# Turkey national rugby league team

The Turkey national rugby league team represents Turkey in international rugby league. The team played their first match in 2018.

## History

The Turkish Rugby League Association was founded in 2016, however the team didn't play their first match until two years later. The side made their competition debut at the 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship in Sydney, defeating the Solomon Islands 30–22 in their first ever match. The team also beat Japan 60–0, qualifying them for the tournament's trophy stage. Here, they lost to the Philippines 29–16 in the semi-final before beating Vanuatu 27–26, winning thanks to a field goal from Adem Baskonyali and claiming seventh place at their inaugural competition.
In 2019, the team played their first match in Turkey, losing to Greece 38–24 at the Aysekadin Yerleskesi Futbol Stadium in Istanbul. They also lost to Malta 28–12 six weeks after.

## Competitive record
### Overall

Below is table of the official representative rugby league matches played by Turkey at test level up until 25 September 2022:
| Opponent | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Win % | For | Aga | Diff |
| Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 38 | 16 | +22 |
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 24 | 38 | -14 |
| Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 60 | 0 | +60 |
| Malta | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50% | 48 | 40 | +8 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 18 | 40 | −22 |
| Philippines | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 16 | 29 | −13 |
| Solomon Islands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 30 | 22 | +8 |
| Vanuatu | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 27 | 26 | +1 |
| Total | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 56% | 261 | 211 | +50 |

## Competitions

* 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship
* 2021 Rugby League European Championship D

### Results

| Year | Date | Result | Venue | City | Attendance | Competition |
| 2018 | 1 October | Turkey defeated Solomon Islands 30–22 | Windsor Sporting Complex, Windsor | Sydney, Australia | 750 | 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship |
| 2018 | 4 October | Turkey defeated Japan 60–0 | St. Marys Leagues Stadium, St. Marys | Sydney, Australia | 500 | 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship |
| 2018 | 10 October | Philippines defeated Turkey 29–16 | New Era Stadium, Cabramatta | Sydney, Australia | 450 | 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship Trophy play-off |
| 2018 | 13 October | Turkey defeated Vanuatu 27–26 | St. Marys Leagues Stadium, St. Marys | Sydney, Australia | 250 | 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship 7th place |
| 2019 | 14 September | Greece defeated Turkey 38–24 | Aysekadin Yerleskesi Futbol Stadium | Istanbul, Turkey | 150 | International |
| 2019 | 26 October | Malta defeated Turkey 28–12 | New Era Stadium, Cabramatta | Sydney, Australia | 600 | International |
| 2021 | 25 April | Australian Defence Force defeated Turkey 46–0 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Moore Park | Sydney, Australia | | International |
| 2021 | 14 October | Netherlands defeated Turkey 40–18 | Huseyin Akar Tesisleri Stadium | Bodrum | 500 | 2021 European D Championship |
| 2021 | 17 October | Turkey defeated Malta 36–12 | Huseyin Akar Tesisleri Stadium | Bodrum | | 2021 European D Championship |
| 2022 | 25 September | Turkey defeated Bulgaria 38–16 | | | | International |

## IRL Rankings

IRL Men's World Rankingsvte :
| Official rankings as of December 2024 ||||
| Rank | Change | Team | Pts % |
| 1 | | Australia | 100 |
| 2 | | New Zealand | 86 |
| 3 | | England | 84 |
| 4 | 1 | Tonga | 63 |
| 5 | 1 | Samoa | 54 |
| 6 | 1 | Papua New Guinea | 53 |
| 7 | 1 | Fiji | 44 |
| 8 | | France | 30 |
| 9 | 2 | Serbia | 23 |
| 10 | | Cook Islands | 22 |
| 11 | 1 | Netherlands | 22 |
| 12 | 5 | Wales | 18 |
| 13 | 2 | Malta | 17 |
| 14 | 6 | Ukraine | 13 |
| 15 | 1 | Greece | 12 |
| 16 | 7 | Lebanon | 12 |
| 17 | 4 | Italy | 11 |
| 18 | 2 | Ireland | 9 |
| 19 | 1 | Jamaica | 8 |
| 20 | 1 | Czech Republic | 8 |
| 21 | 2 | Chile | 8 |
| 22 | 3 | Scotland | 7 |
| 23 | 4 | Philippines | 7 |
| 24 | 7 | United States | 7 |
| 25 | 1 | Poland | 5 |
| 26 | 2 | South Africa | 5 |
| 27 | 5 | Germany | 5 |
| 28 | 3 | Norway | 5 |
| 29 | 4 | Brazil | 4 |
| 30 | 4 | Kenya | 4 |
| 31 | 10 | Canada | 4 |
| 32 | | Montenegro | 4 |
| 33 | 2 | North Macedonia | 3 |
| 34 | 15 | Argentina | 3 |
| 35 | 5 | Albania | 2 |
| 36 | | Bulgaria | 2 |
| 37 | 7 | Ghana | 2 |
| 38 | 9 | Nigeria | 2 |
| 39 | 5 | Turkey | 1 |
| 40 | 3 | Cameroon | 1 |
| 41 | 2 | Japan | 1 |
| 42 | 4 | Spain | 1 |
| 43 | 1 | Colombia | 1 |
| 44 | 1 | El Salvador | 0 |
| 45 | | Russia | 0 |
| 46 | 1 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0 |
| 47 | 3 | Hong Kong | 0 |
| 48 | 3 | Solomon Islands | 0 |
| 49 | 8 | Vanuatu | 0 |
| 50 | | Niue | 0 |
| 51 | 1 | Latvia | 0 |
| 52 | 2 | Denmark | 0 |
| 53 | 2 | Belgium | 0 |
| 54 | 4 | Estonia | 0 |
| 55 | 9 | Sweden | 0 |
| 56 | 12 | Morocco | 0 |
| 57 | 9 | Hungary | 0 |
| Complete rankings at INTRL.SPORT ||||