceyhanspor, Adanaspor and Ankaragücü, topping the scoring charts in three different divisions. The season before his top-flight title he had finished second with 13 goals, behind Ömer Kaner's 14. He captained Ankaragücü and also played for Turkey's under-21 national team. A graduate of Çukurova University's civil engineering department, he is the brother of the footballer Naci Renklibay.

As a manager he coached Ankaragücü, Vanspor, Adanaspor, İstanbul Başakşehir and Göztepe, leaving Göztepe by resignation in the seventh week of 2002-03. He later returned to Başakşehir and also worked at Konya Şekerspor. With Adanaspor he reached the promotion play-off matches but resigned with two games left, and he kept Vanspor in the league. He became known for bringing youth-team players into the first team, and his most successful spell is said to have been at Başakşehir.