Muzaffer Badalıoğlu

Muzaffer Badalıoğlu — Biography

Muzaffer Badalıoğlu (13 November 1960, Zonguldak - 20 January 1989, Havza) was a Turkish footballer who played for Zonguldakspor before joining Samsunspor, and also appeared for the Turkey national team. Known by the nickname "Kasap" (the Butcher) for his hard-tackling style, he picked up five red cards over a 10.5-season professional career; opponents Raşit Çetiner and Erdal Keser both had their careers cut short after heavy challenges with him, and Samsunspor supporters later voted him onto the club's all-time best eleven.

On 20 January 1989 the Samsunspor team bus was involved in a traffic accident in Havza while travelling to an away match in Malatya, instantly killing the coach, five players including Badalıoğlu, and the bus driver. Remembered in Turkish football history as the "20 January Disaster," the crash is still marked every year with memorial ceremonies in Samsun and his hometown of Zonguldak; in February 2026 his mother, a schoolteacher named Aysel, also passed away.