Uğur Yıldırım (; born 8 May 1982) is a Dutch football coach and former professional

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

. He especially impressed during his time with

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

and became

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offence ...

world champion. After retiring, he began working as a coach at the

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...

youth academy. He made one appearance for the Netherlands national team.

Club career

A freekick specialist, Yıldırım progressed through the

youth academy. In the 2003–04 season he scored six goals in an

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

match against

Cambuur SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch Association football, football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league sy ...

. This unique feat drew attention of bigger clubs and Yıldırım signed a contract at

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

, with whom he had an outstanding debut season. In 2004, Yıldırım won a free kick tournament held in Marbella, beating out players such as

Zinédine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...

. In July 2007, he signed a three-year contract with Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

. During his time at the club, he scored three goals for his team. He subsequently moved to title challengers

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...

after claiming that Gaziantepspor had not paid his wages for several months. His time in Sivasspor was disappointing and he left after only six months on a free transfer. After his unsuccessful stay in Turkey, Yıldırım had several trials in 2008, but failed to impress with English clubs

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. He then trialled with Azerbaijani club Neftçi Baku and Dutch side

FC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

. The result of this unsuccessful period of trials was a eventually a contract with Kasımpaşa in January 2009 until the end of the season, where he was released in June 2009. In August 2010 Yıldırım agreed to join Dutch

side

AGOVV AGOVV () is a Dutch association football club based in Apeldoorn. It was established on 25 February 1913. The club played in professional football from 1954 to 1971 and from 2003 to 2013. AGOVV's male first squad plays in 2022–23 in the Tweede ...

, signing a one-year contract for the club from his native town. Afterwards, he began playing on amateur level with

CSV Apeldoorn Christelijke Sportvereniging Apeldoorn is a Dutch association football club from Apeldoorn, Gelderland. They are currently members of the Eerste Klasse, the sixth tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded in 1946. History I ...

International career

After Yıldırım took the decision on 22 January 2005 to represent the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

internationally – after having to choose between the Netherlands and

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 ...

. He gained his only international cap on 9 February 2005 against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In the 64th minute he came on as a substitute for

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

-player

Romeo Castelen Romeo Erwin Marius Castelen (born 3 May 1983) is a Dutch former footballer who played as a right winger. Club career ADO Den Haag Born in Paramaribo, Suriname, Castelen started his professional career with ADO Den Haag, playing two full seasons ...

, as the game ended in 0–0 draw. As the match against England was a friendly, Yıldırım could still opt to play for Turkey.

Coaching career

After his playing career, Yıldırım began coaching teams in the

youth academy while taking his coaching diploma. He also coached

Vierde Klasse The Vierde Klasse ( en, Fourth Class) is the ninth tier of football in the Netherlands and the seventh tier of Dutch amateur football. This is the lowest league in the West II region. The league is divided into 64 divisions, 32 played on Saturday a ...

team TKA between 2017 and 2019. On 1 July 2020, he began coaching the Go Ahead Eagles U16 team.

References

External links

Profile at TFF
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yildirim, Ugur 1982 births Living people Footballers from Apeldoorn Dutch sportspeople of Turkish descent Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Go Ahead Eagles players SC Heerenveen players Gaziantepspor footballers Sivasspor footballers Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers AGOVV players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Süper Lig players Men's association football midfielders CSV Apeldoorn players Dutch football managers Go Ahead Eagles non-playing staff TFF First League players