Turan Sofuoğlu

Turan Sofuoğlu — Biography

Born on August 19, 1965, in Sakarya, Turan Sofuoğlu is a former Turkish national footballer who played as a striker and later became a coach. He began his playing career with Sakaryaspor and Yalovaspor before transferring to Fenerbahçe in the 1988-89 season, when he scored the 100th of the 103 league goals the champion yellow-and-blue side netted that season. After loan spells at Bursaspor in 1993-94 and Orduspor in 1994-95, he retired from playing in 1996.

After hanging up his boots, Sofuoğlu turned to coaching. Following a stint as assistant to Rıdvan Dilmen and Zdenek Zeman in the 1999-2000 season, he was promoted to head coach of Fenerbahçe, winning every derby played under his charge against rivals such as Beşiktaş, Trabzonspor and Galatasaray and earning the nickname "Derby King" for the feat.

Later in his career he managed lower-division clubs including Sarıyer, Batman Petrolspor, Yalovaspor, Yozgatspor, Giresunspor and Kahramanmaraşspor, leaving some of these posts before his contract had run its course. Reports in subsequent years also linked him with coaching spells at clubs such as Derincespor and Hendekspor.