Koço Kasapoğlu ( el, Κώστας Κασάπογλου; 15 November 1935 – 5 April 2016), also known as Yorgo or Kostas Kasapoğlu, was a Greek-Turkish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. He was also nicknamed penaltı kralı (in English Penalty King) because he scored 500 of the 501 penalties he took in his career and is considered the best penalty taker in Turkish football history.

Professional career

Kasapoğlu played for

Beyoğluspor Beyoğluspor Kulübü, also known as the Beyoğlu Sports Club, or by its historic Greek name of Pera Sports Club ( el, ΑΣΠ; Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Πέραν), or simply Pera Club, is an amateur sports club based in Istanbul, Turke ...

, İstanbul S.A.Ş. and

Vefa SK Vefa SK is a football club in Vefa, neighborhood of the Fatih (Eminönü between 1928 and 2008) district of Istanbul. The team currently competing at Bölgesel Amatör Lig 8th Grup which is 5th level of Turkish leagues. Vefa SK is the first a ...

, and was considered one of the most iconic captains of İstanbulspors history,

International career

He capped for

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

for once on 25 November 1956 in Praha in a 1–1 tie against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. He also played for

Turkey B national football team The Turkey national football B team, also known as the Turkey A2 national football team is a reserve team for the Turkey national football team. It features players from the A2 Ligi. The team played their first match in 2002 at the 2003 Future Cup ...

Death

Kasapoğlu died on 5 April 2016, at the age of 80. He remained a lifelong fan of

İstanbulspor A.Ş. İstanbulspor is a Turkish football and sports club founded by Istanbul High School students in 1926. In 2004–05 they were relegated from the Turkish Süper Lig (Super League) to TFF 1. Lig. For many decades it was the fourth most famous and ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasapoglu, Koco 1935 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Istanbul Turkish footballers Turkey international footballers Turkey B international footballers Turkish people of Greek descent Süper Lig players TFF First League players Beyoğlu SK footballers İstanbulspor footballers Taksim SK footballers Vefa S.K. footballers Association football forwards Constantinopolitan Greeks People from Princes' Islands