Samet Aybaba

Samet Aybaba — Biography

Samet Aybaba, born on 2 September 1955 in Osmaniye, is a former footballer and manager who became one of Beşiktaş's legendary figures. He began his playing career at İskenderunspor in 1975 before joining Beşiktaş in 1977, where he spent eleven seasons as a defender, making 334 league appearances and scoring eight goals. With the club he won the Turkish league title in 1982 and 1986, along with a Süper Kupa, a Prime Minister's Cup and two TSYD Cups, and was given a testimonial match in July 1988 after a long spell as team captain.

Aybaba began his coaching career at Kayserispor and went on to manage numerous clubs across Anatolia. He won the Turkish Cup with Gençlerbirliği in 2001 and again with Trabzonspor, whom he took charge of in 2002, in 2003. Taking over Sivasspor in March 2017, he led the club to Süper Lig promotion within a year and a half, and repeated the feat with Adana Demirspor in 2021. In December 2023 he joined Beşiktaş JK's board of directors as head of the football department, a post he resigned from in November 2024.

A sports high school and sports complex in his hometown of Osmaniye have been named in his honour, and through the 2025-2026 season he has remained involved with the Turkish Football Federation's work around the national team setup.