Zeliha Şimşek, (April 30, 1981 in

İskenderun İskenderun ( ar, الإسكندرونة, el, Αλεξανδρέττα "Little Alexandria"), historically known as Alexandretta and Scanderoon, is a city in Hatay Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Names The city was founded as Ale ...

Hatay Province Hatay Province ( tr, Hatay ili, ) is the southernmost province of Turkey. It is situated almost entirely outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of A ...

), is a Turkish women's footballer and trainer. Currently, she plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in the Turkish Women's Second League for Orduspor with jersey number 13. She was formerly on the Trabzonspor women's team, which she co-founded in 2007. She captained and also coached the team until they folded.

Early life

Şimşek was born on April 30, 1981, in the southern Turkish city of

. Following her graduation from the high school, she studied

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

in the Teacher Education School at the

Black Sea Technical University Karadeniz Technical University ( tr, Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi or KTÜ) is a public research university in Trabzon, in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. Established in 1955, it is the fourth oldest university in Turkey. Karadeniz Technical U ...

(KTÜ) in

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the Bl ...

. During her university years, she played football in the women's team of KTÜ receiving her license on November 20, 2001. With the suspension of women's football matches in Turkey, she had to be away for a while from active playing.

Playing career

Club

Upon

Turkish Football Federation The Turkish Football Federation (; TFF) is the governing body of association football in Turkey. It was formed on 23 April 1923, and joined FIFA the same year and UEFA in 1962. It organizes the Turkey national football team, the Süper Lig, Turk ...

's initiative,

women's football in Turkey Women's football in Turkey is the women's branch of football in Turkey and is governed by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF). History Friendship matches Although Turkey is one of the first countries to adapt women's rights, its practical ...

was reorganized in 2007. Soon, Şimşek co-founded, along with

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

's coordinator

Özkan Sümer Özkan Sümer (20 November 194022 December 2020) was a Turkish footballer and coach. He played as defender in Trabzonspor (and later coached the same club), Galatasaray SK, and the Turkey national football team. He also served as president of Tra ...

, a renowned former footballer and coach, women's football branch of the same club. Members of the newly established club were selected among the players of the school teams taking part in a tournament in Trabzon. Her amateur license was transferred to Trabzonspor on November 16, 2007. Trabzonspor Women's Football Club was invited to join the

Turkish Women's Football Premier League The Turkish Women's Football Super League ( tr, Kadınlar Süper Ligi), formerly the First Women's Football League (also known as the ''Turkcell Women's Football Super League'' for sponsorship reasons), is the top level women's football league of ...

in its first season of 2007–08. The next season, Şimşek's team became champion of the Premier League, which was then given a national status with ten clubs competing. After having earned the league championship title, her club was entitled to take part at the qualifying round of the

2009–10 UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League 2009–10 was the first edition of the newly branded tournament, and the ninth edition of a UEFA tournament for women's champion football clubs. For the first time the top 8 leagues of the UEFA were awarded two e ...

. This was the first time a Turkish women's football team had participated in the qualifying round of the UEFA league since it was established in 2001. Trabzonspor women's team was not successful in its first international participation due to losses in the qualifying round.

After football

Şimşek works as Turkish language teacher in a primary school in Trabzon. She trains her team in the evening hours due to her profession and the team members' positions as students.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simsek, Zeliha Turkish women's footballers Turkish schoolteachers Karadeniz Technical University alumni 1981 births People from İskenderun Trabzonspor women's players Trabzonspor managers Living people Women's association football midfielders Turkish female association football managers Turkish women's football managers Sportspeople from Hatay