[Blue Blood]

The Turkey national football team is the national football team of Turkey and is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation. They are affiliated with UEFA.
The team's highest achievement was reaching 3rd place at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Turkey also reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2000 and reached 3rd place at the 2003 Confederations Cup.
World Cups 1950 and 1954

Turkey qualified for the 1950 World Cup beating Syria 7-0 but they withdrew 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. However the Turks 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.

'60s to '90s
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 hold their own in World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, but the team was a point too short to qualify for Euro 1972 and Euro 1976.
The 1980s saw Turkey two 8-0 defeats to 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.

Euro 1996 and 2000
Turkey qualified for the Euro 96, beating both Switzerland and Sweden 2-1, but then they lost all their matches without scoring a single goal. However, they did go home with an award: the fair-play award, given to Alpay Özalan.
Turkey 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 European Championship that a host nation had been eliminated in the first round, brought Turkey into the last eight of the tournament where Portugal won the quarter-final match 2-0.

World Cup 2002
The Turkish team started the 2002 World Cup with a 2-1 defeat against Brazil. Turkey passed the group stage with a 3-0 win against China.
Turkey then faced home team Japan, 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 Brazil forced them to play the third place match, and a bronze medal was the prize after a 3-2 victory over South Korea. Hakan Şükür[1] scored Turkey's first goal in 11 seconds, even when the South Koreans started the ball first. It was the fastest goal in World cup history.

Confederations Cup 2003 and Euro 2004
In the summer of 2003, Turkey reached third place at the 2003 Confederations Cup in which they drew 2-2 against Brazil. Turkey lost to eventual tournament winners France 3-2 in the semi-final match. Turkey defeated Colombia 2-1 to win third place.
The Turkish team failed to qualify for Euro 2004 on play-offs due to a loss to Latvia after finishing second in their group.

World Cup 2006
The Turkish team once again narrowly missed out on the finals after failing to win a play-off, this time on away goals against Switzerland, again after finishing second in their group.

Euro 2008 Qualifying
Turkey are included in their qualifying group with Greece, Norway, Malta, Hungary, Moldova and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

World Cup record

• 1930 - Did not enter
• 1934 - Withdrew
• 1938 - Did not enter
• 1950 - Qualified, but withdrew
• 1954 - Round 1
• 1958 - Withdrew
• 1962 to 1998 - Did not qualify
• 2002 - Third place
• 2006 - Did not qualify

European Championship record

• 1960 to 1992 - Did not qualify
• 1996 - Round 1
• 2000 - Quarterfinals
• 2004 - Did not qualify

Confederations Cup record

• 2003 Confederations Cup - 3rd place

Memorable Matches

• 1951 West Germany - Turkey 1-2 Coach: Rebii Erkal
• 1954 Turkey- Spain 1-0 Coach: Sandro Puppo (Italy)
• 1954 Spain - Turkey 2-2 Coach: Sandro Puppo (Italy)
• 1956 Turkey- Hungary 3-1 Coach: Giovanni Varglien (Italy)
• 1970 West Germany - Turkey 1-1 Coach: Cihat Arman
• 1995 Turkey- Sweden 2-1 Coach: Fatih Terim
• 1995 Switzerland - Turkey 1-2 Coach: Fatih Terim
• 1997 Turkey- Netherlands 1-0 Coach: Mustafa Denizli
• 1998 Turkey- Germany 1-0 Coach: Mustafa Denizli
• 2000 Belgium - Turkey 0-2 Coach: Mustafa Denizli
• 2001 Turkey- Austria 5-0 Coach: Şenol Güneş
• 2002 Brazil - Turkey 2-1 Coach: Şenol Güneş
• 2002 Senegal - Turkey 0-1 Coach: Şenol Güneş
• 2002 Brazil - Turkey 1-0 Coach: Şenol Güneş
• 2002 South Korea - Turkey 2-3 Coach: Şenol Güneş
• 2003 Brazil - Turkey 2-2 Coach: Şenol Güneş
• 2003 France - Turkey 3-2 Coach: Şenol Güneş
• 2003 Colombia - Turkey 1-2 Coach: Şenol Güneş

Turkey



Nickname(s) Ay-Yıldızlılar (Crescent-Stars) Association Turkish Football Federation Confederation UEFA (Europe) Head coach Fatih Terim, (2005-) Captain Hakan Şükür Most caps Rüştü Reçber (114) Top scorer Hakan Şükür (51) Home stadium Atatürk Olympic Stadium FIFA Code
TUR FIFA Ranking 21 Highest FIFA ranking 5 (June 2004) Lowest FIFA ranking 67 (October 1993) Elo Ranking
15 Highest Elo ranking 9 (November 2002) Lowest Elo ranking 82 (November 1985)

Players


Current squad

The current squad.[2] All match statistics are updated up to June 4, 2007.
Pos. Player Date of Birth Caps Goals Club GK Rüştü Reçber 1973-05-10 114 0 Beşiktaş J.K. GK Hakan Arıkan 1982-08-17 3 0 Beşiktaş J.K. GK Serdar Kulbilge 1980-07-07 1 0 Fenerbahçe DF İbrahim Toraman 1981-11-20 31 1 Beşiktaş J.K. DF Gökhan Zan 1981-09-07 13 0 Beşiktaş J.K. DF Servet Çetin 1981-03-17 15 0 Galatasaray S.K. DF Volkan Yaman 1982-08-27 3 0 Galatasaray S.K. DF Sabri Sarıoğlu 1984-07-26 6 1 Galatasaray S.K. DFDeniz Barış 1977-07-02 21 0 Fenerbahçe DF İbrahim Üzülmez 1974-03-10 24 0 Beşiktaş J.K. MF Serdar Kurtuluş 1987-07-23 1 0 Beşiktaş J.K. MFArda Turan 1987-01-30 6 0 Galatasaray S.K. MF Tümer Metin 1974-10-14 15 5 Fenerbahçe MF Mehmet Aurélio 1977-12-15 12 1 Fenerbahçe MFHüseyin Çimşir 1979-05-26 26 0 Trabzonspor MF Gökdeniz Karadeniz Trabzonspor MF Mehmet Topuz 1983-09-07 11 0 Kayserispor MF Yıldıray Baştürk 1978-12-24 47 2 VfB Stuttgart MF Nuri Şahin Feyenoord Rotterdam MF Hamit Altıntop 1982-12-08 28 2 Bayern Munich MF Emre Belözoğlu 1980-09-07 44 3 Newcastle United F.C. MF Tuncay Şanlı 1982-01-17 43 13 Middlesbrough F.C. FW Hakan Şükür Galatasaray S.K. FW Gökhan Ünal 1982-07-23 4 1 Kayserispor FW Halil Altıntop 1982-12-08 15 4 FC Schalke 04 FW Nihat Kahveci 1979-11-23 46 12 Villarreal CF FW Fatih Tekke 1977-09-09 25 9 Zenit Saint Petersburg FW Necati Ateş 1980-01-03 19 5 Ankaraspor FWÜmit Karan 1976-10-01 8 3 Galatasaray SK 1980-01-11 35 5 1988-09-05 10 1 1971-09-01 110 51


We Are The Turk!.