Dilek Koçbay (born Dilek Özdemir on December 30, 1982), is a Turkish FIFA listed football referee. She is a teacher of physical education by profession.

Personal life

She was born in

Balıkesir Balıkesir () is a city in Turkey and is the capital city of Balıkesir Province. Balıkesir is located in the Marmara region of Turkey and has a population of 338,936. Between 1341–1922, it was the capital of Karasi. History Close to mo ...

on December 30, 1982. Her father Mehmet Özdemir was a football referee, who inspired her for her later career as referee. She studied physical education and sports in

Balıkesir University Balıkesir University () is a public university in Balıkesir, Turkey. It was established in 1992. History The roots of Balikesir University date back to Karesi Teacher Training School, which was established in 1910. Balikesir State Engineerin ...

, becoming a teacher after graduation. She is married to Zafer Koçbay, a former football referee. They live in

Çanakkale Çanakkale (pronounced ), ancient ''Dardanellia'' (), is a city and seaport in Turkey in Çanakkale province on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the city is 195,439 (2021 estimate). Çanakkale is ...

. During her school years, she played volleyball. At the age of 17, she assisted with her sister their father in a football match as referee. And one year later, she assisted her later husband in a match.

Sports career

Referee

Koçbay began her referee career officially as an assistant referee in a match of the

TFF Third League TFF 3. Lig (Turkish Football Federation Third League) is the fourth level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in 2001–02 season as a continuation of then third level division Turkish Third Football League.Turkish Third Footba ...

on October 20, 2007. She made her debut as a referee in the PAF League, the predecessor of A2 League, on February 17, 2007. She officiated a youth super league, ( tr, Deplasmanlı Süper Gençler Ligi, DSGL), match for the first time on March 8, 2008. She was promoted to officiate Turkish men's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

league, called

A2 Ligi The U21 Ligi is the reserve team league for the top Turkish association football teams in the Süper Lig and 1. Lig. The league is split into western and an eastern division. History The league started in 1989-1990 and was named TFF PAF Ligi (Pr ...

, matches on September 20, 2010. Then on November 4, 2012, Koçbay served for the first time as referee in the Regional Amateur League. In September 2012, she officiated the friendly match between Turkey women's national U-19 and Wales teams held in Turkey. Koçbay served as referee at two of the 2014 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualification – Group 5 matches in October 2013. She served as fourth official in the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6 The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification UEFA Group 6 was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The group comprised Belarus, England, Montenegro, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales. The group winners qualified directly for the ...

match of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

on September 17, 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kocbay, Dilek 1982 births Living people Turkish football referees Turkish women referees and umpires Women association football referees People from Balıkesir Balıkesir University alumni Turkish schoolteachers