Uğur Boral (born 14 April 1982) is a Turkish retired

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 last played for

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

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 ...

. Boral was a gifted play-maker and surprised goalkeepers with his deceptive shot. He is naturally left-footed and could play as a left-sided

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

or as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, given the situation.

Club career

Boral began his career in 1995, when he signed with the amateur club Gaziosmanpaşa Karadenizspor. In 1998, he moved to Alibeyköyspor. He was transferred to Gençlerbirliği during the 2000–01 season after his stay with Kocaelispor. In 2006, Boral signed with Fenerbahçe, where he was given the number 25 shirt. He scored two goals on his Champions League debut against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

on Matchday 6 of the 2007–08 season. Boral signed a 1-year contract for Fenerbahçe, until 2012. Boral played shortly for

Samsunspor Samsunspor Kulübü, officially known as Samsunspor Football Club Joint Stock Company, or as Reeder Samsunspor due to sponsorship agreements, is a Turkey, Turkish Football club (association football), professional football club that competes in t ...

in 2012, before returning to Istanbuls Beşiktas for the time between 2012 and 2015. He retired in 2015.

International career

Euro 2008

He was called up to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

's Euro 2008 squad and started the

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on 25 June 2008 at St. Jakob-Park,

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. He scored the opening goal, which was also his first for

eventually lost 3–2.

International goal

Honours

;Fenerbahçe *

: 2006–07, 2010–11 * Süper Kupa:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

;Turkey *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

bronze medalist:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Prosecution

In the aftermath of the attempted

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

of July 2016 he was accused of being involved in the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement () or Hizmet movement () is an Islamist fraternal movement. It is a sub-sect of Sunni Islam based on a Nursian theological perspective as reflected in Fethullah Gülen's religious teachings. It is referred to by its membe ...

. In January 2020 Boral was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months imprisonment for being a member of an armed terror organization due to his links to the Gülen movement.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boral, Ugur 1982 births Living people Footballers from Istanbul Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Turkey men's B international footballers Ankaraspor footballers Kocaelispor footballers Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Samsunspor footballers Beşiktaş J.K. footballers UEFA Euro 2008 players Süper Lig players Men's association football midfielders Turkish prisoners and detainees 21st-century Turkish sportsmen