Kubilay Türkyilmaz

Kubilay Türkyilmaz
Personal information
Full name Kubilay Türkyilmaz
Date of birth (1967-03-04) 4 March 1967
Place of birth Bellinzona, Switzerland
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 12 in)
Playing position Striker
Youth career
1985–1986 US Semine
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1989 Bellinzona 79 (46)
1989–1990 Servette 46 (25)
1990–1993 Bologna 83 (24)
1993–1995 Galatasaray 34 (13)
1995–1998 Grasshopper 84 (51)
1998 Locarno 12 (6)
1999 Luzern 14 (6)
2000 Bellinzona 13 (15)
2000–2001 Brescia 9 (3)
2001 Lugano 6 (3)
Total 380 (192)
National team
1988–2001 Switzerland 64 (34)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Kubilay "Kubi" Türkyilmaz (Turkish: Kubilay Türkyılmaz; born 4 March 1967 in Bellinzona) is a former Swiss footballer who played as a forward. He completed his international career as the all-time joint leading goal scorer for the Swiss national team, with 34 goals in 64 appearances between 1988 and 2001, equalling the performance of Max Abegglen. Their record was bettered by Alexander Frei in 2008.[1]

Personal life

Türkyilmaz is of Turkish descent, and has said that he would have played for Turkey had they inquired first.[2] He once refused to play for Switzerland in a game against Turkey for fear of being branded a traitor.[3] He now runs a café in his native Bellinzona.[2]

Club career

Born in Bellinzona, Ticino, Türkyilmaz began his club career with the local club AC Bellinzona in 1986 and later joined Servette FC in 1989. He left the country in 1990 for the Italian club Bologna FC before joining Galatasaray SK of Turkey, where he won the Süper Lig in his first season, 1993–94, and scored twice against Manchester United in the next season's UEFA Champions League.[2] In 1995 he returned to Switzerland with Grasshopper Zürich, winning the league in 1995–96 and 1997–98.

International career

Türkyilmaz made his international debut on 2 February 1988 against France[2] in Toulouse as a 65th-minute substitute for Hans-Peter Zwicker. Switzerland lost the Tournoi de France match 2–1. His first goals were two against Luxembourg in qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, on 21 September 1988, his seventh match.

He missed the 1994 FIFA World Cup with serious injury, but appeared at Euro 1996, scoring Switzerland's equaliser against England in the opening match of the tournament, a 1–1 draw at Wembley.[2]

His last 8 international matches, from 1997 to 2001, saw him score 14 times, including his first international hat-trick, versus Azerbaijan in qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He added another hat trick, of three penalty kicks on 7 October 2000 in a 5–1 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Zürich against the Faroe Islands. It was the first hat-trick of its kind in the competition's history[4] In his final match, on 5 September 2001, he scored twice against Luxembourg away in qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

International goals

Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first[5]

Honours

Galatasaray
Grasshopper

References

  1. "Switzerland coast home against Liechtenstein". Swissinfo. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Turkyilmaz: Swiss star, Turkish heart". FIFA. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  3. Staniforth, Tommy (10 October 1998). "Football: New start for depleted Germans". The Independent. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  4. "Ronaldo, 3e joueur à transformer 3 penalties" [Ronaldo, 3rd player to convert three penalties] (in French). RDS. 3 June 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  5. "Kubilay Türkyilmaz". European Football. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.