Hakan Sükür

Hakan Sükür

Hakan Sükür is a retired international football striker who was born on September 1, 1971 in Sakarya, Turkey. Sükür is known for being a prolific striker who was able to score 383 goals during his career in professional football, and for his 51 goals as an international player representing Turkey.

Sükür retired from football playing, with the 2007-2008 season has his last one. Nevertheless, he has not quite exited the football scene since he can be scene making football pundits on Turkish television.

The year that Sükür made his debut as a professional football player was in 1988. Incidentally, his first league match occurred on his 18th birthday when he played with Sakaryaspor, a local football club. After two seasons with the said club, Sükür transferred to Bursaspor, where he won his very first national cap in a match held on March 1992 against Luxembourg. His first international goal was scored in his next appearance in a match against Denmark.

Sükür has been dubbed by the European media as “The Bull of the Bosphorus”, and after how many years of playing in local clubs, the European clubs soon entertained the idea of signing him. It was only in 2002 when Sükür opted to play in Italy by first trying Internazionale before transferring to Parma.

Throughout his career, Sükür has always been a striker. He currently holds the distinction of being the most capped player in the outfield for Turkey, as well as for the most goals for Turkey. Among his 109 caps, he has enjoyed being the team captain in 30 of them.