Full name "Aslan" Nihat Bekdik Name Nihat Bekdik Date of birth 1902 Role Footballer | Place of death Istanbul, Turkey Playing position Position Defender | |
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Place of birth Istanbul, Ottoman Empire Date of death 21 June 1972(1972-06-21) (aged 70) Died June 21, 1972, Istanbul, Turkey | ||
Education Galatasaray High School | ||
"Aslan" Nihat Asım Bekdik (1902 – 21 June 1972) was a Turkish professional footballer. He spent the entirety of his career with his hometown club, Galatasaray SK. He also represented Turkey on 21 occasions, captaining them 10 times.
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Football
Nihat was born in Istanbul and played his entire career as a defense player for Galatasaray SK, playing 268 games between 1916 and 1936. Like many other Galatasaray SK players at that time, he was a student of the Galatasaray High School and started playing football at the Grand Cour of the Galatasaray High School at the age of 10. He was selected to Galatasaray A2 team when he was 12. Two years later he started to do athletics for the next four years. He won the Istanbul Football League sixth times as captain of the team in 1928 and 1936.
Other sports
He was also a very good triple jumper and high jumper. In 1923 he set new Turkish records at triple jump (11.92m) and high jump (1.58m). After his football career he continued doing sports in equestrian, rowing and swimming. With his Boat "Aslan" he won numerous cups.
Political career
Between 1957 and 1960 he was in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as a member of the Democratic Party.
Aslan
Because of a lion badge at his sweat suit and his fabulous performances on the pitch, the spectators called him "Aslan" which means "Lion" in Turkish. Later "Aslan" became the nickname of the club Galatasaray SK.