🇹🇷 Turkish Footballers in Europe: Arda Güler and His Generation in 2025–2026

سفير تركيا

سفير تركيا

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⚽ A Turkish Generation on Europe’s Footballing Stage

In December 2025, Turkish talent was attracting attention well beyond the domestic league. Madrid, Turin and Milan provided important stages for players whose club performances also raised hopes for the national team. This report retains the perspective of the first half of 2025–2026.

1️⃣ Arda Güler: An Increasing Role at Real Madrid

Arda Güler’s role at Real Madrid continued to grow. The club’s report of 26 December 2025 recorded his involvement in all 25 matches played to that point: 18 in LaLiga, six in the Champions League and one in the Copa del Rey. He started 15 league games, five European games and the cup fixture.

The report credited him with three goals and seven assists across all competitions, rather than five LaLiga goals. His involvement and chance creation encouraged Turkish supporters’ hopes for his national-team contribution, although club form alone could not guarantee qualification or success at a World Cup.

2️⃣ Kenan Yıldız: Juventus’s Number 10

Kenan Yıldız continued his development in the Juventus attack wearing the number 10 shirt, offering Türkiye a forward capable of moving and creating chances in different attacking positions. In the match against Pafos on 10 December 2025, he set up Jonathan David for the second goal in a 2–0 Juventus win.

That match belonged to Matchday 6 of the Champions League league phase, rather than a traditional group that Juventus had topped. Another member of Türkiye’s attacking pool was Kerem Aktürkoğlu. After his Benfica spell, Fenerbahçe announced his permanent transfer on 1 September 2025, on a four-year contract. He was therefore a Fenerbahçe player during the period discussed here.

3️⃣ Experienced Leaders and Further Attacking Options

Hakan Çalhanoğlu remained an important Inter player through his experience, technical quality and penalty-taking ability. His success rate was not 100%: Inter’s report of the derby played on 23 November 2025 records Mike Maignan saving his penalty in a 1–0 defeat. Describing someone as the world’s best penalty taker also requires a defined statistical period and criteria.

Bertuğ Yıldırım offered another attacking option for Türkiye. Başakşehir announced his arrival from Rennes on 12 September 2025, on a four-year deal. He was playing in Türkiye during this period, rather than Germany. The mix of emerging forwards and experienced leaders gave Vincenzo Montella, the national coach at that time, options ahead of the March 2026 World Cup play-offs.

4️⃣ What It Meant for “Bizim Çocuklar”

Experience abroad strengthened the hopes surrounding “Bizim Çocuklar”—“Our Boys”. The TFF’s December 2025 magazine, page 31, gives those hopes a clearer scale: Türkiye stood 25th in FIFA’s November ranking, with 1,582 points. A prediction of tenth place should not be presented as an official ranking.

The ambition at the end of 2025 was to end the long wait for another World Cup appearance and, ultimately, match or surpass Türkiye’s third-place finish in 2002. That remained a sporting aspiration, rather than an outcome guaranteed by club form or ranking forecasts.

This is a historical account of December 2025. Statistics, clubs and rankings refer to their stated dates and do not describe the current season.

💬 Which Turkish player do you most enjoy following, and what stands out about his game?



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