Colin Kazim-Richards

Colin Kazim-Richards

Personal information
Full name	Colin Kazim-Richards
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Forward, Right winger
Team information
Current team	Fenerbahçe
Number	8
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16:26, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Colin Kazim-Richards, also known as Colin Kâzım or Kâzım Kâzım in Turkey, (born August 26 1986 in Leytonstone, London) is an English-born footballer who plays for Fenerbahçe in the Süper Lig and internationally for Turkey having qualified for Turkish nationality from his mother who is of Turkish Cypriot descent. His father is of Antiguan descent.. An anglicised form of the Turkish forename Kâzım was intended to be a middle name, which would have rendered his full name 'Colin-Kazim Richards', but due to an error, he was registered as 'Colin Kazim-Richards'.

Kazim-Richards attended Greenleaf Primary School in Walthamstow, where he developed an interest in football, which continued into his secondary school, Aveling Park, Walthamstow.

Club career

In England

Kazim-Richards started out his professional career at Bury, after joining the club at the age of 15 and progressing through the club's youth team and centre of excellence. He broke into the first team in the 2004-05 season, and his performances caught the eye of larger clubs.

At the age of 19 he was signed on a three-year contract by Brighton & Hove Albion for £250,000. This occurred after a fan of the club, Aaron Berry, won the sum for the club in a competition run by Coca-Cola which led to Kazim-Richards being dubbed the "Coca-Cola Kid". He was often brought on as a second-half substitute, and by the end of the 2005-2006 season, he had scored six league goals for the club, including its 5,000th league goal. He submitted a transfer request after being omitted from Brighton's opening match starting line-up as they began their campaign in 2006-07 against Rotherham.

Brighton sold him to Sheffield United for £150,000 on 31 August, 2006 (the deadline day for the transfer window). Kazım-Richards signed a three-year deal with the Blades after passing a medical and agreeing personal terms. After his later successes with Turkey, his manager at Brighton, Mark McGhee said

"We brought him to Brighton because he had potential but he was impossible to work with. I can't say anything positive about the boy apart from he had potential and he has still got potential. How he is in the Turkey team I don't know but their manager has taken them to the last four so he knows what he's doing."

In Turkey

On 15 June 2007, Kazim-Richards signed a four-year contract with the Turkish club Fenerbahçe. He scored his first UEFA Champions League goal for Fenerbahçe in the quarter-final first leg against Chelsea, on 2 April 2008.

International career

Kazim-Richards scored and was credited with an assist in his debut for the Turkey under-21 team, in a victory against Switzerland on 24 March 2007. Turkish national coach Fatih Terim declared, on 30 April 2007, that Kazim-Richards would play for the senior team.

Subsequently, Terim called him up for matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Brazil. He received his first senior international cap in a 0–0 friendly draw against Brazil on 5 June 2007, in which he played 38 minutes, and was also a member of Turkey's Euro 2008 squad, playing in all five matches as the side reached the semi-finals.

External links

• Fenerbahçe profile
• TFF profile
• Career moves at transfermarkt.de
• Colin Kazim-Richards at Soccerbase
• PremierLeague.com profile
• Official website
• Colin Kazim Richards Fan Site