The Turkiye World Cup 2026 squad is beginning to take shape.
The World Cup is just around the corner, with Turkiye looking to crash the party, with the March internationals providing a play-off opportunity – and should they make the competition, it's fair to say that though they won't be one of the favourites, Vincenzo Montella will have one of the most exciting young squads in the tournament.
Incredibly, Turkiye haven't so much as been to a World Cup since 2002, when they went on a mad run to the semi-finals and beat South Korea in the third-place play-off.
Plenty has changed for The Crescent-Stars in the two decades since, but a good performance at Euro 2024 has the nation hoping for a return to the world stage, led by veteran controller Hakan Calhanoglu pulling the strings.
Turkiye's new generation could well become world-beaters, too: Arda Guler is ranked at no.10 in FourFourTwo's list of the best attacking midfielders in the world right now, and Kenan Yildiz at no.11 in the best left-wingers in the world right now – with both included in the latest squad to face Romania and Slovakia or Kosovo this month.
Eintracht Frankfurt starlet Can Uzun, meanwhile, hasn't made the squad this time around but will hoping that he can stake a claim in the final selection this summer, with FourFourTwo's Joe Donnohue describing him in a report recently for The Boy's A Bit Special as having “a calmness and composure to [his] game when he's on the ball, which translates directly to his finishing”.
Turkiye are expected to make it to North America – but with the likes of Caglar Soyuncu and Okay Yokuslu missing out on this latest squad, Montella will have to rely on depth to achieve something no Turkiye manager has in a generation.
Turkiye World Cup 2026 squad: The March selection
Turkiye World Cup 2026 squad: The latest squad
- GK: Mert Gunok (Fenerbahce)
- GK: Ugurcan Cakir (Galatasaray)
- GK: Altay Bayindir (Manchester United)
- GK: Muhammed Sengezer (Istanbul Basaksehir)
- DF: Merih Demiral (Al-Ahli)
- DF: Zeki Celik (Roma)
- DF: Mert Muldur (Fenerbahce)
- DF: Ferdi Kadioglu (Brighton & Hove Albion)
- DF: Ozan Kabak (Hoffenheim)
- DF: Abdulkerim Bardakci (Galatasaray)
- DF: Eren Elmali (Galatasaray)
- DF: Samet Akaydin (Caykur Rizespor)
- DF: Mustafa Eskihellac (Trabzonspor)
- DF: Ahmetcan Kaplan (NEC)
- MF: Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan)
- MF: Kaan Ayhan (Galatasaray)
- MF: Orkun Kokcu (Besiktas)
- MF: Ismail Yuksek (Fenerbahce)
- MF: Salih Ozcan (Borussia Dortmund)
- MF: Atakan Karazor (VfB Stuttgart)
- FW: Kerem Akturkoglu (Fenerbahce)
- FW: Irfan Kahveci (Fenerbahce)
- FW: Baris Alper Yilmaz (Galatasaray)
- FW: Arda Guler (Real Madrid)
- FW: Kenan Yildiz (Juventus)
- FW: Yunus Akgun (Galatasaray)
- FW: Oguz Aydin (Fenerbahce)
- FW: Deniz Gul (Porto)
- FW: Semih Kilicsoy (Cagliari)
- FW: Aral Simsir (Midtjylland)
England fixtures and results
Fixtures
- March 26, 2026: Turkiye vs Romania, Beşiktaş Stadium, Istanbul, Turkiye
- March 31, 2026: Slovakia or Kosovo vs Turkiye, TBC (Bratislava or Pristina)
Recent results
- March 20, 2025: Turkiye 3–1 Hungary, Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi, Istanbul, Turkiye
- March 23, 2025: Hungary 0–3 Turkiye, Puskás Aréna, Budapest, Hungary
- June 7, 2025: United States 1–2 Turkiye, Pratt & Whitney Stadium, East Hartford, United States
- June 10, 2025: Mexico 1–0 Turkiye, Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, United States
- September 4, 2025: Georgia 2–3 Turkiye, Boris Paichadze National Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia
- September 7, 2025: Turkiye 0–6 Spain, Konya Metropolitan Municipality Stadium, Konya, Turkiye
- October 11, 2025: Bulgaria 1–6 Turkiye, Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria
- October 14, 2025: Turkiye 4–1 Georgia, Kocaeli Stadium, İzmit, Turkiye
- November 15, 2025: Turkiye 2–0 Bulgaria, Centennial Atatürk Stadium, Bursa, Turkiye
- November 18, 2025: Spain 2–2 Turkiye, Estadio de La Cartuja, Seville, Spain
Turkiye manager: Vincenzo Montella
Vincenzo Montella is best remembered by European football fans for being a stalwart of Roma's last title-winning side – and for that 2007 loan at Fulham – but since retiring, he's floated around Europe with short stints at the likes of Milan, Sevilla and Fiorentina as a manager. A spell at Adana Demirspor set him up for the Turkish national job, where he's been in charge since before the last Euros.
Turkiye's star player
Arda Guler
Praised by Mesut Ozil as his heir and compared to Lionel Messi, Arda Guler is perhaps the most exciting Turkish talent for a generation, having broken through at Fenerbahce before his move to Real Madrid. A no.10 with intensity driving forward and a wicked left foot, he has six goals for his country already, including three in 2025's qualification campaign and that stormer against Georgia in Dortmund at the Euros.
