Turkey men's national football team

History

Early years

The Turkish national team's first game was against Romania, played on 26 October 1923 at Taksim Stadium in Istanbul, a 2–2 draw. Zeki Rıza Sporel is considered 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 to Czechoslovakia 5–2. The first two goals in an official game were scored by Bekir Refet.

1950s

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. They first lost 4–1 to Spain, but a 1–0 win a few days later initiated a replay (there was no clause for aggregate results in the rules at the time, which would have qualified Spain). On that occasion, they tied 2–2 after, booking their place after a coin toss. Turkey was grouped along with Hungary and West Germany. The Turks, however, never played Hungary due to the tournament format (Spain had been selected as a seeded team prior to the end of the qualification, and when Turkey qualified at their expense, they inherited the seed), 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 game 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. Lefter Küçükandonyadis, arguably one of the best Turkish strikers of all time, scored two goals during the tournament.

Near misses

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 had already 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 Turks also suffered one of their worst defeats with 8–0 scorelines twice against England. The Turks had suffered an 8–0 defeat before against Poland in 1968. But 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.

1990s

In 1990, 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, when he was replaced by Fatih Terim, who in turn managed to qualify for Euro 1996. Turkiye qualified for its first major tournament since 1954. The appointment of Piontek was a recommended move by another coach, Jupp Derwall, who had coached Galatasaray for three seasons.

Turkey qualified for Euro 1996, defeating both Switzerland and Sweden 2–1 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 Özalan.

2000s

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, then 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 quarter-finals of the tournament, where they were beaten 2–0 by Portugal, with Arif Erdem missing a penalty.

For the 2002 World Cup, Turkey finished second in their qualifying group, losing to Sweden in the match that would decide the number-one spot. The Turks were forced to play the play-offs against Austria. They defeated the Austrians 6–0 on aggregate and booked their place in 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 PR after drawing 1–1 with Costa Rica. Turkey then faced co-hosts Japan in the second round, winning 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. The Turks won the bronze medal after a 3–2 victory over co-hosts South Korea. Hakan Şükür scored Turkey's first goal in 10.8 seconds, despite the South Koreans kicking 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, where they joined a massive street party at Taksim Square. 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 2003, Turkey finished third at the FIFA Confederations Cup. In the group stage, Turkey defeated the United States 2–1 before losing to Cameroon 1–0. 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-finals, and then defeated Colombia 2–1 in the third-place match. Tuncay scored three goals and an assist, which won him the Silver Shoe Award and the Silver Ball Award for the second-best player of the tournament.

2010s

Turkey was 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.

Turkey was drawn in Group A in qualification for Euro 2012, together with Kazakhstan, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Azerbaijan. The Turks reached the play-offs after beating Azerbaijan 1–0 but were 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 honored. Turkish pop singer Hadise, who wore a national team jersey with the number 500, performed a small concert.

Turkey was drawn in Group D in qualification for the 2014 World Cup, together with Andorra, Estonia, Hungary, the Netherlands and Romania, finishing fourth. 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.

Grouped in Group A in the qualification campaign for Euro 2016, with Iceland, Latvia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, the 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, along with Kazakhstan beating Latvia 1–0. After a year and a half of going 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 nearly reached 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.

Placed with Croatia, Finland, Iceland, Kosovo and Ukraine for 2018 World Cup qualifying, manager Fatih Terim left after an off-field incident, and 72-year-old former Romania manager Mircea Lucescu took over. After seven matches, Turkey were in pole position to qualify for the tournament, First, they boosted their World Cup hopes by beating Croatia 1–0, but a 3–0 defeat to Iceland at home ended automatic qualification hopes. After a 2–2 draw against Finland, the team finished fourth in Group I.

2020s

After qualifying for Euro 2020, which was postponed to June and July 2021 because of COVID-19, Turkey were drawn against Russia, alongside Hungary and Serbia, in the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League B. They performed poorly in their two opening games in September 2020. In the first game against Hungary at home, Turkey suffered a 1–0 defeat courtesy of a Dominik Szoboszlai goal from a free kick. Playing in Belgrade, following Aleksandar Kolarov's red card, the Turks were held goalless against Serbia. This hampered their chances of qualifying for League A, as their next opponents in October would be Russia—a team that Turkey haven't beaten since 1975—and Hungary.

In Moscow, Turkey drew 1–1 after Kenan Karaman's equalizer. The Turkish side then drew 2–2 against Serbia at home.

Against Russia, Denis Cheryshev scored for the Russians to take an early lead, making the Turkish side look hapless. But after Russia's red card reduced the side to ten men, the Turks eventually won 3–2. The Turks then traveled to Hungary with the hope that a win against the Hungarians could mean possible promotion, if Russia lost to Serbia. While Russia suffered a humiliating 5–0 defeat away in Belgrade, Turkey also lost 2–0 to the Hungarians. That meant Turkey and Serbia were tied on points, but Turkey were relegated after they lost the head-to-head away goals tiebreaker, 2–0. Such an outcome also meant Turkey would have to fight to get a direct Qatar 2022 ticket as play-off qualification appeared slim with their relegation, in which the 2022 World Cup qualifiers that started in March 2021.

Turkey had the honor of opening the Euro 2021 finals, but with Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne scoring, Turkey fell 3–0 to Italy. Roberto Mancini's side had been frustrated by Turkey's defensive approach in the first half but broke through in the 53rd minute when a hard-hit cross from Domenico Berardi flew in off Turkish defender Merih Demiral for an own goal. They went on to lose the next two games to both Switzerland and Wales, losing all three games alongside debutants North Macedonia.

In the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Turkey was drawn into Group G with the Netherlands, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia, and Gibraltar. After they finished second in their group behind the Netherlands, they entered the 2022 FIFA World Cup UEFA playoffs against Portugal but lost 3–1 in a game in which Burak Yılmaz missed a crucial penalty to equalise, so Turkey failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Afterwards, Yılmaz announced his international retirement.

2030s

Turkey is set to take part of the UEFA Euro 2032 having automatically qualified as co-host in October 2023 along with Italy who also automatically qualified as co-host.

Kit suppliers

Turkey's kit colors were home red kits and white away kits, manufactured by Adidas, from 1983 to 2002. Nike became the manufacturer in 2003. 17 years later, they switched their kit colors to white as the home kit and red as the away kit until 2026 (ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifying play-offs) when red became the home kit and white became the away kit again.

Rivalries

Turkey has developed several notable rivalries, the most well-known being Croatia and Greece.

Turkey and Croatia have played each other nine times, with their first encounter at Euro 1996; where both countries made their debuts in the opening match, which Croatia won 1–0. In Euro 2008, Turkey won on penalties after a 1–1 deadlock. The two teams faced each other in the 2012 Euro qualifying play-offs, with Croatia winning 3–0 in the first-leg in Istanbul, and advancing to the tournament finals following a 0–0 draw in the second-leg. The two teams faced each other once again in a European competition at Euro 2016, playing in the opening match of Group D, with Croatia winning 1–0. Only three months after the Euros, the two teams played in their opening match in Group I of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying, which finished 1–1. Exactly one year later, Turkey won the reverse fixture 1–0 at home, which played a key part in both countries' qualifying campaigns, although Turkey would not qualify for the World Cup while Croatia would finish runners-up behind France. Turkey and Croatia would again face each other during the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, where Turkey managed to shock Croatia with a 1–0 win away as the Turks managed to top the table of a qualification group for the first time in their history, whereas Croatia, despite a 2–0 away win earlier to Turkey, had struggled with a rather poor performance and only managed to qualify at the last hurdle.

Turkey also has a historical rivalry with Greece. Playing 14 times, Turkey won eight matches, drew thrice, and lost only three games. Both countries have been described as "punching above their weight", with Greece winning Euro 2004 after being classified as underdogs before the competition, and Turkey advancing to the semi-finals of Euro 2008, where they were knocked out by Germany. Due to tension between the two countries and the dispute over Cyprus, coupled with several incidents occurring during matches between Turkish and Greek clubs, it has been described as one of the biggest international football rivalries.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of Turkey's match results in the last twelve months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Win

Draw

Loss

Fixture

Coaching staff

As of 1 August 2025

Players

Current squad

The following 26 players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Caps and goals are correct as of 25 June 2026, after the match against the United States.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the team within the last twelve months.

Player records

As of 25 June 2026

Players in bold are still active with the Turkey national team.

Centuriate goals

As of 18 November 2025.

Competitive record

Olympic Games

For 1968–1988 see this page. Football at the Summer Olympics has been an under-23 tournament since 1992.

Head-to-head record

The following table shows Turkey's all-time international record, as of 25 June 2026.

Positive record

Neutral record

Negative record

Honours

Global

FIFA World Cup

Third place (1): 2002

FIFA Confederations Cup

Third place (1): 2003

Continental

UEFA European Championship

Semi-finalist: 2008

Regional

Balkan Cup

Runners-up (1): 1931

Mediterranean Cup

Runners-up (1): 1949

Islamic Games

Silver medal (1): 1980

Friendly

ECO Cup

Champions (3): 1967, 1969, 1974

Runners-up (2): 1965, 1970

Decoration

In 2002, the national team was honored with the Turkish "State Medal of Distinguished Service" for their third place achievement at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. All the team members, coaches and officials were given medals.