Colin Kazim-Richards (born 26 August 1986), also known as Colin Kâzım, Kâzım or Kâzım Kâzım, is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club Fatih Karagümrük S.K. Born and raised in England, he qualified for Turkish nationality through his mother's heritage. An anglicised form of the Turkish given name Kâzım was intended to be a middle name, which would have rendered his full name as Colin Kazim Richards, but due to an error, he was legally registered as Colin Kazim-Richards. Having played as a junior for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Kazim-Richards was handed a professional contract by

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

. He noted Bury as a pinpoint of his career. He found playing under former

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

player

Chris Casper Christopher Martin Casper (born 28 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player who is now the director of football at League Two side Salford City. As a player he was a defender who played in the Premier League for Manches ...

influential to his development. He also went on to feature in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

before transferring to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

where he remained for one season. He has since forged a career in Europe with Fenerbahçe,

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

and

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. In 2007, he chose to represent Turkey at international level, retiring in 2015. Kazim-Richards earned 37 caps, scoring twice.

Club career

Bury

Kazim-Richards left his native East London to play for

when he was 15.

Brighton & Hove Albion

In June 2005, at the age of 18, he was signed on a three-year contract by

for £250,000. The contract was signed after a fan of the club, Aaron Berry, won the sum for the club in a competition run by

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

which, in turn, led to Kazim-Richards being dubbed the "Coca-Cola Kid". In August 2006, at the start of the new season, he tried to hand in a transfer request after being dropped by manager Mark McGhee.

Sheffield United

Subsequently, Brighton sold him to

for £150,000 on 31 August 2006, the deadline day for the transfer window. Kazim-Richards signed a three-year deal with the Blades after passing a medical and agreeing personal terms. He scored once for the eventually relegated Blades, in a 2–2 draw with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

on 11 November 2006.

Fenerbahçe

On 15 June 2007, Kazim-Richards signed a four-year contract with the Turkish club Fenerbahçe. He scored his second

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

goal for Fenerbahçe in the quarter-final first leg against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

on 2 April 2008. After serving as a rotation player during the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons, Kazim-Richards broke into

Christoph Daum Christoph Paul Daum (born 24 October 1953) is a German professional football manager and former player. Daum played as a midfielder and was a junior for several clubs from the region of Duisburg. He began his senior career with Hamborn 07 and E ...

's first choice line-up in the 2009–10 season. Despite success on the pitch during the 2009–10 season, Kazim-Richards had an argument with Fenerbahçe fans after being taken off the pitch in a match against İstanbul Başakşehir. Against

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

, Kazim-Richards was red carded for swearing at the referee and banned for four matches. While serving his ban, on the same night that his teammates lost to Kasımpaşa, the media reported Kazim-Richards was out on the town. This report was denied by the Fenerbahçe board who released an official statement. The following day, pictures of Kazim-Richards were released and the Fenerbahçe board rescinded their earlier statement, claiming that Kazim-Richards had lied about his whereabouts which had triggered their denial of the report.

Toulouse (loan)

Kazim-Richards joined French club

on a six-month loan from January 2010, for whom he scored on his debut in a 3–1 away win against

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

Galatasaray

He returned to Fenerbahçe for the following season. On 3 January 2011, Fenerbahçe terminated his contract. He signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with local rivals

in January 2011 scoring against Fenerbahçe during the season. In July 2012 he went on trial with English

side

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, appearing in pre-season friendlies. He played a total of thirty one matches scoring five goals.

Blackburn Rovers (loan)

On 10 August 2012 it was confirmed by the official

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

website that the striker had joined the club on a one-year loan deal with the view to a permanent transfer after spending the majority of pre season on trial with the Lancashire club. He scored two goals on his debut in pre season against

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...

. On 18 August he scored on his competitive debut in a 1–1 away draw against

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. On 24 May 2013 it was announced that

Sussex Police Sussex Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing in the whole of Sussex. Its jurisdiction covers the ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. The force is headquartered in Malling House, Lewes, East Sussex. His ...

had charged Kazim-Richards under Section 5 of the

Public Order Act Public Order Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Malaysia, Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, relating to public order offences. List Hong Kong *The P ...

over an alleged

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

gesture to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

fans on 12 February 2013 while he was playing for Blackburn Rovers in a Championship match at his old club Brighton & Hove Albion's

Falmer Stadium The Falmer Stadium, known for sponsorship purposes as the American Express Community Stadium and also referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in the village of Falmer, in the City of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 31 ...

. He was due to appear before magistrates in Brighton on 22 August 2013. The trial was set for 14 and 15 January 2014 at Brighton Magistrates Court. He was found guilty in April 2014 and fined £750 plus costs of £1,445. Richards has since stated that he has no regrets over his actions.

Bursaspor

On 4 September 2013, Kazim-Richards joined

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In th ...

for €250,000. He signed a four-year deal on a salary of €1 million per year. Kazim-Richards scored his first official goal for Bursaspor in a

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

game against

Adana Demirspor Adana Demirspor Kulübü is a sports club based in Adana, Turkey. Founded by railway workers in 1940, the club is competitive in football, watersports, racquet sports and martial arts. Football team's thriving success at the Adana League and the ...

Feyenoord

After a successful loan spell at

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

during the 2014–15 season, Kazim-Richards made a permanent move to the Dutch club in the summer of 2015. On 15 January 2016, Kazim-Richards threatened Dutch ''

Algemeen Dagblad The ''Algemeen Dagblad'' () or ''AD'' () (English: "General Daily Paper") is a Dutch daily newspaper based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. History and profile ''Algemeen Dagblad'' was founded in 1946. The paper is published in tabloid format and is ...

'' newspaper journalist Mikos Gouka. As a result, Feyenoord manager

Giovanni van Bronckhorst Giovanni Christiaan van Bronckhorst (born 5 February 1975) is a Dutch football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Rangers. Formerly a midfielder, he moved to left-back later in his career. ...

dropped him from the squad and he did not play the next match, against PSV.

Celtic

On 1 February 2016, Kazim-Richards joined Scottish club

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal. He scored his first goal for the club in a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

on 7 February 2016.

Coritiba

On 9 June 2016, Kazim-Richards joined Brazilian club

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest f ...

, signing an eighteen-month deal. He scored on his debut in a derby against

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

after coming on as a substitute.

Corinthians

On 6 January 2017, Kazim-Richards signed with another Brazilian club,

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

, for a period of two years. In his debut, he scored in the friendly tournament the

Florida Cup The Florida Cup (also known as the state championship of Florida) is the annual American football rivalry between the University of Florida Gators, Florida State University Seminoles and the University of Miami Hurricanes. Along with the Com ...

Lobos BUAP

Kazim-Richards completed a move to

Lobos BUAP Club de Fútbol Lobos de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla were a Mexican football club based in Puebla, Mexico. The club represented the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. The club's history goes back to the early 1930s ...

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

in July 2018.

Derby County

On 15 October 2020, he signed a one-year deal with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. He scored his first goal for Derby in a 1-1 draw with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

on 1 December 2020. On 26 February 2021 it was reported that Kazim-Richards had signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until the end of the 2022 season. Following relegation in the 2021–22 season, Kazim-Richards departed the club upon the expiration of his contract.

Fatih Karagümrük

On 19 July 2022, he signed a one-year deal with Fatih Karagümrük S.K.

International career

Kazim-Richards scored and was credited with an assist in his debut for the Turkey under-21 team in a victory against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

on 24 March 2007. On 30 April, the Turkish national coach

Fatih Terim Fatih Terim (born 4 September 1953) is a Turkish association football manager and former player. He is the former manager of Galatasaray, a position he previously held four times. Terim has managed several clubs in Italy (Milan and Fiorentina) ...

declared that Kazim-Richards would play for the senior team. Terim called him up for matches against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He received his first senior international cap in a 0–0 friendly draw against Brazil on 5 June 2007, a game in which he played 38 minutes. He was a member of Turkey's Euro 2008 squad, playing in all five matches as the side reached the semi-finals. On 10 August 2011, he scored two goals in a friendly match against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Türk Telekom Stadium Nef Stadium (officially known as the Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi – Nef Stadyumu) is a football stadium serving as the home ground of the Süper Lig club Galatasaray It is located in the Seyrantepe quarter of the Sarıyer district, on the Europ ...

Personal life

Born in London, Kazim-Richards attended Greenleaf Primary School in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

, where he developed an interest in football, which continued into his secondary education at Aveling Park, Walthamstow. His mother is a

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,00 ...

(which enabled him to join the Turkish national team), and his father is of Antiguan descent. In a 2008 interview he said: In his youth, Kazim-Richards lost his infant brother to

Edwards syndrome Edwards syndrome, also known as trisomy 18, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of a third copy of all or part of chromosome 18. Many parts of the body are affected. Babies are often born small and have heart defects. Other features in ...

and three cousins in unrelated incidents: a heart attack while playing football, a brain haemorrhage in the bathtub, and a car crash. Another of his cousins,

Andros Townsend Andros Darryl Townsend (born 16 July 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Everton. A graduate of the Tottenham Hotspur academy, Townsend was initially loaned out to several League One and then Champions ...

, became a professional footballer.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Turkey's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kazim-Richards goal''.

Honours

:Source: ;Fenerbahçe *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

;Olympiacos *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: 2011–12 ;Galatasaray *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

;Celtic *

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

: 2015–16 ;Corinthians *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links