Turkish National Football Team seeks historic success in Wales
The Turkish National Football Team, which will face Wales away this evening in the final week of the EURO 2024 Qualifiers Group D, will take the field to finish a group stage in first place for the first time in its history and qualify for a tournament as a group leader for the first time.
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Having already guaranteed its spot in EURO 2024, which will be hosted by Germany, Turkey will face Wales with the goal of securing the group lead. Turkey has previously appeared in the European Championship 5 times and the World Cup 2 times in its history. The Crescent-Stars were unable to qualify for any of these 7 tournaments as a group leader.
Heading into the final matches, Turkey sits 3 points ahead of second-placed Croatia, meaning even a single point will be enough to secure the group lead.
Turkey's 7 major tournaments
The national team appeared in the European Championship under the management of Fatih Terim in 1996, 2008, and 2016, Mustafa Denizli in 2000, and Şenol Güneş in 2020.
Although it earned the right to participate, Turkey could not attend the 1950 World Cup due to financial constraints, but competed in the 1954 and 2002 World Cups.
European Championship journey
EURO 1996
Turkey participated in the European Championship for the first time in 1996. The national team competed against Switzerland, Sweden, Hungary, and Iceland in the qualifying group.
The Crescent-Stars finished second with 15 points, behind group leader Switzerland with 17 points, and earned the right to participate in the tournament hosted by England.
EURO 2000
The National Team was in the same qualifying group as Germany, Finland, Northern Ireland, and Moldova for the 2000 European Championship. Collecting 17 points in 8 matches, Turkey finished the group stage in second place behind Germany, who had 19 points.
Turkey drew 1-1 away and 0-0 at home in the play-off matches against the Republic of Ireland, and qualified for EURO 2000, co-hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium, thanks to the away goals rule.
EURO 2008
The Crescent-Stars faced Greece, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Hungary, and Malta in the 2008 European Championship qualifying group.
They finished the group in second place with 24 points from 12 matches, and behind group leader Greece with 31 points, they qualified for EURO 2008, where they would eventually reach the semi-finals.
EURO 2016
To qualify for EURO 2016, Turkey faced the Czech Republic, Iceland, the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, and Latvia in the qualifying group stage.
After 10 matches, the national team finished 3rd with 18 points behind the Czech Republic and Iceland. Turkey earned the right to participate in the tournament hosted by France as the best 3rd-placed team across all groups.
EURO 2020
Turkey maintained its bid to qualify for the 2020 European Football Championship as a group leader until the final match, but France qualified for EURO 2020 as the group leader.
In the qualifying group, the Crescent-Stars competed against France, Iceland, Albania, Andorra, and Moldova. Turkey finished in second place, 2 points behind France with 25 points, and headed to EURO 2020.
World Cup
1954 World Cup
The Turkish National Team succeeded in qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in its history in 1954.
Matched against Spain on the road to the World Cup, Turkey lost the first match 4-1 but won the return leg 1-0. In that era, when goal difference did not apply, a third match was played on neutral ground in Rome. As this match also ended in a 2-2 draw, the national team earned the right to participate in the tournament following a draw conducted by a child named Franco, who was called from the stands.
2002 World Cup
The national team waited 48 years to experience the same excitement in the World Cup Finals once again.
Placed in Group 4 in the qualifiers to reach the finals co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, the national team played 10 matches under the management of coach Şenol Güneş. Facing Sweden, Slovakia, Macedonia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan in the qualifiers, the National Team finished second behind Sweden with 6 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss. With this result, Turkey earned the right to play in the play-offs and was matched against Austria. The national team defeated their opponent 1-0 away and won the return leg 5-0, earning the right to compete in the finals after a 48-year hiatus.