Coşkun Özarı

Coşkun Özarı — Biography

Coşkun Özarı (4 January 1931 – 22 June 2011) was a Turkish footballer and coach whose entire career was tied to Galatasaray. Having joined the club while still a student at Galatasaray Lisesi, he broke into the first team at 17 and spent the next thirteen years as a mainstay of both the club's and the national team's defense, remembered as a hard tackler with gentlemanly manners off the pitch.

Playing alongside Gündüz Kılıç, Turgay Şeren and Metin Oktay, he helped the side win league titles and Turkish Cups. He retired early to pursue coaching, attending a 1961 coaching course in England run by Walter Winterbottom before becoming Galatasaray's assistant coach and, three years later, succeeding Kılıç as head coach, guiding the team to four championships. Appointed national team coach in 1965, he held the role — including a spell from 1972 to 1976 — for a total of about a decade, before ending his coaching career in 1986 and moving into sports journalism.

Özarı died on 22 June 2011 and was buried at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery; his wife Gülseren Özarı passed away the following year. His son, Murat Özarı, later became a television presenter.