İsmail Kurt

İsmail Kurt — Biography

İsmail Kurt was born on 1 January 1934 in the village of Karakoç in Kırklareli Province. He began football in the Fenerbahçe youth system and turned professional at Fatih Karagümrük, whose form earned him a move to Galatasaray in 1956. A right-back, he spent five seasons with the club, during which he also entered the national team; over his career he was capped 17 times for Turkey, including once for the B side. After repeated clashes with the club's management, he left in 1960 and crossed over to arch-rival Fenerbahçe.

Kurt played six seasons for Fenerbahçe and became the right-back of one of the most celebrated sides in the club's history, winning three league titles in the 1960-61, 1963-64 and 1964-65 seasons; he is regarded as one of the club's all-time greats. He later played for Vefa and Malatyaspor before retiring in 1968.

He then moved into management, leading Çorumspor to the 3. Lig title and promotion in 1973-74, and also coached Karabükspor, Kırklarelispor, Sivasspor and Davutpaşa, in addition to working in the Fenerbahçe academy. The elder brother of fellow international Metin Kurt, İsmail Kurt died in a traffic accident in Istanbul on 27 February 2017 at the age of 83.