Atik Ismail (born 5 January 1957) is a Finnish former

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 lea ...

who played 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) ** Smal ...

. He made 26 appearances in the Finland national team scoring 7 goals. Ismail was the top scorer of Finnish premier division

Mestaruussarja Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finnish football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990. In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide the Finnish champion. Before that (1908-1929) ...

in 1978, 1979 and 1982. In 1978, he was nominated as the

Finnish Footballer of the Year There are three different Finnish Player of the Year Awards in Finland. The sports journalists have elected their male "Player of the Year" since 1947, the Football Association of Finland theirs since 1953. In 1976 the FA began selecting a female "P ...

. Ismail also played abroad, for example in Turkey and Belgium.Vuorinen, Juha & Kasila, Markku: ''Pelimiehet. Suomen jalkapallon pelaajatilastot 1930–2006'', s. 99. Suomen urheilumuseosäätiö, 2007. . He was inducted into the

Finnish Football Hall of Fame Finnish Football Hall of Fame is an honorary gallery which was established in 1993, and is located in the (eng: ''Football Museum of Finland'' ) in Valkeakoski. Players, coaches, referees or other persons that are merited in developing the Finnish ...

in 2008.

Personal life

Atik Ismail was born to a

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

family in

Munkkiniemi Munkkiniemi (; , Helsinki slang: ''Munkka'') is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in Helsinki. Subdivisions within the district are Vanha Munkkiniemi, Kuusisaari, Lehtisaari, Helsinki, Lehtisaari, Munkkivuori, Niemenmäki an ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. He and his twin brother Adil Ismail were named after Turkish wrestlers

Celal Atik Celal Atik (1918 – 27 April 1979) was a Turkish wrestler and coach. He competed both in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, but had his best achievements in the freestyle, winning gold medals at the 1948 Olympics, 1951 World and 1946 and 1949 ...

and

Adil Atan Adil Atan ( Abkhaz: name Twanba, 1 January 1929 – 18 April 1989) was a Turkish wrestler. He was born in Adapazarı in the Sakarya Province. He was Olympic bronze medalist in Freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. ...

. His brother is also a former footballer.Atik Ismail: Pelimies – omaelämäkerta. Minerva 2016. . Children of Ismail are Can Heikkonen (b. 1982), twins Pele and Ali Koljonen (s. 1988) and Maria Koljonen (s. 1989). Sons Ali and Pele have also played football. For decades Ismail suffered from alcoholism. He sobered completely in 1990 and has since worked with helping fellow recovering addicts. According to Ismail, his alcohol addiction switched to a gambling problem and he has had difficulty paying his debts from his small pension. In addition to sports, Ismail has published his poetry, worked as a nurse and been involved in politics. He was a candidate to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

in the elections of 1999 (

Green League The Green League, ( , Vihr; ; ; ; ) shortened to the Greens, (; ) is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a reformist party and it supports femi ...

) and 2009 ( Left Alliance). The Finnish press remembers Atik Ismail as a ”legendary footballer”, but also as someone who partly wasted his potential due to his alcoholism.

References

External links

Atik Ismail Interview

We asked, the former Finnish football player Atik Ismail answered
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ismail, Atik Living people 1957 births Finnish people of Tatar descent Finnish men's footballers Footballers from Helsinki Men's association football forwards Finland men's international footballers Mestaruussarja players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players AIK Fotboll players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers K.S.V. Waregem players Palloiluseura Apollo players FC Kiffen 08 players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Kuopion Palloseura managers 20th-century Finnish sportsmen Finnish Football Hall of Fame inductees