, ''Lefteris Antoniadis''; 22 December 1925 – 13 January 2012) 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, rugb ...

of Greek descent, who played as a forward. He is often recognized as one of the greatest strikers to play for Fenerbahçe and

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

. Having won several regional and national championship titles with Fenerbahçe and becoming Turkish top scorer twice in his career, he left an imprint on the history of the club. Lefter is one of a few players whose names are included in the Fenerbahçe Anthem. He was also known as ''"Ordinaryüs"'' (professor of professors) in Turkey.

Club career

Lefter started his footballing career on Büyükada (an island in Istanbul) but professionally played first with Taksim SK, a club based in the European part of Istanbul. He transferred to Fenerbahçe in 1947, achieving instant success. He won the National Division championship in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

, his first nationwide championship title with the club, becoming the Turkish top scorer in the same edition. He was one of the first Turkish footballers to play abroad, playing during 1951–1953 for

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

in Italy and

OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. N ...

in France. Returning to Fenerbahçe, he won two Istanbul League titles and later, after the start of 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 an ...

, three Turkish League (1959, 1961 and 1964) titles. In the 1947–48 and 1953–54 seasons, he became the leading goalscorer of the Istanbul League. Overall, he scored a total of 423 goals in 615 games for Fenerbahçe. After ending his career in Turkey in 1964, he played a single season in Greece with

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

at the age of 39. He scored twice in an away 7–1 victory against Apollon Smyrnis and became the eldest goalscorer in the history of the club. These goals also made his the eldest goalscorer in the history of

Greek Championship 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 ...

, until he was surpassed by Tasos Mitropoulos in 1997. He participated in only five games in the season, as an injury in the match against Iraklis forced his retirement.

International career

Küçükandonyadis was capped 46 times for the

Turkish national football team The Turkey national football team ( tr, Türkiye Millî Futbol Takımı) represents Turkey in men's international football matches. The team is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation ( tr, Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu), the governing body ...

, 9 as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He also played at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ...

, and the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

netting in two goals, one against West Germany and the other against South Korea. He scored 21 goals for the national team and was the top scorer for Turkey until overtaken by Hakan Şükür. He was the first Turkish football player to receive the "Golden Honor Medal" from the Turkish Football Federation for having played for the national selection in 50 international matches.

Managerial career

Lefter coached

Egaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( el, Αιγάλεω ) is a suburban municipality in the western part of Athens, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo. Its population was 69,946 at the 2011 census. Ge ...

in Greece and Johannesburg in South Africa. He later returned to Turkey to coach clubs, mostly

Samsunspor Samsunspor is a Turkish professional 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.Orduspor Orduspor was a Turkish football club founded in 1967. The club was located in Ordu, Turkey and played their home games at 19 Eylül Stadium. The team managed to qualify for the Turkish Super League again in 2011. But, the last spell in top lev ...

Mersin İdman Yurdu Mersin Talim Yurdu, formerly Mersin İdman Yurdu, is a Turkish sports club from Mersin, Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean Region. The team played in the Turkish first division for 15 seasons, and after the 1983–84 season the football team p ...

, and Boluspor.

After football

His statue was erected next to the

Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium The Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium () (Known for sponsorship reasons as Ülker Stadyumu Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Spor Kompleksi, or Ülker Stadium for short) is a football stadium located in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is th ...

in 2009. He was buried in the Greek Orthodox cemetery on his native island.

Personal life

Lefter was born to Christofis Antoniadis, a fisherman, and Argyro Antoniadis on the island of Büyükada in

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 ...

. He grew up with ten brothers and sisters, and was of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

descent. One of his brothers, Panagis Antoniadis, played for Pera Club. His family took part in the exodus of ethnic Greeks from Turkey during his childhood - except for his father. Due to his small stature, the Turks gave him the nickname Küçük, Turkish for "The Small", and Lefter added it to his surname – Küçükandonyadis, meaning "The Small Antoniadis". He was married to a fellow Greek woman, Stavriani Bekiari, and they had three children.

Honours

Club

;Fenerbahçe *

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 ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, 1960–61, 1963–64 * National Division:

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 Emp ...

: 1947–48, 1956–57, 1958–59 * Atatürk Cup: 1963–64 ;Individual *Turkish League top scorer: 1950, 1957–58 *Istanbul League top scorer: 1947–48, 1953–54 * Turkish Footballer of the Year: 1955

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website of Fenerbahçe SK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kucukandonyadis, Lefter 1925 births 2012 deaths Turkish people of Greek descent Turkish footballers Turkey international footballers Turkish football managers Taksim SK footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers ACF Fiorentina players OGC Nice players Serie A players Ligue 1 players Olympic footballers of Turkey Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics 1954 FIFA World Cup players AEK Athens F.C. players Expatriate footballers in France Turkish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Italy Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Turkish expatriate footballers Mersin İdman Yurdu managers Sivasspor managers Samsunspor managers Footballers from Istanbul Egaleo F.C. managers SuperSport United F.C. managers Orduspor managers Association football forwards Constantinopolitan Greeks