Recep Adanır

Recep Adanır — Biography

Recep Adanır, nicknamed "Baba Recep", was born on 3 May 1929 in Ankara. He began playing in 1947 with Ankaragücü and won the Turkish championship with them in 1949, scoring both the equaliser and the winner as they came back from 2-0 down to beat Galatasaray 4-3 in the final tournament. In 1950-51 he joined Beşiktaş and won the Istanbul League and the national title in his first season. He played on the right inside, as centre-forward and on the left wing, and scored 10 goals against Galatasaray and 4 against Fenerbahçe in derbies. With Beşiktaş he won two Federation Cups and played against Real Madrid in 1958-59, the club's first European matches.

In 1959-60 he moved to Kasımpaşa and then to Galatasaray, where he took a professional league title, before serving as player-manager at Karagümrük. He first wore the national shirt on 17 June 1951 against West Germany, scoring early, and earned 10 senior caps. About three years after retiring he was honoured with a testimonial on 21 May 1966, when Arsenal visited Turkey.

He began coaching at Karagümrük and worked in Cyprus with Larnaka, and with Adanaspor, Nazillispor and Balıkesirspor. At Beşiktaş he served as assistant and manager, taking charge of the first team on a caretaker basis more than once. He died on 20 May 2017 in Antalya, aged 88, and Beşiktaş still commemorates him every year.