Sadiq Khan’s deputy London Mayor faked a top footballing career by claiming he was set to sign for European side Real Madrid after ‘spending years at Inter Milan’.
Mete Coban MBE, 32, was last year appointed to the £148,000 role some ten years after becoming Labour’s youngest councillor while still at university aged just 21.
But the left-back Cypriot made his name off the back of an elaborate fairytale – that he had been a star of European football before dropping it all to found a charity and take on politics.
In 2011, Mete Serdar Coban claimed to be such a skilled footballer that, after four years in Italy, he was set to transfer to Real Madrid in Spain, one of the top football teams in the world.
He told a host of sports journalist that he had been scouted by the Istanbul side Galatasaray, before transferring to Inter Milan, the Times reports.
Coban backed up the statements with social media posts and a grainy video claiming to show his highlights at the Italian side.
But the truth was that the now-deputy mayor had come no closer to top flight football than a brief, failed trial at Madrid’s Atletico aged 14.
Turkish media originally bought the story after Coban told them he was 17 and had been personally invited to join Real Madrid by then-manager Jose Mourinho.
Mete Coban MBE (left, with mayor Sadiq Khan), 32, was last year appointed to the £148,000 role some ten years after becoming Labour’s youngest councillor while still at university aged just 21
Coban invented a professional footballing career and told journalists he was being signed at Real Madrid (Pictured: Coban playing a charity football match in London)
He said he had been spotted thanks to youth performances in the Atalanta Cup.
He shared pictures of himself signing autographs at Madrid’s stadium on Facebook and was featured in Turkish – and even Spanish – newspapers.
But it was a complete fabrication, and Coban even lied about his age – at the time, he was actually 19. And he had never played for Galatasaray, Real Madrid or Inter Milan.
A source at Inter Milan later told Turkish reporters that Coban was ‘a liar’, adding: ‘Such a person never played for Inter’s youth academy and has never set foot in our facilities.’
Football scout Javier Ribalta added in a tweet: ‘He did trials with Atletico and was close to ridiculous.’
And the video supposedly showing his career highlights was in fact made up of low quality footage of other players spliced together.
Now having entered the UK’s political arena and meeting with global leaders including Sir Keir Starmer, Gareth Southgate and the King himself, it can now be confirmed that Mete ‘Serdar’ Coban and the deputy mayor are one and the same.
The story has echoes of that of Ali Dia, who was signed by Southampton boss Graeme Souness from Senegal after allegedly claiming – falsely – to be the cousin of footballing legend George Weah.
He played for 53 minutes in the first team in 1996 before being subbed off, and later became known as a conman – something he strongly denies.
It’s not the first time that Coban’s record has come under scrutiny.
Coban pictured with then-England manager Gareth Southgate at last year’s London Marathon
Coban convinced Turkish and Spanish press that he was a successful footballer who had spent four years at Real Madrid
Coban and Sadiq Khan are pictured playing in a charity football match of journalists versus politicians
Coban was made an MBE in 2021 by then-Prince Charles for his charity work with young people
When he was appointed to his deputy mayor role in July last year, critics pointed out his huge CO2 footprint while in control of Hackney’s environment and transport as a councillor from 2021.
In just two years, he racked up 17 tonnes of CO2 emissions on flights alone, travelling to Istanbul, Guatemala, Miami, Washington DC, Malta and Dubai.
Coban said at the time most of the travelling was related to his charity work. for young people, for which he received his MBE in 2021.
Announcing his new role last summer, Mr Coban said: ‘The mayor has introduced world-leading policies on climate action and I am hugely excited to bring my experience to this city-wide effort’.
A spokeswoman for Sadiq Khan said: ‘Mete has an excellent track record at delivering a range of environmental improvements in Hackney and the mayor looks forward to working with him as he continues to take world-leading action to tackle the climate crisis, clean up our air and rivers and grow the green economy.’
A spokesperson for the Mayor told the Times: ‘This happened more than a decade ago when Mete Coban was a teenager and represented by a football agent. He has said publicly before that it was a naive mistake which he has learnt from and moved on from.
‘Mete now makes a huge contribution in supporting the mayor in cleaning up our air, improving our rivers and keeping London at the forefront of climate action across the world.’
