İlhan Mansız

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İlhan Mansız (born August 17, 1975 - in Kempten im Allgäu, Bavaria, West Germany) is a retired Turkish football player of Crimean Tatar origin, who gained international recognition at İstanbul's Beşiktaş J.K., and was later acquired by the Vissel Kobe soccer club in Japan.

He attracted much attention from female fans due to his fashionable dressing style and hairdo, being listed among other soccer players such as David Beckham who are often categorized as metrosexuals. Being of Tatar origin, he gained many Japanese female fans because of his looks, which was an important factor in his transfer to Vissel Kobe.

İlhan made his debut for Turkey as a substitute during their final group-stage qualifier against Moldova in October 2001. The speedy striker earned his way onto coach Şenol Güneş' squad on the strength of an outstanding 2001-2002 season for Beşiktaş, when he led the Turkcell Super League in scoring and helped the squad to a third-place finish.

The goal of his career came in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinal against Senegal. He came on as a substitute for Hakan Şükür in the 67th minute, and netted a golden goal in the 94th minute to send Turkey through to the last four of the competition, in which they ended up taking 3rd place. In the 3rd place game İlhan Mansız assisted Hakan Şükür to score the fastest goal ever in a World Cup finals match.^[1]

İlhan is something of the David Beckham of the Turkish side, mobbed by screaming fans wherever he goes. And, like Beckham, he has lived up to his reputation off the field and on it. Since making his debut, he has had a massive rise to prominence.

After his Japan journey, he signed a contract with Hertha Berlin but because of his injury, he never had a chance to play. His contract was cancelled due to a clause in the contract saying that if his knee was injured again, they would release him. After his short stint with Hertha Berlin, İlhan signed a one year contract with Turkish club Ankaragücü. He was slowly but surely coming back from his plague of injuries and helping Ankaragücü in the Turkcell Super League.

Before 2006/07 season, he declared his decision to retire from football. As of 2007 there were rumors that he was getting training in Los Angeles, USA to make a come back to football. These rumors are revealed by İlhan Mansız and he declared to sign contract with Ankaragücü again. However, this final comeback attempt was abandoned before the 2007/08 season, as he announced his retirement.^[2]

Mansiz was a relative unknown in international circles prior to the 2002 World Cup. Despite his display of prodigious talent on the world stage, his health concerns and advanced age precluded serious consideration on the part of European clubs. Mansiz declared "Its too late for me, I wish I had been discovered sooner in my career."

[edit] MLS move?

On Monday, the 24th of September 2007, it was reported that Major League Soccer sides Columbus Crew, Toronto FC and Red Bull New York were interested in capturing the striker on a short-term deal, over the next months. Also, German side Bayer Leverkusen and Australian side Central Coast Mariners are also hoping to sign him on short-term contracts.

[edit] Honours

• Turkey
  • FIFA World Cup 2002: 3rd place

[edit] Notes

v • d • e Turkey squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Third Place 1 Rüştü • 2 Emre Aşık • 3 Bülent • 4 Fatih • 5 Alpay • 6 Arif • 7 Okan • 8 Tugay • 9 Hakan Şükür • 10 Baştürk • 11 Hasan • 12 Ömer • 13 İzzet • 14 Tayfur • 15 Nihat • 16 Ümit Özat • 17 İlhan • 18 Ergün • 19 Abdullah • 20 Hakan Ünsal • 21 Emre Belözoğlu • 22 Ümit Davala • 23 Zafer • Coach: Güneş