Overview of My First Season Playing Soccer in Turkey as an American

I’m currently sitting on an 11-hour flight to İstanbul, which seems like the perfect time to reflect on my last season playing soccer in Turkey as an American.

During the 21/22 winter transfer, I changed from U Olímpia Cluj in Romania to the Turkish Super Lig team Karadeniz Ereğli Belediyespor.

I played with Karadeniz for the remaining 3 months of the season before enjoying some rest, travel, and finally time at home.

Well, now I’m coming back!

Let’s dive into the ins and outs of my first season playing soccer in Turkey as an American and why I decided to go back.

The Country

Having played in northwest Germany, Romania, and now Turkey, Turkey is my favorite country thus far. I’ve also had the opportunity to previously travel to Greece, İtlay, Spain, Finland, and Norway, and I can still say I thoroughly enjoy Turkey and rank it high on the list.

It’s a beautiful country with a lot to offer. There are beaches on the Black Sea in the North, the Mediterranean Sea in the south, or the Aegean sea along the east coast. You can also find plenty of mountains and great scenery, not to mention some incredible cities.

I highly enjoy the country and look forward to exploring more of it during off time. Day to day, people generally keep to themselves but are kind enough.

Safety

Before I go too far into the playing aspect, I want to address safety. A lot of Americans have preconceived notions of Turkey and what it’s like. I hear a lot of concerns about playing soccer in Turkey as an American, and I had some myself before coming.

The truth is, no matter where I go as a black American female, I’m cautious. I reached out to another Black player from the UK before going, to get a sense of her experience.

When it comes down to it, every country and city has its more dangerous areas. You should research the area beforehand, ask others for their experience, and always be aware. Don’t explore alone, respect the culture, etc

Aside from the normal safety protocol and worries, I had no negative experiences with safety. I felt safe where I lived and was able to get very helpful advice from my teammates. When exploring Istanbul, my teammate and I also felt safe and did not have any worrisome encounters.

Culture

I do think it’s important to note your own open-mindedness when evaluating safety. Turkey has a primarily Muslim population. Culturally, you will experience differences and you may sometimes feel out of place if coming from western culture. But this is my experience in several countries.

My best advice is to do your research but proceed with an open mind. It’s invaluable to experience and live in other cultures. You’ll appreciate some things about your own, learn some new things you want to take with you, and broaden your worldview.

League Set Up

For the 2021/22 Kadın Süper Lig season, there were two groups, A and B. I don’t know how these groups were set up, but each seemed to have a similar mix of quality.

My team was in group A. Of the 24 teams, 8 make the playoffs. 4 from A and 4 from B. The winner of the playoffs is the champion who will participate in the Champions League.

The bottom 8 do a play-out mini tournament to see who gets relegated and who remained in the first league.

While our schedule isn’t released. I previously heard we’d now only have 1 group, but now I’m hearing it’ll be 2 groups of 9 or 10.

How Did We Do?

My team was a mid-table team. We had our ups and downs throughout the season, but by no means did we struggle overall.

We finished 6th, exactly in the middle of our 12-team group. The ending of the season felt disappointing because we had at one time climbed to third. To finish out of a playoff spot after being so close and to lose some games we shouldn’t have near the end hurt, but overall we had a respectable season. I do think the end result may have been different if we’d had our complete team together since the beginning of the season.

Competition

I was pleasantly surprised by the level of competition in Turkey. Most games were quite close and could go either way at any time.

As a mid-table team, we had a good mix of very hard, competitive, and easier games. Í felt fairly challenged during the games and enjoyed the level of play.

Style of Play

For me personally, Turkey’s style of play was a good match. But I could see it not being the correct fit for everyone.

When playing overseas (or anywhere really) your quality is not all that matters. Fit with the league and team style are also very important.

The style of Play in Turkey is fairly direct and physical. The higher-level teams definitely possess a bit more and play out of the back in league games, but it’s not to the technical or tactical level of some other leagues.

That being said, athletic, physical, and direct players do very well there. As a center-back, I had a lot of opportunities to showcase my speed and defensive tenacity. I enjoyed the physical challenges and found the style similar to D1 college soccer (but the level more difficult).

Pay

Based on my own experience and speaking with friends, the pay overall in Turkey is quite good compared to many others.

Of course, an exact salary will depend on your position, experience, quality, team budget, negotiation, etc.

Travel

In my first season, we only had one far game that was about 8 hours away. Most of the rest were in Istanbul, 4 hours away. And a couple of others were in other cities still around 4 hours away.

We took a coach bus to all of the games. Aside from the one long trip, most were fine. We’d leave the day before in the late morning and arrive by dinner time.

Given that the structure of the league may change, we could play more teams from all over. I’m not sure how this will impact travel.

Do I Recommend Playing Soccer in Turkey as an American?

During my first experience playing soccer in Turkey as an American, enjoyed my first half-season in Turkey (clearly enough to come back for a full one). Therefore, I would generally recommend considering playing there.

However, you’ll have to evaluate your own circumstances including your playing style and connections.

Overall, I’m looking forward to getting back on the pitch for a full season in Turkey. I’m hoping we can develop an even stronger team and fight for a playoff spot. Of course, I’ll also be looking to see more of this beautiful country in my off time!