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Atik Ismail
	Ismail in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth	5 January 1957 (age 67)
Place of birth	Helsinki, Finland
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team
1975–1976	HJK
1977	Kiffen
1978	HJK
1978–1979	Beşiktaş
1979	HJK
1979–1980	Waregem
1980	AIK
1981–1984	HJK
1985	Apollo
1986–1987	Koparit
Total
International career
1978–1983	Finland
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Atik Ismail (born 5 January 1957)^[1]^[2] is a Finnish former footballer who played as a forward. He made 26 appearances in the Finland national team scoring 7 goals. Ismail was the top scorer of Finnish premier division Mestaruussarja in 1978, 1979 and 1982. In 1978, he was nominated as the Finnish Footballer of the Year. Ismail also played abroad, for example in Turkey and Belgium.^[3]

Personal life

Atik Ismail was born to a Tatar family in Munkkiniemi, Helsinki. He and his twin brother Adil Ismail were named after Turkish wrestlers Celal Atik and Adil Atan. His brother is also a former footballer.^[4]

Children of Ismail are Can Heikkonen (b. 1982), twins Pele and Ali Koljonen (s. 1988) and Maria Koljonen (s. 1989). Sons Ali and Pele have also played football.^[3]^[4]

For decades Ismail suffered from alcoholism. He sobered completely in 1990 and has since worked with helping fellow recovering addicts.^[5]^[4] According to Ismail, his alcohol addiction switched to a gambling problem and he has had difficulty paying his debts from his small pension.^[6]

In addition to sports, Ismail has published his poetry, worked as a nurse and been involved in politics. He was a candidate to the European Parliament in the elections of 1999 (Green League) and 2009 (Left Alliance).^[4]

The Finnish press remembers Atik Ismail as a ”legendary footballer”, but also as someone who partly wasted his potential due to his alcoholism.^[5]^[7]^[8]^[6]^[9]