The Man Who Scored in 11 Seconds Now Drives Uber in SF
_Introduction: Hakan Şükür, Turkey’s greatest ever striker. 2002 World Cup bronze medalist, scored the fastest goal in World Cup history—11 seconds against South Korea. 51 goals for his country. After football, he entered politics. After the 2016 failed coup, he was accused of ties to the Gülen movement. Today, he drives Uber in San Francisco._
June 29, 2002. Daegu. World Cup third-place match. Turkey vs. South Korea.
The referee blew the opening whistle. Turkey kicked off. One pass back, one cross-field, then a long ball forward. A Korean defender waited for the bounce. He never got it. Hakan Şükür appeared from behind him and pushed the ball into the net with his right foot before it touched the ground. Eleven seconds. Fastest goal in World Cup history.
The man who scored it was Turkey’s all-time leading scorer. Fifty-one goals for his country, a record that still stands. He led Turkey to a World Cup bronze—the best result in their history. Nine Turkish league titles with Galatasaray. One UEFA Cup. They called him the “Bull of the Bosphorus.” In Istanbul, his face was on every billboard.
In 2020, someone recognized him in San Francisco. He was sitting behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry, phone mount on the dashboard, air freshener on the mirror. Driving for Uber.
Hakan Şükür was born in 1971 in Sapanca, a small town in northern Turkey. His father was a construction worker. Five kids, he was the youngest. Started professional football at 17, national team at 21. He wasn’t built like a traditional striker—tall but not bulky, fast but not explosive. He had something rarer: the ability to be in the right place at the right time. They call it being a “poacher” in football, but that word is sometimes an insult. Real poachers rely on luck.
Şükür relied on knowing where the ball would be before it got there.
After the World Cup, his name belonged to Turkey—not just in football, but as a national symbol. After retiring, he entered politics. In 2011, he was elected to parliament as a member of the AK Party—Erdoğan’s party. Then came July 2016. The coup attempt. The failed coup. The purge. Şükür was accused of links to the Gülen movement. He denied it. His property was frozen. All his national team goals were removed from official records—not his political history, his football goals. Fifty-one goals, wiped.
He left Turkey with his family. He chose San Francisco. Not for the Silicon Valley dream—because it’s the city furthest from Istanbul. No Bosphorus, no Galatasaray songs, no teahouses discussing last night’s match at 1 AM. Here, the Bull of the Bosphorus is an immigrant. He needs an income.
He drives Uber.