Şükrü Ersoy

Şükrü Ersoy — Biography

Ali Şükrü Ersoy (born 14 January 1931 in Istanbul) is a former Turkish international footballer and manager who played as a goalkeeper. Some sources give his birthplace more precisely as the Istanbul district of Kadıköy.

He spent many years at Fenerbahçe, becoming so closely identified with the club that he is regarded as one of the most significant players in its history, and won two Turkish championships as a player. He kept goal for Turkey at the 1954 FIFA World Cup. After retiring he moved into coaching and won the Turkish Cup twice from the bench.

The last surviving member of the 1954 World Cup squad, Ersoy was welcomed in 2026 as a "living legend" by the Turkish Football Federation at the national team's camp in Riva, where the current players greeted him one by one with a kiss on the hand.