page_title: Turks in Germany
section_title: Football
hierarchical_section_title: Turks in Germany / Sports / Football
caption_attribution_description: English: FIFA Friendly Match Austria vs. Germay 2018/06/02 in Klagenfurt/Woerthersee. Picture shows Mesut Özil (GER). Deutsch: FIFA Freundschaftliches Spiel Österreich gegen Deutschland am 2. Juni 2018 in Klagenfurt. Bild zeigt Mesut Özil (GER).
context_page_description: Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans, are ethnic Turkish people living in Germany. These terms are also used to refer to German-born individuals who are of full or partial Turkish ancestry. Whilst the majority of Turks arrived or originate from Turkey, there are also significant ethnic Turkish communities living in Germany who come from Southeastern Europe, Cyprus, and more recently as refugees from Syria and Iraq. Turkish people form the largest ethnic minority in Germany. They also form the second largest Turkish population in the world, after Turkey.
  Turks who immigrated to Germany brought cultural elements with them, including the Turkish language and Islam. These cultural values are often passed down to their children and descendants, but German Turks are also increasingly secular. Moreover, greater German society has also been exposed to Turkish culture, particularly in regards to Turkish food and the arts.
context_section_description: Many football players of Turkish origin in Germany have been successful in first-division German and Turkish football clubs, as well as other European clubs. However, in regards to playing for national teams, many players of Turkish origin who were born in Germany have chosen to play for the Turkish national football team. This is partly due to Germany's strict rules on dual citizenship which forces German-Turks to choose whether to have German or Turkish citizenship by the age of 23 (in accordance with the German Citizenship Law of 1999). Nonetheless, in recent years there has been an increase in the number of players choosing to represent Germany.
  Those who have chosen to retain their Turkish citizenship and who have competed for Turkey include Cenk Tosun, Ceyhun Gülselam, Gökhan Töre, Hakan Balta, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Halil Altıntop, Hamit Altıntop, İlhan Mansız, Nuri Şahin, Ogün Temizkanoğlu, Olcay Şahan, Mehmet Ekici, Serhat Akin, Tayfun Korkut, Tayfur Havutçu, Tunay Torun, Ümit Davala, Umit Karan, Volkan Arslan, Yıldıray Baştürk, Yunus Mallı, Kaan Ayhan, Kenan Karaman, Nazim Sangaré, Güven Yalçın, Berkay Özcan and Hasan Ali Kaldırım.
  The first person of Turkish origin to play for the German national football team was Mehmet Scholl in 1993, followed by Mustafa Doğan in 1999 and Malik Fathi in 2006. Since the twenty-first century there has been an increase in German-born individuals of Turkish origin opting to play for Germany, including Emre Can, Kerem Demirbay, İlkay Gündoğan, Mesut Özil, Serdar Tasci  and Suat Serdar.
  In regards to women's football, several players have chosen to play for the Turkish women's national football team, including Aylin Yaren, Aycan Yanaç, Melike Pekel, Dilan Ağgül, Selin Dişli, Arzu Karabulut, Ecem Cumert, Fatma Kara, Fatma Işık, Ebru Uzungüney and Feride Bakır.
  There are also players who plays for the German women's football national football team, including Sara Doorsoun and Hasret Kayıkçı.
  Several German-Turkish professional football players have also continued their careers as football managers such as Cem Efe and Taşkın Aksoy.
caption: Mesut Özil played for Germany.
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