Hakkı Yeten

Who was Hakkı Yeten?

Hakkı Yeten, was a Turkish football player and president of the İstanbul-based football club Beşiktaş J.K., which he also coached.

Yeten was born in 1910 at Vodina, then in Bulgaria, then under Ottoman rule. His father, a major in the Ottoman Army moved his family of six children to İstanbul, settling in the Beşiktaş district when Yeten was a year old. In 1914, Yeten's father was killed in the Battle of the Dardanelles. Yeten went on to attend military high school, as his two elder brothers did before him.

Yeten was attracted to football after his eldest brother, Muhtar, a multi-talented sportsman introduced him to the sport. Yeten played in the school team, and was discovered soon by Beşiktaş J.K. club managers. In 1931, Yeten dropped out of school and joined Beşiktaş.

He played for Beşiktaş for 17 years mostly in the second striker position, contributing to its numerous victories. Declared as permanent captain, he led Beşiktaş to 8 İstanbul League Champions, 3 İstanbul Cups, one İzmir International Fair Cup, 3 National League Champions, one Turkish Champion, 2 Prime Minister Cups and 4 Private Cups. Yeten was capped only three times for the Turkey national football team due to World War II. His fame became international, and eventually the English team Arsenal showed and interest in him. However, Yeten preferred to stay in Turkey. Yeten scored 382 goals in 439 games. He quit football as a player in 1948 after fans hooted him during a match.