[16] Born in Sapanca, Sakarya Province, Şükür began his football career with local club Sakaryaspor, making his professional debut shortly after his 17th birthday.

[17] Nicknamed the Bull of the Bosphorus,[19] he scored 19 goals in thirty matches in his first year with the club, helping it win both the league and cup titles, adding 16 and 19, respectively, in the next two seasons and attracting the attention of Torino.

In 1995, he moved to Turin, becoming the second Turkish player to ever play in Serie A, but returned to his country and Galatasaray in the following winter transfer window, after failing to settle and only netting once in the league.

[24][25] Having been released, on 9 December 2002, Şükür joined Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League for the remainder of the campaign, signed by former Galatasaray manager Graeme Souness.

[23] His spell began with him sustaining a broken leg in training, which ruled him out for two months,[26] after which made his debut for the club on 1 March 2003, replacing the injured Egil Østenstad at half time in a 1–0 home win over Manchester City;[27] he scored twice from nine appearances, both goals coming in a 4–0 defeat of Fulham at Loftus Road on 7 April.

[32] Şükür won his first cap for Turkey in a friendly with Luxembourg in March 1992 – his debut being awarded by German manager Sepp Piontek – scoring his first international goal in his next match, against Denmark, and totalling six in his first 11 appearances.

Şükür scored eight times in qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup: half of those in a 6–4 home win over Wales on 20 August 1997,[33] but Turkey did not reach the play-offs.

[34][35] During the 2002 World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan, Şükür scored once for Turkey in seven matches, as the national team finished in third place.

On 29 June, he scored the fastest ever goal in a FIFA World Cup and in any major international football tournament, netting against South Korea 10.8 seconds into the third-place play-off, which Turkey went on to win 3–2.

After appearing in some Euro 2008 qualifiers, notably scoring four against Moldova in a 5–0 win in Frankfurt, Germany,[36] he was not selected for the finals, his last game being a 0–1 home loss to Greece at the age of 36 (17 October 2007).

[39] His first wife, Esra Elbirlik, married him in a ceremony broadcast live on television,[40] initiated by Prime Minister Tansu Çiller and performed by Mayor of Istanbul Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

He mentioned that after his term as a member of parliament ended in 2015, he faced obstacles in every job he tried to pursue in Turkey, which led him to decide to live in the United States.

[54][50] On 3 April 2023, Hakan Şükür announced on his Twitter account that after 7+1⁄2 years in the United States, he and his family had received their green cards, which would allow them to reside and work in the US.