Vedat Okyar (August 1945 – 20 July 2009) was a Turkish international

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 ...

who later became a sports journalist.

Early life

Vedat Okyar was born in Bursa August 1945. He played amateur football for Yücespor and Adaletspor before becoming a professional in 1965.

Career

Football career

Okyar played professionally as a

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

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 t ...

, Beşiktaş,

Diyarbakırspor Diyarbakırspor is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Diyarbakır. Formed in 1968, they are nicknamed ''Diyar'' ("land"). Their colours are red and green, and they play their home matches at Diyarbakır Stadium. Diyarb ...

and

Karagümrük Karagümrük is a neighborhood in Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peni ...

. He was club captain of Beşiktaş between 1975 and 1976, and he also earned thirty-three caps for the Turkey national team.

Journalism career

After retiring as a professional footballer at age 42, Okyar became a sports journalist.

Death

Okyar died of colorectal cancer in an

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

hospital on 20 July 2009, aged 64. Following the religious funeral service at

Teşvikiye Mosque The Teşvikiye Mosque is a neo-baroque structure located in the Teşvikiye neighbourhood of Şişli district in Istanbul, Turkey. History The mosque was originally commissioned in 1794 by Sultan Selim III, but most of the current mosque that s ...

, he was laid to rest at the

Zincirlikuyu Cemetery __NOTOC__ The Zincirlikuyu Cemetery ( tr, Zincirlikuyu Mezarlığı) is a modern burial ground residing on the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of polit ...

Individual

*Beşiktaş J.K. Squads of Century (Silver Team)

References

1945 births Date of birth missing 2009 deaths Footballers from Bursa Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Turkey men's youth international footballers Bursaspor footballers Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Men's association football midfielders Deaths from colorectal cancer Deaths from cancer in Turkey Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery {{Turkey-footy-midfielder-stub