Veysel Cihan

Veysel Cihan — Biography

Veysel Cihan is a retired Turkish striker from the Avanos district of Nevşehir, whose breakthrough at Denizlispor led all the way to Beşiktaş. Standing 1.86 m, he wore the shirts of Denizlispor, Gençlerbirliği, Konyaspor, Antalyaspor and several other clubs before turning to coaching once his playing days were over.

He started out in Avanos and played for Nevşehirspor from 1994. His first serious breakthrough came at Denizlispor, where he spent four years from 1998 and where he went by the nickname 'Maradona Veysel'. His form after joining Gençlerbirliği in 2002 won admiration and led to a transfer to Beşiktaş at the start of the 2004-05 season. In the middle of 2005-06 he moved on to Gaziantepspor, then spent 2006-07 to 2008-09 at Konyaspor. In 2009 he signed for Antalyaspor, where he was nicknamed 'Reis'; when his contract ran out after 2010-11 he was left without a club for a spell, then agreed a deal with First League side Boluspor in the last week of the 2011-12 transfer window. He also pulled on the Turkey A2 national team shirt four times.

After his playing days he chose a coaching path and became an assistant coach at Boluspor in 2015. His attachment to home showed on his shirt: wherever he could, he wore number 50, the license-plate code of his home province Nevşehir.