Turan Sofuoğlu

Turan Sofuoğlu — Biography

Turan Sofuoğlu is a former forward and coach best known for his years at Fenerbahçe. Some sources spell his first name Turhan. As a player he scored the 100th goal of Fenerbahçe's 103-goal championship season of 1988-89; as a coach he won every derby he managed in 1999-2000 and earned the nickname "Derby King".

Born in Sakarya, he grew up with his four brothers in the east of Ankara. After playing for Sakaryaspor and Yalovaspor he moved to Fenerbahçe in 1988-89, where supporters called him "Rambo Turhan" for his combative style. He played for the Turkey under-21 and senior national teams. He was loaned to Bursaspor in 1993-94 and Orduspor in 1994-95 and retired in 1996.

His coaching career began at Fenerbahçe: after serving as assistant to Rıdvan Dilmen and Zdenek Zeman in 1999-2000, he took over the team. Under him it won 11, drew 3 and lost 5 of 19 league games, beating Beşiktaş 2-1 and 3-1, Trabzonspor 2-1 and Galatasaray 1-0 at Ali Sami Yen. He then coached Sarıyer, Batman Petrolspor, Yalovaspor and Yozgatspor, and left Giresunspor before a one-year contract ran out. At Kahramanmaraşspor he got good results in a relegation fight, but his spell ended when the board wanted a change. He also worked at Derincespor and Hendekspor.