Lebip Elmas

Lebip Elmas — Biography

Lebip Elmas was born in Istanbul in 1909 or 1910 and joined Fenerbahçe's first team in 1933, playing as a left winger and left back. Wearing the yellow-and-navy shirt between 1933 and 1944, he made 218 appearances and scored 10 goals.

Over eleven seasons with Fenerbahçe he collected 12 official titles: four Istanbul League championships (1934-35, 1935-36, 1936-37, 1943-44), three Istanbul Shield titles (1933-34, 1937-38, 1938-39), two Turkish Championships (1935 and 1944), and three National Division (Millî Küme) titles (1937, 1940 and 1943). In his debut season he was punished, despite not being involved in the incidents, following the 23 February 1934 Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray match remembered in Turkish football history as the "brawl match." Because almost no national-team football was played between 1937 and 1948 due to the Second World War, he never earned a cap for Turkey even during his best years.

After retiring from playing, Elmas joined the so-called Kadıköy Group that formed within the Fenerbahçe community in 1952. He died on 8 September 1987 in a traffic accident.