Gürsel Aksel

Gürsel Aksel
Personal information
Full name	Gürsel Aksel
Date of birth	10 May 1937
Place of birth	Uzunköprü, Turkey
Date of death	13 October 1978 (aged 41)
Place of death	Rize, Turkey
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1955–1959	Göztepe
Senior career*
Years	Team
1959–1972	Göztepe
International career‡
1964	Turkey U21
1965–1968	Turkey
Managerial career
1975–1976	Göztepe
1976–1977	Orduspor
1977–1978	Çaykur Rizespor
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 29 March 2020; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 29 March 2020

Gürsel Aksel (10 May 1937 – 13 October 1978), was a Turkish footballer who played as a midfielder. Aksel spent his entire professional career with Göztepe, and is their most capped player in their history. He had three caps with the Turkey national football team, and after retiring was briefly a manager before his untimely death in 1978.

Professional career and death[edit]

Aksel joined Göztepe in 1955, at the same time as his brother Güler Aksel who was the first footballer to sign professionally for the team. He debuted professionally in 1959, and played 390 games with 81 goals over his 14 seasons with the team in the Süper Lig. He is the all-time appearance leader in the history of Göztepe, and their second-most prolific scorer.

After his career, Aksel had a brief stint in management with Göztepe, Orduspor, and Çaykur Rizespor. On 13 October 1978, Aksel died in an explosion in a gas station in Rize, Turkey. He was survived by his wife and two children. Göztepe's home stadium, Gürsel Aksel Stadium, is named in his honour.^[1]