15 Best Turkish Players Playing In Europe (Ranked)

Turkey's football reputation has seen a significant boost in the 21st century due to impressive performances at major international tournaments. Players like Emre Belozoglu, Tuncay Sanli and Nuri Sahin made names for themselves in top European leagues. The Premier League has been the stage for some of the greatest Turkish talents in the modern era.

Once considered the whipping boys of international football , Turkey held an embarrassing position on the world stage. It has been a different story since the turn of the century. The national side's impressive performances at Euro 2000 and a third-place finish in the World Cup two years later propelled a proud footballing nation back among the elite.



Domestic giants Galatasaray underscored Turkey's rise with victory in the 2000 UEFA Cup final over Arsenal three months before defeating Real Madrid in the European Super Cup. Turkey have waned since finishing third at Euro 2008 but Arda Guler, the teenage prodigy snapped up by Real Madrid in the summer of 2023, offers hope for the future. Here are the legendary figures that the next generation has to live up to.

International career - Players of Turkish descent who have opted to play for other nations have been omitted from the list. Club career - Individuals are rewarded for thriving at the elite level, be that for Turkish clubs in European competitions or with the continent's best teams. Longevity - Getting to the top of the game is one thing, but staying there is all the more impressive.

Greatest Turkish Players in History Rank Player Career Span 1. Tugay Kerimoglu 1987 - 2009 2. Arda Turan 2005 - 2022 3.

Metin Oktay 1955 - 1968 4. Bulent Korkmaz 1990 - 2005 5. Nihat Kahveci 1997 - 2011 6.

Hakan Sukur 1987 - 2008 7. Rustu Recber 1988 - 2012 8. Hamit Altintop 2000 - 2018 9.

Lefter Kucukandonyadis 1948 - 1963 10. Sergen Yalcin 1993 - 2003 11. Hakan Calhanoglu 2011 - Present 12.

Yildiray Basturk 1996 - 2010 13. Nuri Sahin 2005 - 2021 14. Tuncay Sanli 2000 - 2015 15.

Emre Belozoglu 1996 - 2011 15 Emre Belozoglu Emre Belozoglu emerged from Galatasaray's famed youth system at the turn of the 20th century, prompting heads to turn with a string of combative and commanding performances. Italian giants Inter Milan snapped Emre up in 2001 for £5m. After four seasons in and out of Inter's team, the diminutive midfielder joined Premier League side Newcastle United with one Italian Cup to his name.

Emre was a dead-ball specialist and playmaker, but his fiery temper constantly got him into trouble. Controversy clouds a career that earned him a century of international appearances - only three players have racked up more caps for Turkey. International Career Turkey Caps 101 Turkey Goals 9 Turkey Assists 12 14 Tuncay Sanli Celebrated in Turkey, Tuncay Sanli was a bit of a journeyman footballer in Europe's elite leagues.

After an adjustment period, he enjoyed a fruitful spell in England for Middlesbrough under current England coach Gareth Southgate before turning out at Stoke City, Bolton Wanderers and in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg. Tuncay's revered reputation was earned chiefly through his success on home soil with Fenerbahce, where he won three Super Lig titles in four years. The Turkish winger was nicknamed "Cesur Yurek" - "Brave Heart" - because of his never-say-die attitude and effort during matches.

Even Galatasaray fans respected the player despite his legendary status for their fearsome rivals. International Career Turkey Caps 79 Turkey Goals 22 Turkey Assists 15 13 Nuri Sahin A player with immense talent but constant injuries, Nuri Sahin never reached the heights expected despite playing for some of the biggest clubs in football. According to the Step to Health website, a player will play roughly 70 games during a season.

However, once the player reaches a certain age, that number reduces drastically due to the number of games, the importance placed on competitions, and a player's fitness. Consequently, a career spanning two decades would mean a player could play between 800 and 1000 games for club and country. Sahin could only muster 480, racking up 40 goals and 72 assists .

Sahin's best performances came at Borussia Dortmund, where he won the Bundesliga in 2011. The following season, he won the La Liga title with Real Madrid. Unfortunately for the German-born Turkish midfielder, he only made four appearances for Los Blancos.

The following campaign wasn't much different. Sahin played seven games during a pricey loan spell at Liverpool . Eventually, the player called it a day at the end of 2021, aged 33.

International Career Turkey Caps 52 Turkey Goals 2 Turkey Assists 3 12 Yildiray Basturk In footballing terms, Yildiray Basturk was somewhat of a late bloomer. Another one of Turkey's German-born talents, he went under the radar for a long time. It all changed after his performances for Bayer Leverkusen during the 2001/02 season.

Basturk played a pivotal role in Leverkusen's run to the Champions League final - remembered for Zinedine Zidane's spectacular volley. The 5ft 6' midfielder took his form into the 2002 World Cup in South Korea, where he started every game on the way to a third-place finish. Although he never won a title - the only player on the list to have such an unfortunate feat - he was still highly talented among his generation of players International Career Turkey Caps 49 Turkey Goals 2 Turkey Assists 5 11 Hakan Calhanoglu Hakan Calhanoglu is widely considered to be Turkey's best active player, and rightfully so.

Another one of the German-born stars, he captains the national side and plays a vital role in the Inter Milan midfield. Calhanoglu almost became the first Turk to win the Champions League in 2023, when Inter finished as runners-up to Manchester City . It would have been even more special for the 29-year-old to achieve such a feat in Istanbul, where the final was held.

Inter bounced back from that heartache by romping to the Serie A title in 2024. On what was a particularly sweet night for the former AC Milan midfielder, Calhanoglu's side secured their 20th league crown with a victory against their city rivals . International Career Turkey Caps 90 Turkey Goals 19 Turkey Assists 15 10 Sergen Yalcin Before his glory days as a coach, Sergen Yalcin is first and foremost one of the great legends of Turkish football.

The famous attacking midfielder also has the distinction of being one of the few players to have played for each of the teams in Turkey's Big Three, namely Istanbul rivals Galatasaray, Besiktas and Fenerbahce. And while he has never played outside his homeland, everyone agrees that his fate would have been similar, if not more incredible, if he had gone to play in England or Italy. But no one will ever know.

And that's another part of his legend. International Career Turkey Caps 41 Turkey Goals 5 Turkey Assists 10 9 Lefter Kucukandonyadis Lefter Kucukandonyadis will go down in history as the first Turkish player to play for a foreign club. After leaving Galatasaray in 1951, he joined Fiorentina and then OGC Nice, before returning to Cimbom, where he scored over 400 goals in some 600 games.

At the very end of his career, the man whose Greek origins are reflected in his surname decided to play - and later coach - in his parents' homeland, joining AEK Athens. At international level, however, it was the colours of Turkey that Kucukandonyadis defended, donning them on 46 occasions - scoring 21 goals in the process. International Career Turkey Caps 46 Turkey Goals 21 8 Hamit Altintop Hamit Altintop, which translates into English as "Golden Ball", is one of two brothers who played for Turkey.

Altintop (and his younger brother Halil) was another player of Turkish descent to be born in Germany, conducting the majority of his career in the Bundesliga . The elder Altintop brother spent four seasons playing for his hometown club Schalke 04, before doing what all good players in Germany seem to do, signing for Bayern Munich. After four years in Bavaria, Altintop joined Real Madrid.

Unsurprisingly, the Turkish midfielder got very little playing time during the 2012/13 season, with the likes of Xabi Alonso, Lassana Diarra, Mesut Ozil, Kaka, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo making up the bulk of the team. That he was even snapped up by the Spanish giants, highlights his abundant talent. International Career Turkey Caps 84 Turkey Goals 7 Turkey Assists 14 7 Rustu Recber In the early 2000s, Rustu Recber was one of the most sought-after goalkeepers in the game.

He had just enjoyed a marvellous World Cup in 2002 - Turkey finished third - and his contract at Fenerbahce had ended. The Turkish keeper joined Barcelona, rejecting both Arsenal and Manchester United . Unfortunately for the Recber, La Liga had a non-European quota for domestic competitions which limited his involvement to just seven appearances.

Although Recber's time at Barcelona lasted just one mediocre season, he is the country's greatest goalkeeper of all time. The Turkish shot-stopper played a record 120 games for his country and conceded less than a goal a game during his club career. International Career Turkey Caps 120 Turkey Goals Conceded 117 Turkey Clean Sheets 57 6 Hakan Sukur The greatest goalscorer in Turkish football, Hakan Sukur racked up an impressive 326 goals and provided 124 assists in 713 games in his domestic career.

During Galatasaray's victorious European campaign in 1999/2000, the lanky striker scored four times in the Champions League group stages, which helped the Turkish side to finish third. This meant Galatasaray dropped into the UEFA Cup, where Sukur scored another six goals, including a stunning effort against Leeds United. After the completion of the season, Sukur got his big move to Inter Milan, where he scored a few goals but never got a regular start.

The Turkish striker was an understudy for Christian Vieri and the Brazilian Ronaldo. From Inter, Sukur went on loan to Parma before getting a transfer to Blackburn Rovers. His time in the Premier League didn't last long, and he soon ended up back at Galatasaray.

Sukur cemented his place in the annals of history as the club's all-time leading scorer. His total of 249 goals still stands to this day. GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Hakan Sukur holds the record for the fastest goal in World Cup history with his strike after 11 seconds against South Korea in the 2002 third-place playoff.

International Career Turkey Caps 112 Turkey Goals 51 Turkey Assists 20 5 Nihat Kahveci Nihat Kahveci is one of a handful of Turkish players born in Turkey to start their career at a Turkish club but play more games in one of Europe's top four leagues. The prolific traveller scored 75 goals in 195 appearances in La Liga for Real Sociedad and Villarreal. In the 2002/03 season, Nihat racked up 23 goals for La Real - a tally good enough to finish second in the top scorer chart behind Roy Makaay (29 goals).

Kahveci's goals propelled Real Sociedad to second in the league, a narrow two points behind Real Madrid's revered 'Galactico' side, which included some of the greatest players in the history of the sport . International Career Turkey Caps 69 Turkey Goals 19 Turkey Assists 12 4 Bulent Korkmaz Like Francesco Totti at AS Roma, Bulent Korkmaz owes part of his reputation to the fact that, over the course of his long career, he has worn the colours of just one club: Galatasaray. The centre-back, who won the bronze medal at the 2002 World Cup, played more than 600 games for the Cimbom club, including helping them win the UEFA Cup and the European Supercup in the 1999/2000 season.

A veritable monument of the Turkish footballing landscape, he was even offered the chance to have his number 3 jersey retired by the directors of his lifelong club as a tribute to him. This was refused by the player himself, who preferred to leave the club without a special jubilee. International Career Turkey Caps 102 Turkey Goals 2 Turkey Assists 0 3 Metin Oktay A footballer who built his reputation over the 1950s and 1960s, it is not without reason that Metin Oktay has been dubbed the ‘king without a crown’.

An outstanding centre-forward, he is also the Turkish league's top scorer with six titles to his name. A fantastic record, to which should also be added the ten collective trophies he won with Galatasaray, where he played in over 300 matches - he also played for Izmirspor (where he finished top scorer in the second division) and Palermo in Italy. Selected 36 times for his country, he also scored 19 goals and wore the captain's armband on several occasions.

International Career Turkey Caps 36 Turkey Goals 19 2 Arda Turan Arda Turan is arguably the most famous Turk to play for one of the footballing giants. Turan spent six seasons in Spain. Four were at Atletico Madrid, where he won the Europa League and a La Liga title.

He followed those trophies with another domestic crown, this time with Barcelona after joining the Catalan club in 2015. Unfortunately for Turan, his poor anger management impacted his choices. The prolific Turkey international got a suspended three-year sentence for firing a gun at a hospital while on loan at Istanbul Basaksehir from Barcelona.

Another bizarre incident occurred while he was playing for Atletico against the Catalan club shortly before he moved to the Blaugrana. Overcome by a wave of frustration, Turan launched his boot in the direction of the assistant referee. Between the clouds of red mist, he was a great talent.

International Career Turkey Caps 100 Turkey Goals 16 Turkey Assists 25 1 Tugay Kerimoglu Tugay Kerimoglu was a master with the ball at his feet. His intricate touches, passing and ferocious right foot made him a fan's favourite wherever he played. A Galatasaray youth product, Tugay was instrumental in the club's UEFA Cup success in 2000.

The battling midfielder's performances had gotten the attention of Rangers, who bought the player during the January transfer window. A season-and-a-half later, Tugay was on his way to Blackburn Rovers, where he would spend eight years and earn the nickname "The Turkish Delight" with spell-binding displays despite regularly smoking . During a post-match chat with Sir Alex Ferguson , Mark Hughes suggested that Tugay would be playing for Manchester United if he was 10 years younger.

Sir Alex did not agree but went further by saying he was a one-off and could play for any team in the world. Blackburn and Galatasaray were blessed with his talent and both sets of supporters lauded him as a legend. International Career Turkey Caps 94 Turkey Goals 2 Turkey Assists 5 Data via TransferMarkt .

Correct as of 04/09/2024.