Women strive hard to stay alive in Turkish soccer league

The top two teams in the league are no surprise. Since the league resumed in 2006, the Ankara team won three titles, while the Trabzon team earned one last season. Attempting to reach the league summit, İzmir teams Konak Belediyesi and Bucaspor currently follow Trabzonspor in third and fourth place.

Stating that they are improving, Gazi Üniversitesispor coach Seçil Kutay told Sunday’s Zaman that they have made great progress as a team since the league was first established. Among other goals, the Ankara squad aims to take back the league title after relinquishing it for a year. “We want to complete the season on top displaying the best examples of fair play. We want to prove that women can manage to play soccer. As a university team, we also want to be a model for other universities [to establish and support women’s soccer teams]. We also would like to send players to the Turkish women’s national soccer team,” Kutay said.

Trabzonspor coach Abdulkadir Aslan stressed similar goals as their league objectives. Last year’s champion wants to repeat its success while upholding the values of Trabzonspor, retaining the spirit of fair play both on and off the soccer pitch and struggling to always  remain in top form.

Noting that they did not finish the first half of the season on top as they had intended, Aslan said they have lost one game so far, adding: “We won nine games out of 10. We wanted to finish the first half of the season as the leader, but it did not happen. We were defeated by Gazi Üniversitesispor 0-1.”

Only four years old in its current incarnation, the league does not consist of many experienced teams, and the struggle for the top is among a few teams, including Gazi Üniversitesispor and Trabzonspor. Noting that the league is divided into two in terms of the teams’ strength, Kutay of Gazi Üniversitesispor said there are weak teams and strong teams. “I can say four teams are strong teams while the others are weak,” he said.

Aslan of Trabzonspor is not as generous as Kutay, saying the Trabzon and Ankara teams are better than others in terms of both quality and players’ talent. “There are some teams with medium strength, while others are really weak,” he said. But Aslan attributes the current situation of women’s soccer to the relative infancy of the league. “Women’s soccer has been developing lately. The Turkish Soccer Federation [TFF] must broaden the sport to reach girls at schools. The infrastructure of women’s soccer must be strengthened,” he added.

Fan support not at the desired level

The league attempts to gain recognition in the country, where soccer is followed by millions and is the largest sport industry. However, soccer is overwhelmingly accepted as a male sport nationwide, and it is difficult to gain support for women’s teams. While the men’s teams have millions of euros to work with and can transfer famous players, women’s professional soccer currently is mostly about proving how well women can play the game. While men’s soccer games are followed by millions of people, thousands of them at the stadiums, women’s games are mostly watched by the relatives and friends of the players and technical teams.

“Unfortunately our students do not come to watch our games because we play the games in the Altındağ district [which is far from most of the university’s campuses]. Only friends and families of the players come to see the matches. We have few spectators,” Kutay said. He stated that they are hopeful about the future, saying more fans will begin following the sport as they gain success and market themselves.

Trabzonspor women’s soccer matches are also followed by few spectators, mostly the players’ friends and families. Noting that they play their matches at the Mehmet Ali Yılmaz Facilities where the Trabzonspor men’s soccer team, dubbed the fourth best team in Turkey, trains, Aslan said they are supported by the Trabzonspor administration and that they are content with fan support.

Success on the international platform attainable to a certain extent

Turkish women’s soccer’s first international competition was Trabzonspor’s participation in the 2009-10 UEFA Women’s Champions League. Playing in the qualifying round, the team failed to succeed in the cup.

Accepting that there are high-profile teams in Europe that they cannot defeat, the Gazi Üniversitesispor coach said it is too soon to expect success against Norwegian, Swedish, British or German teams. Their rivals are Central European and Balkan teams. The Trabzonspor coach also stated that they care about success on both the domestic and international stage.