Turkish football forward Hakan Shukyur: biography with photo

In the late nineties and early zero years in the football world, of course, dominated by French football players. The victories at the 1998 World Championships, European Championships in 2002 and the two Confederations Cups (2001 and 2003) did not give anyone any reason to doubt the strength and power of the French team. The teams that could give the fight to the French were not so many. This is Brazil, Germany, England and ... Turkey. Yes, yes, it's not a mistake. If the first three teams hardly surprised the reader by being on this list, then the Turkish team, I think, was an unexpected guest among such recognized grandees of world football. Meanwhile, it was the Turkish national team that became the main opening in the mundiale in 2002, reaching bronze medals (the Korean team will not be taken into account, this is a topic for a separate article). Among the creators of the sensation in Japan and South Korea was none other than Hakan Shukur, whose biography contains many moments reflecting the whole atmosphere of European football of that troubled time.

The beginning of the way

The story about the personality of Hakan should start with an interesting story about the birthday of a football player. The fact is that in his passport a citizen of Turkey in the field with a date of birth is September 1, 1971. But the footballer himself in an interview confessed that he is celebrating his birthday on July 29. He explains this inconsistency by the fact that the parents at first did not have the right to submit documents on the registration of the child. Hakan's mother Nermin moved to Adapazari (the town where the footballer was born) from Macedonia, and Sermet's father from Kosovo, which caused the family problems. In his childhood, Hakan Shukur did not immediately begin to pursue his future professional craft: at first the boy played for the basketball team of his school. However, at 10 years Sermet gave him to the youth team of the local club "Sakaryaspor", where Hakan began his professional career. After playing a couple of years at a decent level, he moved to Bursaspor, where he was spotted by the scouts Galatasaray, whose legend became a footballer in the future. With interruptions to Torino, Inter, Parma and Blackburn, Hakan Shukur spent more than 10 seasons for Galatasaray, with whom he won all but the Champions League, and became the top scorer in the history of the club (over 280 Goals).

Trying to play in Europe

Of course, the European teams could not ignore the outstanding game that Hakan Shukur demonstrated. Turkish football striker interested in a couple of clubs from the English Premier League and Serie A, but the choice of the striker fell on the Milan "Inter", where he moved in 2002. By the way, before that Hakan tried himself in Italian football (in 1995, as part of "Torino"), but 5 matches and one goal can hardly be called a full-fledged game. Although in the "Inter" football player could not reveal himself: 5 goals in 24 matches - this is clearly not the level that the club's leadership expected, acquiring a Turkish striker. Then came "Parma" and "Blackburn Rovers" and 5 goals in 2 seasons. Realizing that Europe is not his, Hakan Shukur moved back to "Galatasaray", where he spent 5 more seasons and nabed 55 goals. For all fans of the turn of the XX-XXI century, the words "Hakan Shukur", "Galatasaray" - are synonyms.

Shukur and the national team of Turkey

Being a player of the national team of Turkey, Hakan Shukur has set not one record. First, his account still holds the fastest goal of the world championships. On the goal against the mistress of the mundialya, South Korea, in the match for the third place Hakan spent 9.8 seconds. In this case, the footballer himself notes that at that time he was not in the most optimal form. In addition, until recently, he was the best scorer of European championships with 22 goals on the account. Now this record is beaten by Cristiano Ronaldo, who hit the opponent's gate once more. Although Hakan could not win medals at the European level, such an achievement takes a very honorable place in the collection of the turek attacker.

Hakan Shukur at the 2002 World Cup

It is impossible not to talk about the game of Hakan and the Turkish national team at the historic World Championships held in 2002 in Japan and South Korea. To the mundialian, the Turkish superforward did not fit in the best form, as you could have noticed, the footballer himself noted. The thing is that Hakan Shukur in 2000 went from his hometown Galatasaray on a tour of Europe, where he eventually failed to play. Milan "Inter" invited the Turk as a full replacement for the injured Ronaldo, who, unlike Hakan, had to break through serious competition in the Brazilian national team for the 2002 World Cup. But despite the decline in the career, despite the fact that not all matches were played in full, the Turkish striker could still write his name in the history of not only this, but all the world championships taken together. Scoring in the match for the "bronze" hosts, South Korea, in less than 10 seconds. Let him not be able to get into the symbolic team, but his team obviously helped to become one of the best in the world.

The most popular person in Turkey

Hakan Shukur - a footballer, whose popularity is hard to find in Turkey. The best scorer of the world, according to FIFA 1997, the best striker of the world, according to FIFA 1997, the best scorer of the championships in Turkey, the best scorer in the history of the Turkish national team ... This list can continue, it seems, to infinity. If you try to find a person in Turkey who would be more popular than Hakan Shukur, the photo below will convince you to stop the search. Perhaps, even Erdogan can hardly compete with him.

Shukyur is a politician

By the way, about Erdogan. After the completion of his career, the footballer, like many of his contemporaries, moved into politics. In 2011, he received a deputy mandate in the Turkish parliament from the Justice and Development Party. Although in politics, Hakan has developed all the ambiguous. Being a member of the party of the incumbent president of the country (for those who are not aware of modern politics - Recep Tayyip Erdogan), the new politician did not agree with the actions of his "boss" and eventually left the party and went to live in California. But even here the tensions between the two most popular people in Turkey did not end. In his Twitter social network account, Hakan Shukur published several records containing insults to his opponent, as a result of which the Istanbul court threatens to sentence the legendary Turkish striker to 4 years in prison. What this story ends, one can only guess.

Legend

Excellent choice of position, excellent head play, phenomenal reaction, strong game by the corps - all this distinguished Hakan, who in the world football received the nickname "Bosporus bull" (for reference, the Bosporus is the strait between the peninsula of Asia Minor and the European part of Turkey, where Istanbul is located) Other players of his time. It can hardly be said that the Turks were worse than the same Rivaldo, Zidane and Ronaldo, but before the Golden Ball, FIFA still did not get there. And that the most offensive, was not even nominated in the top three. However, for the entire Turkish people, he was and will remain a legend, to the level of which only the chosen can reach.