Ömer Kaner

Ömer Kaner — Biography

Ömer Kaner was a figure who left a mark on Turkish football both as a striker and as a coach. He is remembered as Eskişehirspor's top scorer of 1974-75, and later became the coach who took Denizlispor up to the Süper Lig, a coach of Turkey's national futsal team and head instructor at the Turkish Football Federation. He died on 12 February 2026 at the age of 74.

He began playing in local leagues in Germany; back in Turkey for military service, he quickly became an indispensable starter at Havagücü and moved to Eskişehirspor in 1973-74. His 14 goals in 1974-75 made him the league's top scorer. He played for Fenerbahçe from 1975 to 1977, making 90 appearances, and also for Zonguldakspor, Freiburg in Germany, a second spell at Eskişehirspor, Karagümrük and Bakırköyspor, closing a career of about 300 matches in 1985 with a testimonial against Fenerbahçe for Bakırköyspor. He won one senior cap, against Pakistan in the 1974 RCD Cup.

He started coaching at Bakırköyspor in 1985 and completed Bobby Robson's course in England in 1986. At Fenerbahçe he was assistant to Pál Csernai, Todor Veselinović, Guus Hiddink and Jozef Vengloš, and took charge of the team in 1990. As head coach from 1993 he took Denizlispor to the 1993-94 championship and promotion to the Süper Lig, and he also coached Diyarbakırspor, Çaykur Rizespor, Göztepe, Eskişehirspor, Kayserispor, Altay and Hatayspor. In Poland he finished second with Pogoń Szczecin and qualified for UEFA competition.