"PROFESSOR" LEFTER CELEBRATES 86TH BIRTHDAY
ISTANBUL - A former player of Turkey's Fenerbahce
soccer club, Lefter Kucukandonyadis, also known as the "Professor",
celebrated his 86th birthday at the Sisli Private Memorial Hospital in
Istanbul where he is receiving medical care.
Lefter Kucukandonyadis, born January 29, 1925 in Istanbul as a son of a fisherman of Greek descent and a Turkish mother, is a Turkish soccer player who is recognized as one of the greatest footballers to play for Turkey. At the height of his career in the 1950s, he was regarded as one of the best players in the world.
Kucukandonyadis was brought from Athens to Istanbul earlier in the week to receive medical treatment.
A birthday party was held in Kucukandonyadis's hospital room on Thursday and he ate a piece of cake from the hands of his daughter Aliki Dalkan.
Kucukandonyadis's doctors said that he was taken out of intensive care and will be released from the Memorial Hospital at the beginning of next week.
Kucukandonyadis was having heart problems.
Kucukandonyadis started his footballing career with Taksimspor, a club based in Istanbul. Kucukandonyadis transferred to Fenerbahce in 1947, achieving instant success. He was the first Turkish footballer to play abroad, playing during 1951–1953 for ACF Fiorentina in Italy and OGC Nice in France. Returning to Fenerbahce, he won two Istanbul League titles and later, after the start of the Turkish national league, three Turkish League (1959, 1961 and 1964) championship titles. In the season 1953–1954, he was the top scorer in the Turkish league. Kucukandonyadis scored in all a total of 423 goals in 615 games for Fenerbahce. After ending his career in Turkey in 1964, Kucukandonyadis played a single season in Greece with AEK Athens. He participated in five games in the 1965 season scoring two goals before an injury in the match against Iraklis forced his retirement.
He played 50 times for the Turkish national football team, 9 of them as the captain. He also played at the 1954 World Cup netting in 2 goals, one against West-Germany and one against South-Korea. He scored 20 goals for his national team and was the top scorer for Turkey till overtaken by Hakan Sukur. He was the first Turkish football player to receive the "Golden Honor medal" from the Turkish Football Federation.
Lefter coached Egaleo F.C. in Greece and Supersport United in South Africa. He later returned to Turkey and coached the clubs Sivasspor, Samsunspor, Orduspor, Mersin Idmanyurdu and Boluspor.
