Mehmet Leblebi (1908 – 25 February 1972) was a Turkish 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 le ...

. He spent the entirety of his career with his

hometown Hometown, HomeTown, or Home Town may refer to: *A hometown, the town where someone lives or the town that they come from, typically their place of birth. *In developing nations particularly: native place, village of origin in newly urbanized soci ...

club,

Galatasaray SK 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 ...

. He also represented

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 ...

on 16 occasions, and played for them at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

and the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

Career

Leblebi was born in

Pınarhisar Pınarhisar, ancient Brysis (Βρύσις in Ancient Greek), is a large town and district of Kırklareli Province in the Marmara Region, Turkey, Marmara region of Turkey. The mayor is Mustafa Cingöz (Republican People's Party, CHP). The population ...

and played his entire career 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 ...

and

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

. Like many other Galatasaray players at that time, he was a student of the

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School ( tr, Galatasaray Lisesi, french: Lycée de Galatasaray), established in what was then Constantinople and is now Istanbul, in 1481, is the oldest high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational in ...

and started playing football there at the Grand Cour. Leblebi was selected to

Galatasaray A2 Galatasaray S.K. U21, commonly known as Galatasaray S.K. B is a football club based in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the reserve team of Galatasaray and the club play in the U21 Ligi. History They have been members of the Turkish Youth league formed ...

team when he was 12. Only three years later, he started to play with Galatasaray's A team, Leblebi won the

Istanbul Football League The Istanbul Football League ( tr, İstanbul Futbol Ligi) was founded as a regional football league under the name Constantinople Football Association League by James La Fontaine and Henry Pears in Istanbul, the capital of the former Ottoman Empi ...

five times. He also scored 14 goals when Galatasaray beat

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 ...

20-0 on 20 November 1925.

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

As player

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 ...

: 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1930–31 **

Istanbul Kupası The Istanbul Football Cup ( tr, İstanbul Futbol Kupası) was a football competition for Istanbul clubs in Turkey. The cup replaced the Istanbul Shield in 1942 and lasted until 1947. The final match between Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe was cancelle ...

: 1933

References