Turkey national football team

The Turkey national team played their first ever match against Romania in 1923, drawing 2–2.[8] Zeki Rıza Sporel is considered as the first big star of Turkish football as he scored the first two goals against Romania. Turkey played their first ever official match at the 1924 Summer Olympics losing 5–2 to Czechoslovakia.

Although Turkey qualified for the 1950 World Cup, beating Syria 7–0, they were forced to withdraw from the tournament due to financial problems.

Turkey then qualified for the 1954 World Cup after a play-off with Spain. The Turkish team first lost 4–1 to Spain, but a 1–0 win a few days later initiated a replay. On that occasion, they tied 2–2 after, booking their place after a coin toss. Turkey was put in a group along with Hungary and West Germany. The Turks, however, never played Hungary due to the tournament format, and a 4–1 defeat by the Germans was followed by Turkey carrying out a 7–0 win over South Korea. Turkey lost the play-off to West Germany 7–2. In 1956, however, Turkey did play Hungary in a friendly match in Istanbul, defeating what was one of the strongest teams of the era, 3–1.[9] Lefter Küçükandonyadis, arguably one of the best Turkish strikers of all-time, scored two goals during the tournament.

Despite the introduction of a national league, and showings by Turkish clubs in European competition, the 1960s would be a barren time for the national team. Most players from the 1954 World Cup squad were retired, and the new generation of players failed to qualify for a major tournament. The 1970s saw Turkey holding back in the World Cup and UEFA European Championship qualifiers, but the team was a point too short to qualify for both UEFA Euro 1972 and Euro 1976. In the 1980s the Turkish team also suffered their worst defeats with 8–0 scorelines against Poland and twice against England. Yet the 1990 World Cup qualifiers would mark a turning point for Turkish football, with Turkey only missing out on qualification in the final match. Prominent players in this period included Rıdvan Dilmen, Oğuz Çetin, Rıza Çalımbay, Feyyaz Uçar, and European Golden Boot winner Tanju Çolak.

In 1990, German coach Sepp Piontek was put in charge of the national team. Under his guidance, a group of new players debuted for the national team. Many of these players (which included Bülent Korkmaz, Alpay Özalan, Sergen Yalçın, Rüştü Reçber, and Hakan Şükür) would become the backbone of the national team for many years. Piontek's mission came to an end in 1993, where he was replaced by Fatih Terim, who in turn managed to qualify for Euro 1996. Turkey qualified for its first major tournament since 1954, marking another turning point for Turkish football after having failed to qualify for both Euro 1992 and the 1994 World Cup. The appointment of Piontek was a recommended move by another German coach, Jupp Derwall, who had coached Galatasaray for three seasons. Derwall is regarded as the revolutionizer of Turkish football, since his introduction of modern Western European training techniques and tactical ideas to the Turkish game also heavily influenced the national team.

Turkey national football team on an Azerbaijan stamp for Euro 1996.

Turkey qualified for Euro 1996, defeating both Switzerland and Sweden 2–1 en route during qualification. Despite a solid performance during the qualifiers, Turkey lost all their matches without scoring a single goal. They did, however, go home with an award: the fair-play award, given to Alpay Özalan.

Although Turkey failed to qualify for the 1998 World Cup, they qualified for Euro 2000 after winning a play-off against the Republic of Ireland. Turkey lost their first match 2–1 to Italy, they drew their second match against Sweden 0–0, and beat host nation Belgium 2–0, making it the first time in the history of the UEFA European Championship a host nation had been eliminated in the first round. This victory brought Turkey into the last eight of the tournament, where they were beaten 2–0 by Portugal, with Arif Erdem missing a critical penalty.

For the 2002 World Cup, Turkey finished second in their qualifying group, despite starting well and being the favourites to top the group. They lost 2–1 to Sweden in the crucial match that would decide the top spot. The Turks were forced to play the play-offs against Austria. They defeated the Austrians 6–0 on aggregate and booked their place at the finals. The Turkish team started the 2002 World Cup with a 2–1 defeat against eventual winners Brazil.[10] Turkey qualified from the group stage with a 3–0 win against China PR after drawing 1–1 with Costa Rica.[11][12]

Turkey then faced home team Japan in the second round, winning 1–0.[13] The Turkish team continued their run, as they beat Senegal 1–0 on a golden goal to book their place in the semi-finals, where a 1–0 defeat against eventual tournament winners Brazil forced them to play the third place match, and a bronze medal was won after a 3–2 victory over co-hosts South Korea.[14][15][16] Hakan Şükür scored Turkey's first goal in 10.8 seconds, even when the South Koreans kicked off first. It was the fastest goal in World Cup history.[17][18] Tens of thousands of flag-waving Turkish fans greeted the World Cup squad on their return to Istanbul, where they joined a massive street party at Taksim Square.[19] Rüştü Reçber, Alpay Özalan and Hasan Şaş were all included in the All-Star Team, with Reçber also being voted as the best goalkeeper in the UEFA Team of the Year 2002, while Şenol Güneş was being voted as the best manager.

In the summer of 2003, Turkey reached third place at the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. In the group stages, Turkey defeated the United States 2–1 before losing to Cameroon 0–1. In their final group match, Turkey drew 2–2 against Brazil, eliminating them from the tournament. Turkey lost to eventual tournament winners France 3–2 in the semi-final match. Turkey then defeated Colombia 2–1 to win the bronze medal. Tuncay scored three goals and made an assist, which won him the Silver Shoe Award and the Silver Ball Award for the second best player of the tournament.

The Turkish team failed to qualify for Euro 2004 on play-offs due to a loss to Latvia after finishing second in their group. This marked a turning point for the national team as new players were introduced to the national team to create a new generation.

The Turkish team once again narrowly missed out on the World Cup finals after failing to win a play-off, this time on away goals against Switzerland, again after finishing second in their group. There were scenes of violence after the game on and off the pitch where the Turkish team brawled with Swiss players down the tunnel.

Turkey against France on 5 June 2009.

Turkey qualified for their first international tournament in six years by finishing second behind Greece in Euro 2008 qualifying Group C to reach the Euro 2008 final stages. They were placed alongside Switzerland, Portugal and the Czech Republic in Group A. In their first match, they played Portugal and were beaten 2–0, but wins over Switzerland (2–1) and the Czech Republic (3–2) – both secured by late goals – brought qualification for the knockout stages.[20][21][22] Again, Turkey knocked out a host nation – Switzerland – in the group stages for the second time.[23]

The quarter-final against Croatia was goalless after 90 minutes, and Croatia led 1–0 in the final minute of extra time, but another late Turkish goal by forward Semih Şentürk brought the game to penalties. The goal raised some controversy with Croatia fans and Croatia head coach Slaven Bilić, who claimed that the goal had been scored after extra time had elapsed. This complaint, however, was overruled, and the game went into penalties. Turkey defeated Croatia in penalties, 3–1.[24]

Turkey went into the semi-final against Germany with just 14 outfield players available as a result of injuries and suspensions, but scored first and were drawing 2–2. But they finished third by default after losing 3–2 with a last minute goal by Philipp Lahm.[25] Both Russia and Turkey were given bronze medals in the dressing rooms after the semi-finals.

The Turkish team during the UEFA Euro 2012 qualification.

Turkey were drawn in UEFA Group 5 together with Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia and Spain. Turkey had a mixed qualifying campaign, finishing with 15 points and missing out on a play-off place to Bosnia and Herzegovina with 19 points. Spain topped the group to qualify, winning every game in the process. Coach Fatih Terim announced he would be resigning his post following their failure to qualify.[26]

Turkey were drawn in Group A in qualification for Euro 2012, together with Kazakhstan, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Azerbaijan. The Turkish team reached the play-offs after beating Azerbaijan 1–0 but got eliminated 3–0 on aggregate by Croatia. On 14 November 2012, Turkey celebrated their 500th match in a friendly game played against Denmark at the Türk Telekom Arena, Istanbul, which ended in a 1–1 draw. Before the match, footballers and coaches, who contributed to the national team's success in the past, were honoured. Turkish pop singer Hadise, who wore a national team jersey with the number 500, performed a small concert.[27][28]

Turkey against Austria on 29 March 2016.

Turkey were drawn in Group D in qualification for the 2014 World Cup, together with Andorra, Estonia, Hungary, the Netherlands and Romania, finishing fourth. Turkey began to lose critical points during qualification and Abdullah Avcı was sacked soon after. Fatih Terim was put in charge for the third time to lead the national team, but a 2–0 defeat against the Netherlands ended hopes of qualification.

Turkey were drawn in Group A in the qualification campaign for the Euro 2016, together with Iceland, Latvia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The Turkish team qualified for their first major tournament in eight years as the best third-placed team after beating Iceland 1–0, with Selçuk İnan netting a free kick in the 89th minute. After over 18 months unbeaten, a loss to England as a pre-tournament friendly ended the team's winning streak, subsequently leading to back-to-back losses against Croatia and Spain in the tournament. Turkey won their last game against the Czech Republic, 2–0. They were minutes away from reaching the last 16, until a late winner for Ireland against Italy meant that the latter instead qualified as one of the best third-placed teams. Despite elimination, youngster Emre Mor's skillful display and assist during the game revealed a hopeful future for Turkish football.

Turkey were drawn in UEFA Group I for the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign. together with Croatia, Finland, Iceland, Kosovo and Ukraine. During the qualifiers, head coach Fatih Terim stood down after an off-field incident,[29] and 72-year-old former Romania manager Mircea Lucescu took over. After eight games, Turkey stood a strong chance of qualifying for the tournament, but a 0–3 defeat against Iceland at home ended automatic qualification hopes. After a 2–2 draw against Finland the team finished fourth in Group I.

Turkey were drawn in group H in the qualifying stage along with the 2018 FIFA World Cup champions France, as well as Iceland, Albania, Moldova and Andorra. Veteran coach Şenol Güneş revolutionised the team, with many young talents, only keeping Burak Yılmaz and Emre Belözoglu from the older generation. The team restructuring proved to be genius, as Turkey had one of the best campaigns in recent history.

Turkey managed to achieve a 2–0 victory against the group favourites France in Konya and later a 1–1 draw at Stade de France. The results against France dramatically improved Turkey's hopes to qualify out of the group. Turkish players performed a salute to the Turkish soldiers performing a military operation in northern Syria against the Kurdish separatist groups PYD/YPG, which is considered as terrorist by Ankara. The salute was criticised by French and European media outlets and politicians.

Surprisingly Turkey struggled against the group underdogs Andorra in their first match against them, winning by a 89th minute goal at the Vodafone Arena in Istanbul. Turkey's only defeat in the group came against Iceland in Reykjavik, losing 2-1. The defeat came after ill-treatment of the Turkish group at the Iceland customs, keeping them at the airport for 3 hours. This was followed by an Icelandic supporter holding a toilet brush to team captain Emre Belozoglu as a pretend microphone during an interview. The events were heavily criticised by the Turkish and European media. In an interview Turkish Coach Şenol Güneş, said that had come here 40 years ago, nothing had changed about the stadium and the country, except that some Icelandic people had lost the hospitality they had 40 years ago. Turkey entered matchday 9 against Iceland as group leaders with 19 points. Turkey and Iceland were drawn 0–0 at Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul. Though unable to defeat Iceland and losing the first place to France, a draw was enough to secure Turkey a spot in EURO 2020 finals, ahead of their away match against Andorra.

FIFA Confederations Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad
1992	Did not qualify
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003	Third place	3rd	5	2	1	2	8	8	Squad
2005	Did not qualify
2009
2013
2017
Total	Third place	1/10	5	2	1	2	8	8	—

*Denotes draws including knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Turkey B

Mediterranean Games record
Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
1951	Did not participate
1955
1959	2nd	2	1	1	0	7	4
1963	2nd	5	3	1	1	12	7
1967	4th	5	2	1	2	5	7
1971	3rd	4	3	1	0	4	1
1975	7th	4	0	2	2	1	5
1979	5th	3	1	1	1	2	2
1983	2nd	4	2	0	2	4	5
1987	3rd	5	3	0	2	6	2
1991 – present	See Turkey national under-20 team
Total	8/10	32	15	7	10	41	33

The following players have been called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches against Iceland and Andorra, on 14 and 17 November 2019.
All caps and goals as of 17 November 2019 after match against Andorra.[30]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Sinan Bolat	(1988-09-03) 3 September 1988	12	0	Antwerp
23	1GK	Uğurcan Çakır	(1996-04-05) 5 April 1996	2	0	Trabzonspor
12	1GK	Altay Bayındır	(1998-04-14) 14 April 1998	0	0	Fenerbahçe
3	2DF	Hasan Ali Kaldırım	(1989-12-09) 9 December 1989	32	1	Fenerbahçe
22	2DF	Kaan Ayhan	(1994-11-10) 10 November 1994	28	3	Fortuna Düsseldorf
2	2DF	Zeki Çelik	(1997-02-17) 17 February 1997	14	2	Lille
15	2DF	Merih Demiral	(1998-03-05) 5 March 1998	12	0	Juventus
13	2DF	Umut Meraş	(1995-12-20) 20 December 1995	6	0	Le Havre
4	2DF	Mert Müldür	(1999-04-03) 3 April 1999	2	0	Sassuolo
21	2DF	Nazım Sangaré	(1994-05-30) 30 May 1994	2	0	Antalyaspor
5	2DF	Mert Çetin	(1997-01-01) 1 January 1997	1	0	Roma
18	2DF	Ozan Kabak	(2000-03-25) 25 March 2000	1	0	Schalke 04
6	3MF	Ozan Tufan	(1995-03-23) 23 March 1995	50	5	Fenerbahçe
10	3MF	Hakan Çalhanoğlu (3rd captain)	(1994-02-08) 8 February 1994	48	10	Milan
8	3MF	Okay Yokuşlu	(1994-03-09) 9 March 1994	24	1	Celta
11	3MF	Yusuf Yazıcı	(1997-01-29) 29 January 1997	20	1	Lille
19	2DF	Ömer Bayram	(1991-07-27) 27 July 1991	9	0	Galatasaray
20	3MF	Deniz Türüç	(1993-01-29) 29 January 1993	6	1	Fenerbahçe
9	3MF	Berkay Özcan	(1998-02-15) 15 February 1998	4	0	İstanbul Başakşehir
7	3MF	Emre Kılınç	(1994-08-23) 23 August 1994	2	0	Sivasspor
16	4FW	Enes Ünal	(1997-05-10) 10 May 1997	13	2	Valladolid
17	4FW	Güven Yalçın	(1999-01-18) 18 January 1999	3	0	Beşiktaş
14	4FW	Ahmed Kutucu	(2000-03-01) 1 March 2000	1	0	Schalke 04

The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Mert Günok	(1989-03-01) 1 March 1989	15	0	İstanbul Başakşehir	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019
GK	Gökhan Akkan	(1994-01-01) 1 January 1994	0	0	Çaykur Rizespor	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019 INJ
DF	Çağlar Söyüncü	(1996-05-23) 23 May 1996	28	1	Leicester City	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019
DF	Mahmut Tekdemir	(1988-01-20) 20 January 1988	15	0	İstanbul Başakşehir	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019
DF	Emre Taşdemir	(1995-08-08) 8 August 1995	4	0	Kayserispor	v.  Uzbekistan, 2 June 2019
DF	Ömer Ali Şahiner	(1992-01-02) 2 January 1992	1	0	Konyaspor	v.  Uzbekistan, 2 June 2019
MF	Emre Belözoğlu (Captain)	(1980-09-07) 7 September 1980	101	9	Fenerbahçe	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019
MF	Cengiz Ünder	(1997-07-14) 14 July 1997	20	6	Roma	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019
MF	Efecan Karaca	(1989-11-16) 16 November 1989	2	0	Alanyaspor	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019
MF	İrfan Kahveci	(1995-06-15) 15 June 1995	15	0	İstanbul Başakşehir	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019 PRE
MF	Dorukhan Toköz	(1996-05-21) 21 May 1996	6	1	Beşiktaş	v.  Albania, 11 October 2019 PRE
MF	Abdülkadir Parmak	(1994-12-28) 28 December 1994	1	0	Trabzonspor	v.  Albania, 11 October 2019 PRE
MF	Yunus Mallı	(1992-02-24) 24 February 1992	25	1	Union Berlin	v.  Andorra, 7 September 2019
MF	Oğuzhan Özyakup	(1992-09-23) 23 September 1992	43	1	Feyenoord	v.  Iceland, 11 June 2019
MF	Abdülkadir Ömür	(1999-06-25) 25 June 1999	4	0	Trabzonspor	v.  Iceland, 11 June 2019
FW	Burak Yılmaz (Vice-captain)	(1985-07-15) 15 July 1985	59	24	Beşiktaş	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019
FW	Cenk Tosun	(1991-06-07) 7 June 1991	42	16	Crystal Palace	v.  Iceland, 14 November 2019 INJ
FW	Kenan Karaman	(1994-03-05) 5 March 1994	11	1	Fortuna Düsseldorf	v.  France, 14 October 2019

Notes

• ^PRE = Preliminary squad.
• ^INJ = Not part of the current squad due to injury.

Rüştü Reçber is Turkey's most capped player with 120 caps.

Players in bold are still active, at least at club level.[44] As of October 14, 2019.

Hakan Şükür is Turkey's all-time record goalscorer with 51 goals.

Goalscorers with an equal number of goals are ranked in chronological order of reaching the milestone. Bold indicates still active players.[45] As of October 14, 2019.