Zeliha Şimşek (born April 30, 1981) is a Turkish women's footballer and trainer. Currently, she plays as a

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 ...

in the Turkish Women's Second League for Orduspor. 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

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

İskenderun İskenderun (), historically known as Alexandretta (, ) and Scanderoon, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Hatay Province, Turkey. Its area is 247 km2, and its population is 251,682 (2022). It is on the Mediterranean coas ...

Hatay Province Hatay Province (, ) is the southernmost province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey. Its area is , and its population is 1,686,043 (2022). It is situated mostly outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province ...

. Following her graduation from the high school, she studied

Turkish language Turkish ( , , also known as 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, a member of Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and one of two official languag ...

in the

Teacher Education Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitude (psychology), attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they requir ...

School at the Black Sea Technical University (KTÜ) in

Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

. 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 Turkish Foo ...

's initiative,

women's football in Turkey Women's football in Turkey is the women's association football, 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 adap ...

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

's coordinator Özkan Sümer, 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 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 ...

. 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 1981 births Living people Turkish women's footballers 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Turkish schoolteachers Karadeniz Technical University alumni People from İskenderun Trabzonspor women's players Trabzonspor managers Women's association football midfielders Turkish female football managers Turkish women's football managers Footballers from Hatay