Hilmi Ok

Hilmi Ok — Biography

Hilmi Ok is remembered as one of the veteran figures of Turkish football refereeing, serving both as a referee and as president of the Central Referee Committee (MHK). The best-known assignment of his international career was the group match between Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands at the 1980 European Football Championship.

Born in Istanbul, Ok played football for Defterdar, Kasımpaşa, Galatasaray and Beylerbeyi between 1948 and 1960 before turning to refereeing. He began officiating in the Süper Lig in 1974 and earned his FIFA badge in the second half of the 1970s. After the European Championship assignment he gave up active refereeing.

After leaving the pitch he worked as a referee instructor and then as MHK president; the committee's winter seminar now carries his name. Hilmi Ok died in Istanbul on 15 February 2020, aged 88, and was buried at Küplüce Cemetery.