Tanju Çolak (born 10 November 1963) is a Turkish former 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, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward.

Club career

Born in

Samsun Samsun is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. The urban area recorded a population of 738,692 in 2022. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of ...

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

Samsunspor Samsunspor Kulübü, officially known as Samsunspor Football Club Joint Stock Company, or as Reeder Samsunspor due to sponsorship agreements, is a Turkey, Turkish Football club (association football), professional football club that competes in t ...

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

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly 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 exclus ...

. 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: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

by breaking the legendary record of

Metin Oktay Metin Oktay (2 February 1936 – 13 September 1991) nicknamed the Crownless King () by Galatasaray S.K. (football team), Galatasaray fans, was a Turkish people, Turkish association football, footballer and one of the most successful goal score ...

. He scored the most goal with 240 goals in only nine 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 Turkey national team, where he was capped 31 time, scoring 9 goals.

Personal life

Tanju's younger brother, Yücel Çolak 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 simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

car into

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. He was deputy candidate of

Beylikdüzü Beylikdüzü () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 39 km2, and its population is 415,290 (2024). It is on the European side of Istanbul, located north of the Sea of Marmara, south of Esenyurt, east of ...

municipality for Nationalist Movement Party (Turkish: Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, abbreviated MHP) in 2009, but wasn't elected. He was a Justice and Development Party (Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, abbreviated AKP) candidate to the Turkish Parliament elections which was held in 12 June, 2011

Honours

Galatasaray *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

: 1987–88 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () 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''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

: 1990–91 * Turkish Super Cup: 1988 Individual * Gol Kralı: 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1992–93 * European Golden Boot: 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 men's footballers Men's association football forwards Turkey men's international footballers Süper Lig players Samsunspor footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers İstanbulspor footballers Footballers from Samsun 20th-century Turkish sportsmen