Turkey national football team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Turkey women's national football team.

Turkey

Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Ay Yıldızlılar (The Crescent-Stars) Türko
Association	Turkish Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Abdullah Avcı
Asst coach	Okan Buruk
Captain	Arda Turan
Most caps	Rüştü Reçber (119)
Top scorer	Hakan Şükür (51)
Home stadium	Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadı İzmir Atatürk Stadyumu Şükrü Saraçoğlu
FIFA code	TUR
FIFA ranking	25
Highest FIFA ranking	5 (June 2004)
Lowest FIFA ranking	67 (October 1993)
Elo ranking	34
Highest Elo ranking	9 (November 2002)
Lowest Elo ranking	82 (November 1985)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Turkey 2–2 Romania (Istanbul, Turkey; October 26, 1923)
Biggest win
Turkey 7–0 Syria (Ankara, Turkey; November 20, 1949)
Biggest defeat
Poland 8–0 Turkey (Chorzów, Poland; April 24, 1968) Turkey 0–8 England (Istanbul, Turkey; 14 November 1984) England 8–0 Turkey (London, England; 14 October 1987)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (First in 1954)
Best result	Third place, 2002
European Championship
Appearances	3 (First in 1996)
Best result	Semi-finals, 2008
Confederations Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 2003)
Best result	Third place, 2003

The Turkey national football team (Turkish: Türkiye Millî Futbol Takımı) represents Turkey in association football and is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Turkey. They are affiliated with UEFA. The team is, according to the FIFA World Rankings, ranked 25th in the world.

Turkey has qualified three times for the World Cup finals, in 1950, 1954, and 2002, although they withdrew from the 1950 event. Turkey has also qualified three times for the UEFA European Championship, in 1996, 2000 and 2008. They have reached the semi-finals of three major tournaments: the 2002 World Cup, the 2003 Confederations Cup, and Euro 2008.

History

Turkey national football team in 1923 in Taksim Stadium.

The Turkish national team played their first ever match against Romania in 1923 drawing 2–2. Although Turkey qualified for the 1950 World Cup, beating Syria 7–0, they had to withdraw 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 Turkey did however play Hungary, in a friendly in Istanbul, beating what was one of the strongest teams of the era 3–1.

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. The 1970s saw Turkey holding back in the World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, but the team was a point too short to qualify for Euro 1972 and Euro 1976. 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 game.

Turkey qualified for Euro 1996, beating both Switzerland and Sweden 2–1 along the way. At Euro 1996, they 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. Turkey qualified for Euro 2000 after winning a play-off against 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 European Championship that a host nation had been eliminated in the first round, brought Turkey into the last eight of the tournament where they were beaten 2–0 by Portugal.

For the 2002 FIFA 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. Turkey qualified from the group stage with a 3–0 win against China, after drawing 1–1 with Costa Rica.

Turkey then faced home team Japan in the second round, beating them 1–0. 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 a surprise South Korean team. 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. Tens of thousands of flag-waving Turkish fans greeted the World Cup squad on their return to Istanbul, were they joined a massive street party at Taksim Square.

In the summer of 2003, Turkey reached third place at the 2003 Confederations Cup. In the group stages, they 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. The Turkish team failed to qualify for Euro 2004 on play-offs due to a loss to Latvia after finishing second in their group.

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 national football team on an Azerbaijani stamp for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Turkey qualified for their first international tournament in six years by finishing second behind Greece in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group C to reach the European Championships. 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 Czech Republic (3–2) – both secured by late goals – brought qualification for the knockout stages. Again, Turkey knocked out a host nation – Switzerland – in the group stages for the second time.

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's 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 beat out Croatia in penalties 3–1.

They 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 in the last minute of the match, until Germany scored a third goal in the last few seconds and Turkey was thus eliminated. Both Russia and Turkey were given bronze medals in the dressing rooms after the semi-finals.

For the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers 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 won Group 5 to qualify, winning every game in the process. Coach Fatih Terim announced he would be resigning his post following their failure to qualify.

Turkey were drawn in Group A in qualification for UEFA Euro 2012, together with Kazakhstan, Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Azerbaijan.

Kit

Turkey national football team against Hungary in Taksim Stadium (22 April 1932)

Kit History

Recent results

Main article: Turkey national football team results

17 November 2010	Netherlands	1 – 0	Turkey	Amsterdam, Netherlands
20:30 UTC +1	Huntelaar  52'			Stadium: Amsterdam Arena Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

9 February 2011	Turkey	0 – 0	South Korea	Trabzon, Turkey
				Stadium: Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium

10 August 2011	Turkey	3 – 0	Estonia	Istanbul, Turkey
	Emre  8' Kâzım  28', 35'	Report		Stadium: Türk Telekom Arena Referee: Lee Probert (England)

29 February 2012	Turkey	1 – 2	Slovakia	Bursa, Turkey
	Ömer  85'		Weiss  24' Stoch  38'	Stadium: Bursa Atatürk Stadium Referee: Thorsten Kinhöfer (Germany)

UEFA Euro 2012 qualification – Group A

Turkey vs. Austria UEFA Euro 2012 qualification.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Germany 10 10 0 0 34 7 +27 30 Turkey 10 5 2 3 13 11 +2 17 Belgium 10 4 3 3 21 15 +6 15 Austria 10 3 3 4 16 17 −1 12 Azerbaijan 10 2 1 7 10 26 −16 7 Kazakhstan 10 1 1 8 6 24 −18 4

Austria — 3–0 0–2 1–2 2–0 0–0 Azerbaijan 1–4 — 1–1 1–3 3–2 1–0 Belgium 4–4 4–1 — 0–1 4–1 1–1 Germany 6–2 6–1 3–1 — 4–0 3–0 Kazakhstan 0–0 2–1 0–2 0–3 — 0–3 Turkey 2–0 1–0 3–2 1–3 2–1 —

3 September 2010 22:00 UTC+6	Kazakhstan	0 – 3	Turkey	Astana Arena, Astana Attendance: 25,000 Referee: István Vad (Hungary)
		Report	Arda  24' Hamit  26' Nihat  76'

7 September 2010 21:00 UTC+3	Turkey	3 – 2	Belgium	Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, Istanbul Attendance: 41,000 Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
	Hamit  48' Semih  66' Arda  78'	Report	Van Buyten  28', 68'

8 October 2010 20:45 UTC+2	Germany	3 – 0	Turkey	Olympiastadion, Berlin Attendance: 74,244 Referee: Howard Webb (England)
	Klose  42', 87' Özil  79'	Report

12 October 2010 20:00 UTC+5	Azerbaijan	1 – 0	Turkey	Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku Attendance: 29,500 Referee: Alexandru Deaconu (Romania)
	R. F. Sadygov  38'	Report

29 March 2011 20:30 UTC+3	Turkey	2 – 0	Austria	Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, Istanbul Attendance: 47,000 Referee: Pavel Kralovec (Czech Republic)
	Arda  28' Gökhan G.  78'	Report

3 June 2011 20:30 UTC+3	Belgium	1 – 1	Turkey	Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Brussels Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)
	Ogunjimi  4'	Report	Yilmaz  22'

2 September 2011 20:00 UTC+3	Turkey	2 – 1	Kazakhstan	Turk Telekom Arena, Istanbul Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Clément Turpin (France)
	Yılmaz  31' Arda  90+7'	Report	Konysbayev  55'

6 September 2011 20:30 UTC+2	Austria	0 – 0	Turkey	Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna Attendance: 47,500 Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)
		Report

7 October 2011 21:30 UTC+3	Turkey	1 – 3	Germany	Turk Telekom Arena, Istanbul Attendance: 51,000 Referee: Martin Atkinson (England)
	Hakan  79'	Report	Gómez  35' Müller  66' Schweinsteiger  86' (pen.)

11 October 2011 20:00 UTC+3	Turkey	1 – 0	Azerbaijan	Turk Telekom Arena, Istanbul Referee: Peter Rasmussen (Denmark)
	Burak  60'	Report

Coaching staff

Manager	Abdullah Avcı
Assistant manager	Okan Buruk
Assistant manager	Fuat Usta
Goalkeeper Coach	Engin İpekoğlu
Physiotherapist	Arno Philips

Squad

Current squad

The following players were picked for the upcoming friendly match against Slovakia on 29 February 2012.

Caps and goals are correct as of February 29, 2012.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 23 GK Cenk Gönen 21 February 1988 (1988-02-21) 0 0 Beşiktaş 12 GK Tolga Zengin 10 October 1983 (1983-10-10) 2 0 Trabzonspor 1 GK Sinan Bolat 3 September 1988 (1988-09-03) 4 0 Standard Liège 24 DF Eren Güngör 2 April 1988 (1988-04-02) 5 0 Kayserispor 7 DF Gökhan Gönül 4 January 1985 (1985-01-04) 28 1 Fenerbahçe 3 DF Hasan Ali Kaldırım 9 December 1989 (1989-12-09) 1 0 Kayserispor 13 DF İsmail Köybaşı 10 July 1989 (1989-07-10) 9 0 Beşiktaş 4 DF Ömer Toprak 21 July 1989 (1989-07-21) 2 1 Bayer Leverkusen 16 DF Serdar Aziz 23 October 1990 (1990-10-23) 0 0 Bursaspor 2 DF Semih Kaya 24 February 1991 (1991-02-24) 1 0 Galatasaray 6 DF Serdar Kesimal 24 January 1989 (1989-01-24) 6 0 Fenerbahçe 8 MF Selçuk İnan 10 February 1985 (1985-02-10) 19 0 Galatasaray 20 MF Caner Erkin 4 October 1988 (1988-10-04) 10 0 Fenerbahçe 14 MF Arda Turan 30 January 1987 (1987-01-30) 51 12 Atlético Madrid 26 MF Alper Potuk 8 April 1991 (1991-04-08) 1 0 Eskişehirspor 15 MF Mehmet Topal 3 March 1986 (1986-03-03) 24 0 Valencia 10 MF Mehmet Ekici 25 March 1990 (1990-03-25) 7 0 Werder Bremen 5 MF Nuri Şahin 5 September 1988 (1988-09-05) 27 1 Real Madrid 18 MF Necip Uysal 24 January 1991 (1991-01-24) 4 0 Beşiktaş 22 MF Olcan Adın 30 September 1985 (1985-09-30) 1 0 Trabzonspor 27 MF Olcay Şahan 26 May 1987 (1987-05-26) 0 0 1. FC Kaiserslautern 25 MF Soner Aydoğdu 5 January 1991 (1991-01-05) 1 0 Gençlerbirliği 21 MF Tunay Torun 21 April 1990 (1990-04-21) 3 0 Hertha BSC 9 FW Umut Bulut 15 March 1983 (1983-03-15) 9 0 Toulouse 19 FW Mustafa Pektemek 11 August 1988 (1988-08-11) 1 0 Beşiktaş 11 FW Mevlüt Erdinç 25 February 1987 (1987-02-25) 14 1 Rennes 17 FW Burak Yılmaz 15 July 1985 (1985-07-15) 15 3 Trabzonspor Recent callups The following players have also been called up to the Turkey squad within the last twelve months. Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club Latest Call-up GK Volkan Demirel 27 October 1981 (1981-10-27) 54 0 Fenerbahçe v Croatia, 15 November 2011 GK Hakan Arıkan 17 August 1982 (1982-08-17) 6 0 Mersin İdman Yurdu v Azerbaijan, 11 October 2011 DF Hakan Balta 23 March 1983 (1983-03-23) 37 2 Galatasaray v Croatia, 15 November 2011 DF Egemen Korkmaz 3 November 1982 (1982-11-03) 6 0 Beşiktaş v Croatia, 15 November 2011 DF Serkan Balcı 22 August 1983 (1983-08-22) 23 0 Trabzonspor v Croatia, 15 November 2011 DF Giray Kaçar 15 March 1985 (1985-03-15) 1 0 Trabzonspor v Croatia, 15 November 2011 DF Ersan Gülüm 17 May 1987 (1987-05-17) 0 0 Beşiktaş v Croatia, 15 November 2011 DF Emre Güngör 1 August 1984 (1984-08-01) 4 1 Gaziantepspor v Belgium, 3 June 2011 MF Hamit Altıntop 8 December 1982 (1982-12-08) 67 6 Real Madrid v Croatia, 15 November 2011 MF Gökhan Töre 20 January 1992 (1992-01-20) 7 0 Hamburg v Croatia, 15 November 2011 MF Ozan İpek 10 October 1986 (1986-10-10) 3 0 Bursaspor v Croatia, 15 November 2011 MF Selçuk Şahin 31 January 1981 (1981-01-31) 23 2 Fenerbahçe v Croatia, 15 November 2011 MF Mehmet Aurélio 15 December 1977 (1977-12-15) 37 2 Beşiktaş v Azerbaijan, 11 October 2011 MF Yekta Kurtuluş 11 December 1985 (1985-12-11) 2 0 Galatasaray v Azerbaijan, 11 October 2011 MF Mehmet Topuz 7 September 1983 (1983-09-07) 16 0 Fenerbahçe v Belgium, 3 June 2011 FW Colin Kazim-Richards 26 August 1986 (1986-08-26) 35 2 Olympiacos v Croatia, 15 November 2011 FW Halil Altıntop 8 December 1982 (1982-12-08) 38 8 Trabzonspor v Croatia, 15 November 2011 FW Cenk Tosun 7 June 1991 (1991-06-07) 0 0 Gaziantepspor v Austria, 6 September 2011 FW Semih Şentürk 29 April 1983 (1983-04-29) 28 8 Fenerbahçe v Estonia, 10 August 2011 Previous squads FIFA World Cup squads 1954 FIFA World Cup 2002 FIFA World Cup UEFA European Football Championship squads 1996 UEFA Euro Cup 2000 UEFA Euro Cup 2008 UEFA Euro Cup Competitive record FIFA World Cup Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA 1930 Did not enter 1934 Withdrew 1938 Did not enter 1950 Qualified But Withdrew 1954 Round 1 9 3 1 0 2 10 11 1958 Withdrew 1962 to 1998 Did not qualify 2002 Third place 3 7 4 1 2 10 6 2006 & 2010 Did not qualify Total 2/19 10 5 1 4 20 17 UEFA European Championship Year Round GP W D* L GS GA 1960 to 1992 Did not qualify 1996 Round 1 3 0 0 3 0 5 2000 Quarter-finals 4 1 1 2 3 4 2004 Did not qualify 2008 Semi-finals 5 2 1* 2 8 9 2012 Did not qualify Total 3/15 12 3 2 7 11 18 *Denotes draws including knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. *Turkey advanced to the semi finals via a 3–1 win over Croatia in a penalty shootout. FIFA Confederations Cup FIFA Confederations Cup record Year Round Position GP W D* L GS 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 To Be Determined 2017 2021 Total Third Place 1/9 5 2 1 2 8 8 - ECO Cup record Host/Year Round 1965 Runners-Up 1967 Champions 1969 Champions 1970 Runners-Up 1974 Champions 1993 Did not enter Honours FIFA World Cup 3 ! Third place (1): 2002 FIFA Confederations Cup 3 ! Third place (1): 2003 UEFA European Football Championship 3 ! Semi-finals (1): 2008 Player history Main article: List of Turkey international footballers Players in bold are still active. Most capped players Nuri Şahin is the youngest player ever to have played and scored for the Turkish national team. # Name Career Caps Goals 1 Rüştü Reçber 1994–2009 119 0 2 Hakan Şükür 1992–2008 112 51 3 Bülent Korkmaz 1990–2005 102 2 4 Tugay Kerimoğlu 1990–2007 94 2 5 Alpay Özalan 1995–2005 90 4 6 Tuncay Şanlı 2003– 80 22 = Emre Belözoğlu 2000– 80 8 8 Ogün Temizkanoğlu 1990–2002 76 5 9 Abdullah Ercan 1992–2003 71 0 10 Oğuz Çetin 1988–1998 70 3 Top goalscorers Goalscorers with an equal number of goals are ranked in chronological order of reaching the milestone. #42 Name Career Goals Caps Rate 1 Hakan Şükür 1992–2008 51 112 0.46 2 Tuncay Şanlı 2002– 22 80 0.28 3 Lefter Küçükandonyadis 1948–1961 21 46 0.36 4 Metin Oktay 1956–1965 19 36 0.53 = Cemil Turan 1969–1979 19 44 0.43 = Nihat Kahveci 2000–2010 19 69 0.28 7 Zeki Rıza Sporel 1923–1932 15 16 0.94 8 Arda Turan 2006– 12 51 0.23 9 Ertuğrul Sağlam 1993–1997 11 26 0.42 = Arif Erdem 1994–2003 11 60 0.18 Past managers Main article: List of Turkey national football team managers As of 16 November 2011 Manager Turkey career Played Won Drawn Lost Goals For Goals Against Win % Denizli, MustafaMustafa Denizli 1996–2000 31 11 9 11 45 38 35.5 Güneş, ŞenolŞenol Güneş 2000–2004 50 23 13 14 72 50 46.0 Karaman, ÜnalÜnal Karaman 2004 1 0 1 0 2 2 00.0 Yanal, ErsunErsun Yanal 2004–2005 488 175 116 197 29 14 53.3 Terim, FatihFatih Terim 2005–2009 58 26 18 14 86 71 44.8 Çetin, OğuzOğuz Çetin 2010 4 3 0 1 7 3 75.0 Hiddink, GuusGuus Hiddink 2010–2011 16 7 4 5 18 15 43.7 Avcı, AbdullahAbdullah Avcı 2011– ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Overall Record Total matches played: 484 Wins: 174 Draws: 115 Losses: 195 GF: 627 GA: 724 Decoration In 2002, the national team was honored with the Turkish "State Medal of Distinguished Service" for its third place achievement at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. All the team members, coachs and officials were bestowed by a medal. References Fifa.com Rankings – Turkey Turkish Football Federation Site External links Turkish Football Federation website (English) (Turkish)