Tanju Çolak

Tanju Çolak
Personal information
Date of birth	10 November 1963 (age 60)
Place of birth	Samsun, Turkey
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Samsun Yolspor
Senior career*
Years	Team
1982–1987	Samsunspor
1987–1991	Galatasaray
1991–1993	Fenerbahçe
1993–1994	İstanbulspor
Total
International career
1984–1991	Turkey
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Tanju Çolak (born 10 November 1963) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Club career

Born in Samsun, Çolak made his debut for Samsun Yolspor. From there he was transferred to Samsunspor in 1981 where he was top scorer in both the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons. Çolak then moved to Galatasaray at the end of 1986–87 season. He was the top scorer in Europe with 39 goals in the 1987–88 season. At the same time, he was awarded the European Golden Boot given by France Football. He is the only Turkish footballer to date to win this award. Çolak became the top scorer again in the 1991–92 season, and transferred to Fenerbahçe at the end of the season.

He had a lifetime total of 240 goals and took over the title of top goal scorer in the Turkish Super League by breaking the legendary record of Metin Oktay. He scored the most goal with 240 goals in only nine seasons, which were 1982–83 and between the 1985–93 seasons.^[1] His record was broken by Hakan Şükür in 2007–08 season after 17 seasons.

International career

Çolak played for the Turkey national team, where he was capped 31 time, scoring 9 goals.^[2]

Çolak earned the Golden Shoe in Europe during his career at Galatasaray and is the only Turkish player to achieve this.

Personal life

Tanju's younger brother, Yücel Çolak also was a professional footballer.^[3]

In January 1994, he began a prison sentence of four years and eight months for illegally smuggling a Mercedes-Benz car into Ankara.^[4]

He was deputy candidate of Beylikdüzü municipality for Nationalist Movement Party (Turkish: Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, abbreviated MHP) in 2009, but wasn't elected.

He was a Justice and Development Party (Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, abbreviated AKP) candidate to the Turkish Parliament elections which was held in 12 June, 2011^[5]

Honours

Galatasaray

Individual

Gol Kralı: 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1992–93
European Golden Boot: 1987–88
IFFHS Legends^[6]

Other career achievements

Lifetime goal total (240 in 252 matches) which was a Turkish league record for highest goals scored by a single player in the league. On 3 September 2007, this record was broken by Hakan Şükür.
Most goals in a season (39 in 1987–1988 at Galatasaray);
Most goals in a match (6 in 1992–1993 at Fenerbahçe);
5 times top league scorer (1985–1986, 1986–1987, at Samsunspor – 1987–1988, 1990–1991 at Galatasaray – 1992–1993 at Fenerbahçe);
European top scorer 3rd place (33 goals in 1985–1986 at Samsunspor);
European top scorer 1st place (39 goals in 1987–1988 at Galatasaray);
European top scorer 2nd place (31 goals in 1990–1991 at Galatasaray).