Yüksel Gündüz

Yüksel Gündüz — Biography

Yüksel Gündüz was a forward and winger in Fenerbahçe's championship sides of the late 1950s and early 1960s, making 268 appearances and scoring 115 goals in the yellow-and-navy shirt. He is regarded as one of the legends of the club and its supporters. After retiring he served on Fenerbahçe's High Council, and he died in Istanbul in 2023.

Born in Tavşanlı in Kütahya, Gündüz started at Ankara Dışkapıspor, then moved to Güneşspor, where he shone. On 6 April 1955 he first wore the youth national shirt against Yugoslavia in a European Youth Championship qualifier. After transferring to Fenerbahçe in 1957 he became a star; he won the 1958-59 Istanbul Professional League and the Süper Lig in 1959, 1960-61 and 1963-64. On 30 September 1962 in Adana, in a 2-1 win over Adana Demirspor, he scored Fenerbahçe's first goal in Turkish Cup history, and he was in the squad that reached the 1962-63 cup final. In 1965 he moved to İstanbulspor.

He was capped ten times in total: once for the senior team, twice for the B team, once for the under-21s and six times for the youth team. His only senior appearance came in April 1962 in Budapest, a 2-1 defeat to Hungary in which he played 22 minutes. He died on 3 June 2023 at the age of 85; funeral prayers were held on 5 June at Şakirin Mosque and he was buried at Karacaahmet Cemetery.