Someone paid to get Hakan Sükür’s name on the screen.
Hakan Sükür photographed in San Francisco in 2017, about a year after an arrest warrant was issued for him in Turkey. PDO
Friday was exceptional For Hakan Sükür. A Turk living in exile had not gotten this close to the Turkish national football team in more than 10 years.
The new life of Sükür, 54, is rolling in Santa Clara, California. In the same city, Turkey faced Paraguay in the opening group match of the World Cup on Friday.
At the same time, he was able to closely watch the complete collapse of the national team. Already a week earlier, Turkey lost to Australia 0–2. Turkish fans joked on social media that 2002 World Cup hero Sükür could come to help the team score as he is nearby.
During Friday’s Turkey-Paraguay match, social media shook when a picture from the Santa Clara stadium’s video board went viral. Someone or some had paid $75 to have Sükür’s name appear on the board.
Paraguay won 1–0. The games in Turkey will surely end in the initial group stage.
The disappointment was massive for Turkey. It went to the Games with high expectations. The purpose was to repeat the sensation of 2002, when it reached third place.
Sükür was one of the stars of that team and at the same time he became one of the country’s all-time footballers. In the World Cup hosted by South Korea and Japan, Sükür scored the fastest World Cup goal of all time.
The 190-centimeter attacker played a total of 112 A national matches and scored 51 goals in them. Except that those achievements are no longer known in Turkish football history. Everything has been wiped out.
Get rid of Erdogan
Hakan Sükür’s feats are no longer remembered in Turkey. PDO
Sükür has been living in exile for more than a decade.
After the turn of the 2010s, Sükür was involved in Turkish politics and decided to resign Recep Tayyip Erdogan from the party. The former futsal hero switched sides and began to publicly criticize Erdogan. The situation escalated to the point that an arrest warrant was issued for Sükür in 2016.
Sükür, who was already living in the United States at that time, understood that he would not be able to return to his homeland as long as Erdogan and his henchmen are in power. His assets worth millions of euros were seized in Turkey.
Mentioning Sükür in public in Turkey can lead to severe consequences. Just under four years ago, at the World Cup in Qatar, the Turkish commentator made that mistake in the middle of Turkey’s match. He got sack.
While living in the United States, Sükür has, among other things, driven Uber, run a cafe and coached for work.
The Turkish games end in a horrible flop. EPA / AOP