Galip Haktanır

Galip Haktanır — Biography

Galip Haktanır (1 August 1921, İznik – 30 September 2023) was a Turkish international footballer and coach who played in defence. He was known as "Kör Galip"; some sources give his birth as 1 February 1921 in Bursa. After losing his father at six he was enrolled at Darüşşafaka and began playing football there. As a first-year high-school student he was on Beşiktaş's B team, but because school pupils were barred from official club matches he played only in friendlies. An accident left his right eyelid drooping, which earned him the nickname "Kör Galip".

He chose to play for Vefa of his own accord and began in the Istanbul Football League in 1943. Vefa finished third in 1944-45, behind Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe, and second on goal average to Fenerbahçe in 1945-46. He turned down offers from all three big Istanbul clubs and spent his whole career at Vefa, retiring in 1957. He earned his living as a gymnastics teacher, and his pupils included Ayhan Işık.

He played five times for Turkey, all friendlies, debuting against Austria on 30 May 1948 and playing his last match away to Israel in October 1950. He was in the squad for the 1948 London Olympics but did not play. He took his coaching diploma in 1964 and managed Eyüp, Beylerbeyi, Süleymaniye and Vefa. He died on 30 September 2023 at 102, and Sözcü, Fanatik, Halk TV and T24 remembered him as the oldest living Turkey international.