Kubilay Türkyılmaz

Kubilay Türkyılmaz — Biography

Kubilay "Kubi" Türkyılmaz, born in Switzerland to a family from Yozgat, was Switzerland's leading goalscorer of the 1990s. He stood out for his pace, his instinct in front of goal and his dead-ball skill, and with 34 goals he held the national team's scoring record for many years. He won the Turkish league with Galatasaray in 1993-94.

He began at US Semine in Bellinzona, then played for AC Bellinzona and Servette before heading to Bologna in Italy in 1990. At Galatasaray he won the league in his first season and scored twice against Manchester United in the Champions League; in 1995 he returned to Switzerland with Grasshopper, won the league in 1995-96 and 1997-98, and was named Swiss Footballer of the Year three seasons running. Later stops included Lugano, Brescia, Locarno and Luzern, where a knee injury ended his playing days in 2001.

For Switzerland he debuted against France in 1988 and scored his side's goal against England at Wembley in the opening match of Euro 1996. In a qualifier against the Faroe Islands he scored a hat-trick of penalties, and his last match, away to Luxembourg in 2001, brought two goals. He once refused to play for Switzerland in a match against Turkey. In 2014, aged 46, he came back to help Bellinzona, retiring for good in 2015; after football he worked as a television pundit and newspaper columnist.