Hüseyin Çakıroğlu

Hüseyin Çakıroğlu — Biography

Hüseyin Çakıroğlu, nicknamed "Doktor" for his reading of the game in midfield and his well-timed interventions against opposing attacks, is one of the footballers most closely identified with Fenerbahçe despite playing there for only two seasons. His death at a young age resonated deeply across Turkish football.

He started playing in Davutpaşa and was picked for the Istanbul regional select side; from 1976 to 1979 he played for Karabükspor. At Gaziantepspor, which he joined in 1979, he became known as "Küçük Hüseyin" (Little Hüseyin) because the squad already had an older Hüseyin, Hüseyin Kalpar. He stayed with the club even when it was relegated. His first match for the under-21 national team came against the Soviet Union on 14 February 1982, and his senior debut on 29 January 1983 against Romania. In 1984 he moved to Fenerbahçe together with Tuğrul Duru and, in his first season, won the Süper Lig, the Presidential Cup and the Fleet Cup. In the Presidential Cup match against Galatasaray on 12 June 1985 he scored in the 81st minute to level the score. On 18 September 1985 he scored the third goal in Fenerbahçe's 3-2 European Cup win over Bordeaux, which put a Turkish side through a round in that competition for the first time since 1976-77. He scored 24 goals in 78 matches for Fenerbahçe.

In 1986 the problem in his leg was found to be cancer; he was treated at MD Anderson in Houston, but the disease spread to his lungs and brain. He died on 26 October 1986 at the age of 29 and was buried at Karacaahmet Cemetery.