Why can’t Turkey qualify for the World Cup?
With so much political, social, and financial capital invested in its national squad, why can’t Turkey qualify for a World Cup? Continue reading Why can’t Turkey qualify for the World Cup?
Tag: Fenerbahçe
Election day for a beleaguered Turkish soccer power
Fenerbahce is widely considered Turkey’s wealthiest, most politically important club, with millions of fans and a history of success. But the team is beleaguered, on and off the field. Can a challenger unseat the club’s powerful president? Continue reading Election day for a beleaguered Turkish soccer power
Understanding authoritarianism through soccer
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was once an athlete. Now, he uses sport for his own purposes—even as fans use it to express dissent. Continue reading Understanding authoritarianism through soccer
Love songs of Turkish football
There is often also a poetic intensity to the love expressed in Turkish football songs. Many are suffused with longing and infatuation. Continue reading Love songs of Turkish football
Dinamo Mesken: Turkish Football as a Political Football
IN “DINAMO MESKEN,” a multimedia exhibition at Ankara’s SALT Ulus gallery, Turkish artist Ege Berensel tells the story of an amateur football club dragged into Turkey’s political turmoil of the late 1970s. Armed groups of the left and right fought and killed one another. The escalating conflict brought military repression and a traumatic denouement. Berensel’s research, carried out over more than five years and displayed … Continue reading Dinamo Mesken: Turkish Football as a Political Football
Could Turkish football collapse?
ISTANBUL – Five minutes before kick-off, Deniz Dogruer was nervous. Her beloved Galatasaray – one of Turkey’s most successful football teams – was about to take on Caykur Rizespor in the Turkish Super Lig. Despite their opponents’ low ranking, Galatasaray were beset by injuries and Dogruer anticipated a tough contest. But her nerves were misplaced – within seven minutes, Galatasaray’s star player Wesley Sneijder had … Continue reading Could Turkish football collapse?
Writing by Patrick Keddie 