Rıza Çalımbay (born 2 February 1963) is a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish football manager and former player who is currently the manager of

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 ...

. He was one of the symbol names of Beşiktaş and was among the best players of his time. Because of his determination and hard work he was nicknamed

Atom Ant Atom Ant is a cartoon ant and superhero, created by Hanna-Barbera in 1965. Atom costarred in ''The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show'' (sharing top billing with Secret Squirrel). In syndication, Atom Ant aired alongside '' Precious Pupp'' and '' The ...

(in Turkish, "Atom Karınca").

Playing career

Born in

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...

, Turkey, Çalımbay started playing football in Beşiktaş academy. He debuted with the Beşiktaş first team in 1980–81 season. Until his retirement in 1995–96 season., he played only for Beşiktaş, and for the

Turkey national football team The Turkey national football team ( tr, Türkiye Millî Futbol Takımı) represents Turkey in men's international football matches. The team is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation ( tr, Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu), the governing bod ...

, although he played in the UNICEF-world team against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and caught the eye of many clubs like

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

but Çalımbay would not leave Beşiktaş. He played 494 league games for Beşiktaş and scored 43 goals. He holds the record for most appearances for Beşiktaş. He was also the captain of the team. He also played 38 times for

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

Managerial career

After retiring from football, Çalımbay took manager courses in

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 2001, he became the assistant manager for

Christoph Daum Christoph Paul Daum (born 24 October 1953) is a German professional football manager and former player. Daum played as a midfielder and was a junior for several clubs from the region of Duisburg. He began his senior career with Hamborn 07 and E ...

at Beşiktaş but after a short time he resigned, and became the manager of Göztepe,

Denizlispor Denizlispor, due to current sponsorship Altaş Denizlispor, is a Turkish sports club based in Denizli. It is known by its distinct green and black colors. The club's branches include football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, and gymnastics. ...

and

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Rize. The club play in the TFF First League. The club was founded on May 19, 1953, with green-yellow as club colours, but later changed to blue-green. Since 1990, the team ...

. He was especially successful at

, leading the team to latter stages in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup season eliminating teams like

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

and the mighty Olympique Lyonnais side of Paul Le Guen. The

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

side of José Mourinho ended the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

dreams of

and Çalımbay after an 8–3 win on aggregate. In 2004–05 season, he became the manager of Beşiktaş after

Vicente Del Bosque Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to ha ...

was sacked. That season Beşiktaş was having really bad results and the squad was in a bad mood. But after Çalımbay took control the team started to perform really well. Çalımbay changed the system back to a 3–5–2 formation the usual formation and began playing good football he also picked a 4–3 win over rivals Fenerbahçe in the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium. However in the 2005–06 season, Beşiktaş was performing bad once again, Despite

2005–06 UEFA Cup The 2005–06 UEFA Cup, the 35th edition of the UEFA Cup, was won by Sevilla, beating Middlesbrough in the final. It was the first victory for Sevilla in a European competition, and the first appearance by Middlesbrough in a European final. The ...

wins against

FC Vaduz FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

and

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association ...

a 1–2 home defeat by Fenerbahçe took the coach into troubled waters. Çalımbay resigned in the 9th week after a 0–0 draw against

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fi ...

. Jean Tigana became the manager of Beşiktaş after him. He then coached

Ankaraspor Ankaraspor Kulübü (), formerly known as Osmanlıspor (), is a Turkish professional football club based in the country's capital Ankara. Founded in 1978, the club competes in the TFF Second League. History Ankaraspor was founded as "Ankara Bele ...

but resigned after a few matches. Çalımbay signed a 1.5 year contract with again

, although he had options to coach abroad in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

but he chose

. He then coached respectively Eskişehirspor,

, Mersin İdmanyurdu and Kasımpaşa. On 10 October 2016 he signed a 2 year deal with

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and ...

. Çalımbay was named the manager of

for his second stint in 2019. He helped the club win the

2021–22 Turkish Cup The 2021–22 Turkish Cup ( tr, Türkiye Kupası) is the 60th season of the tournament. Ziraat Bankası is the sponsor of the tournament, thus the sponsored name is Ziraat Turkish Cup. The winners earn a berth in the play-off round of the 2022� ...

, the first major honour in the club's history.

Career statistics

Player

Club

International

Manager

Honours

Player

Beşiktaş * 1.Lig: 1981–82, 1985–86, 1989–90,

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, 1991–92, 1994–95 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupas� ...

: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1993–94 * Turkish Super Cup: 1986, 1989, 1992, 1994 * Chancellor Cup: 1988 *

TSYD Cup The TSYD Cup ( tr, Türk Spor Yazarları Derneği Kupası, Turkish Sports Writers Association Cup) was a friendly football competition in Turkey. The tournament started in 1963. It was played throughout six regions in Turkey: Adana, Ankara, Istanbu ...

: 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1996 Individual * Beşiktaş Team of the Century Records * Beşiktaş All-Time Appearance Maker: 645 games * Beşiktaş All-Time Appearance Maker in Süper Lig: 494 games

Manager

Sivasspor *Turkish Cup: 2021–22

References

External links

Profile at TFF.org

Profile at Mackolik.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calimbay, Riza 1963 births Living people Association football wingers Turkish footballers Turkey international footballers Turkey under-21 international footballers Turkey youth international footballers Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Beşiktaş J.K. managers Eskişehirspor managers Antalyaspor managers Trabzonspor managers Turkish football managers Süper Lig players Süper Lig managers Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1983 Mediterranean Games

Playing career

Managerial career

Career statistics

Player

Club

International

Manager

Honours

Player

Manager

See also

References

External links