Şükrü Gülesin

Şükrü Gülesin — Biography

Şükrü Gülesin was Beşiktaş's goal-scoring center-forward of the 1940s and is remembered above all for goals scored directly from corner kicks. He scored 226 goals in his career, 32 of them straight from corners, a total that entered the Guinness Book of Records. A strong, quick striker and a free-kick and penalty specialist, he was nicknamed "master of the corners". He is fourth on the all-time scoring list of the black-and-white club and was among the first Turkish footballers to play in Italy.

He started out as a goalkeeper at Kınalıadaspor before moving up front. While still at Istanbul Erkek Lisesi he left Beyoğluspor for Beşiktaş in 1940-41, winning the national championship in his first season; the club took eight Istanbul titles between 1933 and 1948. He scored 13 goals against Galatasaray and 9 against Fenerbahçe. At the 1948 London Olympics he leveled the score at 1-1 in the quarter-final defeat to Yugoslavia and was sent off after a brawl at the end of the match. In 1950 he moved to Lazio and then on loan to Palermo; in 1951-52 he was Lazio's top scorer.

Back in Turkey he played little for Galatasaray and retired, and in 1965 Beşiktaş organized a testimonial against Lazio for him. He worked as a Beşiktaş official, as a Milliyet correspondent in Rome and as a sports writer, coached İzmirspor and Karşıyaka, and managed the national team in a match against Saudi Arabia in 1969. He died on July 10, 1977, and is commemorated at his grave every year on the anniversary.