Hakan Şükür

Turkish footballer

*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Hakan Şükür (Albanian: Shykyr; born 1 September 1971) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed the "Bull of the Bosphorus" and Kral (king), he spent the majority of his professional career with Galatasaray, being a three-time Gol Kralı (Goal King, *le and award given to the annual top goalscorer of the Süper Lig), representing the club in three different spells and winning a total of 14 major *les.

Şükür represented Turkey a total of 112 times, scoring 51 goals, making him the nation's top goalscorer and 19th in the world at the time of his retirement. One of the most prolific strikers of the modern era, he netted 383 goals throughout his club career as well as the fastest ever in a World Cup, in 2002. He retired from football in 2008, only scoring once in single digits for his main team in 13 seasons; he was renowned for his heading ability.

In the 2011 general elections, he was elected as an Istanbul MP for the Justice and Development Party. He resigned from the party in December 2013, to serve as an independent. He is wanted for arrest in Turkey since August 2016 for being a member of Gülen movement and has lived in exile in the United States since mid 2016.

1 Club career
- 1.1 Early years
- 1.2 Galatasaray – Torino
- 1.3 Return to Italy – Blackburn
- 1.4 Third spell at Galatasaray
2 International career
3 Personal life
4 Politics
5 Prosecution and exile
6 Career statistics
- 6.1 Club
- 6.2 International
7 Honours
8 Further reading
9 See also
10 References
11 Bibliography
12 External links

Club career

Early years

Born in Sapanca, Sakarya Province, Şükür began his football career with local club Sakaryaspor, making his professional debut shortly after his 17th birthday. His first goal came in a match against Eskişehirspor on 26 February 1989: with the match tied 2–2, he entered the pitch as a subs*ute and scored the winning goal; he went on to score a further 18 Süper Lig goals in his three-year spell with the club.

In the summer of 1990, Şükür joined fellow first division side Bursaspor. He scored six goals in 27 games in his second season, helping the team to a sixth-place finish, and making his Turkish national team debut shortly after.

Galatasaray – Torino

Subsequently, Şükür signed for national giants Galatasaray SK. Nicknamed the Bull of the Bosphorus, he scored 19 goals in 30 matches in his first year with the club, helping it win both the league and cup *les, adding 16 and 19, respectively, in the next two seasons and attracting the attention of Torino FC. In 1995 he moved to the Italian club, becoming the second Turkish player to ever play in Serie A, but returned to his country and Galatasaray in the following winter transfer window, failing to settle and only netting once in the league.

Upon his return to Galatasaray, Şükür regained his scoring form, scoring 16 goals in the league and helping the club win the cup. The following season, he collected 38 goals in the league, tying him for second-most goals scored in a season with Metin Oktay, one goal behind record holder Tanju Çolak; both players were playing for Galatasaray when they broke the record. Şükür also finished third in the ESM Golden Boot rankings with 57 points, behind Mário Jardel (60) and Ronaldo (68). He won the Gol Kralı award the following two seasons, netting 33 and 18 goals respectively, with the Istanbul side winning the *le in all three seasons.

In the 1999–2000 season, Şükür's last with Galatasaray in his second stint, the team completed a domestic double for the second year in succession, and added the year's UEFA Cup, becoming the first Turkish side to win a European *le; in the 4–1 penalty shootout win against Arsenal he scored on his attempt, having netted ten times in 17 games during the campaign.

Return to Italy – Blackburn

Şükür in 2008

Şükür then moved to Italy again, this time to Inter Milan, scoring six goals in 35 official matches. His appearances were limited by the presence of Ronaldo and Christian Vieri in the team's attack and January 2002, after one and a half seasons, he signed with another team in the country, Parma FC, but was unable to produce again, only finding the net three times. He helped Parma win the Coppa Italia but only played in the first leg of the final.

Having been released, on 9 December 2002 Şükür joined Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League for the remainder of the campaign, signed by former Galatasaray manager Graeme Souness. His spell began with him sustaining a broken leg in training which ruled him out for two months, after which made his debut for the club on 1 March 2003, replacing the injured Egil Østenstad at half time in a 1–0 home win over Manchester City; he scored twice from nine appearances, both goals coming in a 4–0 defeat of Fulham at Loftus Road on 7 April.

Third spell at Galatasaray

Şükür returned to Galatasaray on 7 July 2003, after failing to negotiate a new contract with Blackburn. He scored 12 times in 28 league games in his first season and 18 in the following, with the team winning the 2005 Turkish cup during that timeframe. Also, on 3 December 2003, he found the net twice in a 2–0 home defeat of Juventus F.C. for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League; in November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as Turkey's Golden Player by the Turkish Football Federation, as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

In the 2005–06 season, Şükür again scored in double digits (ten) as Galatasaray again won the league. After helping the club win a record-tying 17th first division *le in 2007–08, netting 11 goals, he decided to retire from the game aged nearly 37. Subsequently, he often appeared as a television pundit on Turkish Radio and Television Corporation; during his career, he scored 38 goals in all European compe*ions.

International career

Şükür won his first cap for Turkey in a friendly with Luxembourg in March 1992 – his debut being awarded by German manager Sepp Piontek – scoring his first international goal in his next match, against Denmark, and totalling six in his first 11 appearances. He netted seven in qualification for UEFA Euro 1996 and started all of the matches at the finals in England, in which they were eliminated in the group stage without scoring a single goal.

Şükür scored eight times in qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup: half of those in a 6–4 home win over Wales on 20 August 1997, but Turkey did not reach the play-offs. At Euro 2000 he netted twice for the quarterfinalists, in a 2–0 group stage win against co-hosts Belgium.

During the 2002 World Cup, held in South Korea and *an, Şükür scored once for Turkey in seven matches as the national team finished in third place. On 29 June he scored the fastest ever goal in a FIFA World Cup, netting against South Korea 10.8 seconds into the third-place play-off (3–2 win).

Of his 112 senior appearances, Şükür captained Turkey in 30. After appearing in some Euro 2008 qualifiers, notably scoring four against Moldova in a 5–0 win in Frankfurt, Germany, he was not selected for the finals, his last game being a 0–1 home loss to Greece at the age of 36 (17 October 2007).

Personal life

Şükür is of Albanian origin. Both of his parents are immigrants from Yugoslavia, his father being born in Pristina, and his mother in Skopje. His surname is spelled "Shykyr" in Albanian. His first wife, Esra Elbirlik, married him in a ceremony broadcast live on television, initiated by Prime Minister Tansu Çiller and performed by Mayor of Istanbul Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The couple divorced after four months, and Elbirlik and her family died in the 1999 İzmit earthquake. Şükür fathered three children with his second spouse, Beyda.

Politics

On 18 June 2011, Şükür was elected as a Member of Parliament to the Grand National *embly of Turkey in the 2011 general elections, from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), representing the 2nd electoral district of Istanbul Province.

On 16 December 2013, Şükür, known for his links to the Islamic Gülen movement of the Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, resigned from his position in protest after the interdiction of the group's "dershane" system, and decided to continue working as an independent MP. He subsequently went on to work as a football pundit for Turkish Radio and Television Corporation.

Prosecution and exile

In February 2016, Şükür was charged with insulting president Erdoğan on Twitter. In August, a warrant was issued for his arrest as he was charged with being a member of the Gülen movement, designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey.

Şükür fled Turkey in November 2017, taking up self-exile in San Francisco, California and planning to become a restaurateur in Palo Alto. He left this job because "strange people kept coming into the bar".

In January 2020, Şükür told Germany's Welt am Sonntag that he was working as an Uber driver and selling books in the United States. He also said that his houses, businesses and bank accounts in Turkey had been seized by the government.

Career statistics

Club

International

Scores and results list Turkey's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Şükür goal.

Honours

Sakaryaspor

Turkish Cup: 1987–88

Galatasaray

Süper Lig: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2005–06, 2007–08
Turkish Cup: 1992–93, 1995–96, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2004–05
President Cup: 1993, 1997
UEFA Cup: 1999–2000

Parma

Coppa Italia: 2001–02

Inter

Supercoppa Italiana runner-up: 2000

Turkey

Mediterranean Games: 1993
FIFA World Cup: third place 2002

Individual

Süper Lig: Top Scorer 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99
IFFHS World's Best Top Division Goal Scorer: 1997
UEFA Jubilee Awards: Turkey's Golden Player 2004
Top Scorer of Turkish League of all Times: 249 goals
Top Scoring Turkish Player in Champions League: 22 goals
Golden Foot Legends Award: 2014

References

Bibliography

Sarıçiçek, Hasan (2006). Kral Hakan Şükür: Bir Kral'ın Entrikaları Alt Üst Eden Başarı Öyküsü (in Turkish). Biyografi.net Publications. ISBN:9789750039430.
Tuncay, Bülent (2002). Galatasaray Tarihi: Avrupa Zaferleriyle Unutulmaz Yıldızlarıyla (in Turkish). Yapı Kredi Yayınları. ISBN:9750804546.

External links

Hakan Şükür at the Turkish Football Federation
Hakan Şükür at Soccerbase
Hakan Şükür at National-Football-Teams.com
Hakan Şükür – FIFA compe*ion record (archived)
Hakan Şükür at IMDb:

Hakan Şükür Is A Member Of

52 Year Olds

Hakan

Adapazarı, Sakarya