Turkey Sports – The Most Popular Sports in Turkey
Wondering what sports the Turkish like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in Turkey in this post. ⚽️
The Most Popular Turkish Sports
Find below Turkey national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Football |
| 2 | Basketball |
| 3 | Volleyball |
| 4 | Handball |
| 5 | Athletics |
| 6 | Wrestling |
| 7 | Boxing |
| 8 | Motorsports |
| 9 | Judo |
So there you have them, the most popular sports played in Turkey! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Turkey.
What is the National Sport of Turkey?
The national sport of Turkey is oil wrestling. Oil wrestling, or grease wrestling, is a sport in which oil-covered fighters try to grab each other. Obviously, the oil makes it a whole lot harder, and this sport requires strength and mastery.
While not official, it is the national and ancestral sport of Turkey. It was first practiced 4,500 years ago.
Learn More About Turkey Popular Sports
Turkey is a transcontinental country located between Europe and Asia. It is bordered by Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Its capital city is Ankara, which counts more than 5,663,000 inhabitants.
An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its most popular sports. In light of that, I have listed all of Turkey’s popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
Football
The most popular sport in Turkey is, by far and away, football.
Football has historically always been popular in Turkey, and it still is today, but its popularity rapidly grew after the 2002 FIFA World Cup, when the national football team was ranked 3rd, its best performance by far. On top of that, national clubs like Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, and Galatasaray, are widely followed in the country.
But it is not over, since the sport keeps growing in the country, and many players are both imported and exported, as the Süper Lig is getting renowned.
Famous Turkish Football players: Hakan Şükür, Burak Yılmaz, Rüştü Reçber, Arda Turan, Emre Belözoğlu, Metin Oktay, Lefter Küçükandonyadis, Tugay Kerimoğlu, Tuncay Şanlı, Alpay Özalan, Volkan Demirel, Tanju Çolak, Bülent Korkmaz, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Nihat Kahveci
Basketball
The second most popular sport in Turkey is basketball.
Basketball is yet another very popular and growing sport in Turkey. Similar to football, the Turkish national basketball team made history in 2001, by reaching the second place at the European Basketball Championship in Istanbul. In 2002, they came in ninth at the FIBA World Cup. Since then, the sport has only been growing more and moreover the decades.
The most successful local clubs are Fenerbahçe S.K. and Anadolu Efes S.K., the latter having won the 2021 Euroleague.
Famous Turkish Basketball players: Ersan İlyasova, Hidayet Türkoğlu, Enes Kanter, Ömer Aşık, Semih Erden, Furkan Korkmaz, Mehmet Okur, İbrahim Kutluay, Furkan Aldemir, Mirsad Türkcan
Volleyball
The third most popular sport in Turkey is volleyball.
When it comes to the competitive scene, volleyball in Turkey is mostly popular amongst women. They finished sixth at the 2010 FIVB World Championship, and third at the 2011 European Volleyball Championship. They are definitely the main reason for the sport to be this popular, but volleyball is also appreciated among the youth.
Local clubs like Vakıfbank have seen worldwide success, and there is also a men’s national beach volleyball team.
Famous Turkish Volleyball players: Bahar Toksoy, Büşra Cansu, Eda Erdem Dündar, Esra Gümüş, Gizem Güreşen, Gözde Kırdar Sonsırma, Gülden Kayalar Kuzubaşıoğlu, Naz Aydemir
Handball
The fourth most popular sport in Turkey is handball.
The most notorious Turkish handball player is definitely Yeliz Özel. She is widely considered the best handball player ever from the country.
There is a national handball league, the Turkish Handball Super League, which features 12 teams, and was founded in 1982. In the past years, it was Beşiktaş that largely dominated the league, winning 13 titles in 15 years, from 2005 to 2019. Spor Toto SK reclaimed the throne in 2021 nonetheless.
Famous Turkish Handball players: Ramazan Döne, Hikmet Vurgun, Doruk Pehlivan, Merve Adıyaman, Olha Vashchuk, Sevilay İmamoğlu Öcal, Sibel Karameke, Serpil Çapar, Fatma Ay
Athletics
The fifth most popular sport in Turkey is athletics.
The sport is quickly improving in the country. While Turkey used to struggle to show up on the international stage, some of its track and field runners will forever be remembered now. For instance, Süreyya Ayhan set the 1500m world record in 2003, and a year after Elvan Abeylegesse did the same in the 5000m discipline.
On top of that, Ramil Guliyev was the second white athlete in history to win a gold medal in the men’s 200m race at the 2017 World Championships.
Famous Turkish Athletics players: Georgios Orphanidis, Ayla Erduran, Ruhi Sarıalp, Nurcan Taylan, Süreyya Ayhan, Nur Tatar, Aslı Çakır Alptekin, Nevin Yanıt, Sibel Özkan, Gamze Bulut
Wrestling
The sixth most popular sport in Turkey is wrestling.
You already know about the national sport in Turkey, oil wrestling, and wrestling as a whole is very popular in the country. It is considered an ancestral sport, and its most important representation is definitely the major oil wrestling tournament, the Kırkpınar tournament.
The other variants of wrestling in Turkey are folk wrestling, Olympic wrestling, and Greco-Roman wrestling. There is in fact also a professional wrestling promotion, Turkish Power Wrestling. It was established in 2010.
Famous Turkish Wrestling players: Bayram Şit, Hamit Kaplan, Mustafa Dağıstanlı, Yaşar Doğu, Mithat Bayrak, Tevfik Kış, Taha Akgül, Hamza Yerlikaya, Rıza Kayaalp, Şeref Eroğlu
Boxing
The seventh most popular sport in Turkey is boxing. Fighting sports are on the rise all around the world, and Turkey likes boxing on top of wrestling.
The governing body of boxing in Turkey is the Turkish Boxing Federation. It dates back to 1924, and its headquarters are located in the capital Ankara. It oversees everything related to boxing, including tournaments and championships. It has been independent of the Turkish Wrestling Federation since 1942. A notorious Turkish boxer is Melih Açba, who became Golden Gloves in the United States in 1940.
Famous Turkish Boxing players: Selçuk Aydın, Avni Yıldırım, Sinan Şamil Sam, Gülsüm Tatar, Selma Yağcı, Adem Kılıççı, Nurhayat Hiçyakmazer, Aghasi Mammadov, Ramazan Paliani
Motorsports
The eighth most popular sport in Turkey is motorsports.
Similar to several other sports on this list, motorsports’ popularity has risen in the past few years, and it only continues to grow. Ever since the Rally of Turkey was included in the FIA World in 2003 and the Turkish Grand Prix was added to the Formula One racing calendar, many Turkish people know about motorsports. There is also the MotoGP Grand Prix of Turkey and the FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Famous Turkish Motorsports players: Can Artam, Cem Bölükbaşı, Ayhancan Güven, Ibrahim Okyay, Mert Aytuğ, Mümtaz Tahincioğlu, Jason Tahincioğlu, Salih Yoluç, Erkut Kızılırmak
Judo
The ninth and last most popular sport in Turkey is judo. The last sport on this list is another fighting sport. One of the major judo clubs in the country is Galatasaray Judo.
This club was established in 1984 and is part of the national league, the Turkish Judo Championship. It won various gold medals, including the İstanbul Championship, the Turkish Judo Team Championship, and the European Judo Club Championships. A member of the team, Majlinda Kelmendi, became the first Kosovan athlete to win a gold medal at the Olympic games when she was a member of the team.
Famous Turkish Judo players: Kayra Sayit, Feyyaz Yazıcı, İlker Güldüren, Belkıs Zehra Kaya, Melisa Çakmaklı, Batuhan Efemgil, Dilara Lokmanhekim
So there you have them, these were all the most popular sports in Turkey. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today.
In case you want to learn more about sports in other countries, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:
More Sport Facts!
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