THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANKARA, Turkey — Tens of thousands of people have filled a stadium to bid farewell to Lefter Kucukandonyadis, one of Turkey’s top football players, who has died at 86.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also attended the funeral ceremony on Sunday at Fenerbahce’s Sukru Saracoglu Stadium. Kucukandonyadis died of pneumonia Friday in Istanbul.
Kucukandonyadis was the captain of Turkey’s national team, making 46 appearances for his country. His club career included Fenerbahce, where he scored 423 goals in 615 games.
Born in 1925 in Istanbul to a fisherman father from Turkey’s minority Greek community, Kucukandonyadis was the first player from Turkey to play abroad. He transferred to Italy’s Fiorentina in 1951 followed by a spell with Nice in France.