Bülent Esel (23 July 1927 – 17 August 2004) was a
Turkey international
The Turkey International or Türkiye International in badminton is an international open held in Turkey since 2007. The tournament belongs to the Badminton Europe
Badminton Europe (BEC) is the Sport governing body, governing body of badminton in ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
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 ...
who played for clubs in Turkey and Italy.
Career
Born in
İzmir
İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...
, Esel began playing youth football for
Kırıkkalespor. He played senior football for Kırıkkalespor and
Ankaragücü before moving to Italy in 1951, where he would make 78 appearances and scored 25 goals during three seasons in
Serie A
The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
for
SPAL 1907
Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...
.
Esel returned to Turkey and spent the remainder of his career with
BeÅŸiktaÅŸ J.K.,
Vefa S.K.
Vefa SK is a football (soccer), football club in Vefa, neighborhood of the Fatih (Eminönü between 1928 and 2008) district of Istanbul. The team currently competing at Bölgesel Amatör Lig 1st Grup which is 5th level of Turkish leagues. Vefa S ...
and
Altınordu S.K.
Esel made four appearances for the
Turkey national football team
The Turkey national football team (), recognized as Türkiye by FIFA and UEFA, represents Turkey in men's international Association football, football matches. The team is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation (), the governing body for ...
from 1949 to 1950.
Personal
Esel died on 17 August 2004.
References
External links
*
*
Profile at Enciclopediadelcalcio.it
1927 births
2004 deaths
Turkish men's footballers
Turkey men's international footballers
MKE Ankaragücü footballers
BeÅŸiktaÅŸ J.K. footballers
Vefa S.K. footballers
Altınordu F.K. players
SPAL players
Turkey men's under-21 international footballers
Men's association football forwards
Footballers from İzmir
20th-century Turkish sportsmen
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