Engin Çınar (born May 25, 1954) is a Turkish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

most notably in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

, and

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

Career

Çınar played in the

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig (), currently referred to as Trendyol 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization ...

in 1972 with

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

. The following season he assisted in securing promotion to the

after winning the league title. In 1975, he secured the Super Lig title with Trabzonspor which clinched a position in the

1976–77 European Cup The 1976–77 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the first time by Liverpool in the final against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Three-time defending champions Bayern Munich were knocked out by Dynamo Kyiv in the quarter ...

. He featured in the

tournament and played against

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

, and recorded a goal against IA Akranes. In 1977, he signed with

Galatasaray S.K. Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

, but shortly was sent to play with

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (, ), abbreviated as BJK, is a Turkish professional sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

In 1979, he played with Diyarbakır F.K. In 1981, he played abroad in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

with

Toronto Panhellenic Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. In the winter of 1981 he played in the

indoor season with

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

. He later played in the Major Indoor Soccer League with Kansas City Comets.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Çinar, Engin 1954 births Living people Turkish men's footballers Trabzonspor footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Diyarbakırspor footballers New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players Kansas City Comets (1979–1991) players TFF 1. Lig players Süper Lig players Canadian National Soccer League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Men's association football forwards Turkish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Turkish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers from Trabzon 20th-century Turkish sportsmen