Hami Mandıralı

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Hami Mandıralı, born on July 20, 1968 in Arsin, a coastal town east of Trabzon, Turkey. He was a Turkish footballer, playing for Trabzonspor for nearly all of his career, and is one of the most famous and talented Turkish footballers of all time.

He joined Trabzonspor aged 10, and continued on to make his professional debut in 1985, aged 17. He quickly established himself as one of the most consistent finishers of his time. He became a regular in the Turkish national team, and was always near the top of the goalscorers charts. Hami proved his reputation was deserved by scoring many goals in European competition. In all, he scored 23 goals in European football.

Hami was particularly famous for his free-kicks, from which he scored many times in his career. He did not try and curl the ball, like most of his more illustrious colleagues in the art of scoring free-kicks. Instead, he would unleash thunderous shots that would fly past or through walls and leave the goalkeeper standing motionless. In this manner his style is similar with Roberto Carlos, Brazilian national player.

In 1998, he joined the German club Schalke 04 for 7 million Deutsche Marks, but he only remained there for one year. Upon his return, he regained his position as top marksman, consistently ending each season as the club's top scorer. In 2002, he was let go by the chairman Özkan Sümer. There was a good deal of bad feeling about his departure, and it is not widely known what caused the split. Hami moved to Ankaragücü, but did not stay long. He retired soon after, having never won the league championship. He played 40 times for Turkey, scoring 8 goals.

Some of his achievements include:

• Third most goals scored in Turkish league history (219),
• Most goals scored in European cups (23 at Trabzonspor),
• 8 goals in 40 games for the Turkish national football team.
• Played 558 games for Trabzonspor, the most by any player.

[edit] Career Record

Figures represent games played, goals scored:

• 1987-88 Trabzonspor 37 17
• 1988-89 Trabzonspor 33 22
• 1989-90 Trabzonspor 33 6
• 1990-91 Trabzonspor 30 13
• 1991-92 Trabzonspor 28 18
• 1992-93 Trabzonspor 26 14
• 1993-94 Trabzonspor 27 15
• 1994-95 Trabzonspor 33 15
• 1995-96 Trabzonspor 30 13
• 1996-97 Trabzonspor 31 21
• 1997-98 Trabzonspor 26 20
• 1998-99 Schalke 04 22 3
• 1999-00 Trabzonspor 30 16
• 2000-01 Trabzonspor - 13
• 2001-02 Trabzonspor - 18