Tanju Çolak (born 1963 in Samsun, Turkey) was a successful Turkish footballer in the striker position.

He made his debut for Samsun Yolspor. From there he was transferred to Samsunspor in 1981 where he was the top scorer in both the 1985-1986 and 1986-1987 seasons. Çolak then moved to Galatasaray SK in the end of 1986-1987 season. He was the top scorer in Europe with 39 goals in the 1987-1988 season. At the same time, he was awarded the Golden Boot award given by France Football. He is the only Turkish footballer to date to win this award. Çolak became the top scorer again in the 1991-1992 season, and transferred to Galatasaray's rivals Fenerbahçe SK at the end of the season.

He had a lifetime total of 240 goals and took over the title of top goal scorer in the Turkish Super League by breaking the legendary record of Metin Oktay. He had scored the most goal with 240 goals at only 9 seasons, which were 1982-83 and between 1985-1993.^[1] His record was broken by Hakan Şükür in 2007-2008 season at 17 seasons. Çolak, dubbed "Bay Gol" (Mr. Goal), finished his career at Istanbulspor with a legacy as a good striker who had his career damaged by criminal scandals.

During and after his time as a striker, he set the standards to which every Turkish forward is held. His positioning and finishing abilities were comparable only to the best scorers of all time, however, due to the shortness of his career, and the ultimate lack of success of both Turkish club and national teams caused him to be relatively unknown outside Turkey.

Tanju Çolak wore the Turkish national team jersey in 31 matches and scored 9 goals.^[2] With his goals in victories against Neuchatel Xamax and Monaco, he played an important role for his club Galatasaray to reach the semi-final of the European Cup in 1988-1989.

In January 1994 he began a prison sentence of four years and eight months for illegally smuggling a Mercedes-Benz car into Ankara.^{[citation needed]}

Çolak agreed with A.C. Milan to scout young talented players for the club.

Currently, He is the coach of Turkish 2nd National team. He was deputy candidate of Beylikdüzü municipality for MHP in 2009, but wasn't elected.

[edit] Honours

With Galatasaray SK

Turkish Premier League: 1988

Turkish Cup: 1991

[edit] Career achievements

• Lifetime goal total (240 in 252 matches) which was a Turkish league record for highest goals scored by a single player in the league. On 3 September 2007, this record was broken by Hakan Şükür. *Most goals in a season (39 in 1987-1988 at Galatasaray);
• Most goals in a match (6 in 1992-1993 at Fenerbahçe);
• 5 times top league scorer (1985-1986, 1986-1987, at Samsunspor - 1987-1988, 1990-1991 at Galatasaray - 1992-1993 at Fenerbahçe);
• European top scorer 3rd place (33 goals in 1985-1986 at Samsunspor);
• European top scorer 1st place (39 goals in 1987-1988 at Galatasaray);
• European top scorer 2nd place (31 goals in 1990-1991 at Galatasaray).

[edit] References

Awards
Preceded by Rodion Cămătaru	European Golden Boot 1987 – 1988	Succeeded by Dorin Mateuţ
Preceded by Aykut Yiğit Feyyaz Uçar Aykut Kocaman	Super League top scorer 1985 – 1986 1986 - 1987 1987 - 1988 1990 - 1991 1992 - 1993	Succeeded by Aykut Kocaman Aykut Kocaman Bülent Uygun

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