Ali Güneş

Ali Güneş — Biography

Ali Güneş is a midfielder who grew up in Germany in a Turkish working-class family, came through the SC Freiburg academy and won two Süper Lig titles with Fenerbahçe. After his playing days he moved into coaching and led Türkischer SV Singen to a championship in the lower German leagues.

His family had emigrated to Germany in the 1960s from the village of Curali in Yozgat's Çayıralan district. He started playing at five with FC 08 Villingen and moved to the bigger club once Freiburg's scouts spotted him. He caught the eye of coach Volker Finke, made his first official appearance against Energie Cottbus on July 22, 1998, became the first player in about thirty years to graduate from Freiburg's academy to the first team, and was part of the side promoted to the Bundesliga. A serious injury overshadowed 1999-2000. In 2000 he joined Fenerbahçe at Mustafa Denizli's request and was part of the 2000-01 and 2003-04 title wins. At Beşiktaş he won the 2005-06 and 2006-07 Turkish Cups and the 2006 Super Cup. In 2007 he returned to Freiburg and shared in the 2008-09 2. Bundesliga title; he then helped Kasımpaşa stay up in the Süper Lig, and at Bucaspor he terminated his contract after not being paid.

With Turkey's under-21 side he took part in the 2000 European Championship finals, and he also played for the A2 and senior national teams. He ended his career in Germany's seventh tier at FC Furtwangen; in 2023-24 he took charge of Singen, completed his first coaching spell with a title and took the club up to the Verbandsliga.