Turkey 2

 

Ilhan Mansiz (Besiktas)
vs. South Korea (3:2) | World Cup | 2002 in South Korea

While I did watch some of the World Cup 1998 in France, the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea was the first I really followed. Seeing Senegal beat France in the opening match already won me over and the tournament only got better from there. Germany, playing mostly terrible football, surprised everyone including themselves by somehow sneaking into the final, where they got rightly beaten by Brazil. But the two biggest surprises met in the Bronze medal match: Turkey and co-host South Korea. This Turkey shirt is from that World Cup. I don't think it is matchworn, but it is a player version that I could score for 80€.

Turkey did not storm into the Bronze medal match without hiccups. Star striker Hakan Sükür was starting every match, but did not score a single goal and was just visible out of form. They barely made it out of the group stages after losing to Brazil, drawing with Costa Rica and beating China. The first small surprise than came in the round of 16, when they kicked out Japan by a narrow 1:0 win. As in the group stages, they defended well, but Hakan Sükür was no threat at all. The same happened in the Quarter Finals, where Turkey met Senegal, the other upset of the tournament, and had to go to overtime following a goalless draw. Ilhan Mansiz was subbed in for Hakan Sükür and scored the Golden Goal to bring Turkey into its first ever semi final. After losing that, again to Brazil, the coach finally let Ilhan Mansiz start in the Bronze medal match, where he scored twice to bring Turkey the Bronze medal home.

That was, by far, Ilhan Mansiz' biggest moment in football. The Germany-born striker moved to Vissel Kobe in Japan just a bit over a year later, but could not impress there. Further moves to the second team of Hertha and MKE Ankaragücü were equally unsuccessful. He never played more than 10 games for any of these clubs. Just as he got a bit better in Ankaragücü, he then got run over by a car in Munich while visiting his family. His career was abruptly ended. It took him months to recover and while he did train at 1860 Munich later, he would never play professional football again.

Instead, aged just 32, he got a call up to the Turkish version of "Dancing on Ice". He said he never saw the sport before, not even on TV, but agreed immediately and went on to win the TV show. Apparently he loved it so much that he then became a professional figure skater. Together with a Slovakian partner, he tried to qualify for the 2014 in Sochi. They failed, getting the last place in the Olympic qualifier tournament they went to, but still did another full season of figure skating. When the results did not come, he ultimately ended this second sports career and became a rather famous Turkish TV actor since. 

While all of that is impressive, Ilhan Mansiz is mostly remembered to be the face of the biggest football success in Turkish history. I remember that dearly, as I was watching and cheering for Turkey during the match. I am thus really pleased with that shirt.