Tanju Çolak (born 10 November 1963 in

Samsun Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta ( gr, Σαμψούντα) and Amisos (Ancient Greek: Αμισός), is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and is a major Black Sea port. In 2021, Samsun reco ...

) is a Turkish retired

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 ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

He made his debut for Samsun Yolspor. From there he was transferred to

Samsunspor Samsunspor is a Turkish professional Association football, football club located in the city of Samsun. The club was formed through a merger of five clubs: 19 Mayıs, Akınspor, Fener Gençlik, Samsunspor, and Samsunspor Galatasaray.

in 1981 where he was the top scorer in both the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons. Çolak then moved to

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 ...

in 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 The European Golden Shoe, also known as European Golden Boot, is an award that is presented each season to the leading goalscorer in league matches from the top division of a European national league. The trophy is a sculpture of a football boot. ...

given by

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusiv ...

. 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 Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

by breaking the legendary record of

Metin Oktay Metin Oktay (2 February 1936 – 13 September 1991) nicknamed the Uncrowned King ( tr, Taçsız Kral) by Galatasaray fans, was a Turkish footballer and one of the most successful goal scorers in Turkey. Early life Metin Oktay was born in Kar ...

. He had scored the most goal with 240 goals at only 9 seasons, which were 1982–83 and between the 1985–93 seasons. His record was broken by

Hakan Şükür Hakan Şükür (; born 1 September 1971) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed the "Bull of the Bosphorus" and ''Kral'' (king), he spent the majority of his professional career with Galatasaray, being a ...

in 2007–08 season after 17 seasons.

International career

Çolak played for the Turkish national team, where he was capped 31 time, scoring 9 goals. 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 Yücel Çolak (born 13 November 1968 in Samsun) is a Turkish football manager, and a retired footballer who played as a forward in the Turkish Süper Lig, as well as the lower divisions of Turkey. Professional career A journeyman striker, Yüce ...

also was a professional footballer. In January 1994, he began a prison sentence of four years and eight months for illegally smuggling a

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

car into

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

. He was deputy candidate of

Beylikdüzü Beylikdüzü is a district in the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, located north of the Sea of Marmara, south of Esenyurt, east of Büyükçekmece, and west of Avcılar. History It is assumed that Beylikdüzü was first settled by Greeks fr ...

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

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

(Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, abbreviated AKP) candidate to the Turkish Parliament elections which was held in June 12th, 2011

Honours

Club

Galatasaray *

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 ...

: 1987–88 *

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 ...

: 1990–91 *

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 a ...

: 1988

Individual

Gol Kralı Gol may refer to: Places * * Gol, Gilan, a village in Gilan Province, Iran * Gol, South Khorasan, a village in South Khorasan Province, Iran * Gol, Bukan, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Gol, Chaldoran, a village in West Azerbaij ...

(5): 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1992–93 *

: 1987–88 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Legends

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

. *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).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colak, Tanju 1963 births Living people Turkish footballers Samsunspor footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers İstanbulspor footballers Turkey international footballers Süper Lig players Association football forwards