Euro 2024 team guide and best bets: Turkey
Having exited the last two European Championships at the group stage, are Turkey poised to go further this time around?
Get clued up on Vincenzo Montella’s men ahead of Euro 2024 with Odds Now’s comprehensive team guide, which features tactical analysis, players to watch out for, predicted line-ups, betting tips and more.
How Turkey qualified for Euro 2024
Having flattered to deceive at Euro 2020 after being widely tipped to impress, Turkey dusted themselves down to top their Euro 2024 qualifying group in impressive fashion.
Montella’s youthful squad won five and lost just one of their eight clashes to finish a point clear of well-fancied World Cup semi-finalists Croatia and five ahead of Wales in third.
Having been defeated at home by Zlatko Dalic’s side on matchday two, the Turks showed some real backbone to recover — particularly when avenging that Croatia loss in Osijek.
Their 14 goals were netted by 13 different goalscorers, which could be spun as a positive or negative depending on your stance.
Kerem Akturkoglu and Cenk Tosun, both playing in their homeland’s Super Lig, were the only players to bag twice.
Turkey’s squad for Euro 2024
Turkey named a 26-man squad ahead of the tournament:
Goalkeepers: Altay Bayındır (Manchester United), Mert Günok (Beşiktaş), Uğurcan Çakır (Trabzonspor)
Defenders: Samet Akaydin (Panathinaikos), Abdülkerim Bardakcı (Galatasaray), Zeki Çelik (Roma), Merih Demiral (Al-Ahli), Ferdi Kadıoğlu (Fenerbahçe), Ahmetcan Kaplan (Ajax), Mert Müldür (Fenerbahçe)
Midfielders: Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Inter), İsmail Yüksek (Fenerbahçe), Kaan Ayhan (Galatasaray), Okay Yokuşlu (West Brom), Orkun Kökçü (Benfica), Salih Özcan (Dortmund)
Forwards: Yunus Akgün (Leicester), Kerem Aktürkoğlu (Galatasaray), Arda Güler (Real Madrid), İrfan Can Kahveci (Fenerbahçe), Semih Kılıçsoy (Beşiktaş), Cenk Tosun (Beşiktaş), Yusuf Yazıcı (Lille), Bertuğ Yıldırım (Rennes), Kenan Yıldız (Juventus), Barış Alper Yılmaz (Galatasaray)
Turkey’s predicted starting XI for Euro 2024
Turkey’s star player - Hakan Calhanoglu
Holding midfielder Calhanoglu was billed as Turkey’s next talisman in his teenage years, though he and his nation have failed to hit such heights over the last decade.
Remarkably, this will only be the 30-year-old’s third major tournament appearance. His previous two — Euro 2016 and 2020 — have seen him make five appearances and taste defeat in every single one.
However, the Turks’ issues at those events ran much deeper than their underperforming playmaker, who nowadays is at the peak of his powers with Inter Milan.
Having joined the Nerazzurri from bitter rivals AC Milan three seasons ago, Calhanoglu is now established as the metronome at the core of their midfield.
His spellbinding performances helped Inter storm to the Serie A title last term and subsequently led to him being named the division’s midfielder of the year.
Having floated around as an attacking midfielder in his youth, Calhanoglu has grown into one of the game’s most intelligent deep-lying playmakers and will be crucial to how Turkey operate this summer.
Alongside his fantastic passing range, he may well be the finest set-piece taker on show in Germany.
The ice-cool star notched all 10 of his spot-kicks in Italy last term and boasts a spectacular showreel of long-range free-kicks.
Turkey’s one to watch - Arda Guler
Like London buses, Turkey’s long wait for a precocious talent to lead their next generation has suddenly seen two outstanding candidates emerge at once.
And while Juventus’ versatile attacker Kenan Yildiz looks every inch a future superstar, it is his fellow 19-year-old Arda Guler who boasts an even greater reputation.
Buzz around Guler has been growing rapidly since his emergence at Fenerbahce in 2021 and reached fever pitch when Real Madrid beat off a host of other European giants to seal his signature last summer.
The attacking midfielder’s debut season at the Bernabeu has been marred by injury but Carlo Ancelotti opted to unleash him in the final weeks — with devastating consequences.
Six goals in 10 LaLiga appearances, including five in his last five, has given the wider world a glance of just why Guler was so in demand. His strikes are wide-ranging, too.
Stunning long-range efforts, intricate solo runs, clinical one-touch finishes. This is a player who comes alive in the final third and appears to operate on a different level to those around him in terms of vision and intelligence.
Having missed six international outings due to injury since last year, his return to fitness is a monumental boost for Turkey and the wider tournament.
Turkey’s manager - Vincenzo Montella
An icon at AS Roma, 49-year-old Montella was a lethal striker in his playing days and has already enjoyed a varied career on the touchline.
Stepping into management in 2011 when put in interim charge of the Giallorossi, he went on to have mixed spells in his homeland with Catania, Sampdoria, Fiorentina and AC Milan before taking the reins at Spanish side Sevilla in 2017.
It was in Seville he arguably did his best work, leading the Andalusians to a Champions League quarter-final and Copa Del Ray final in his tenure.
He made waves in Turkey in 2022-23, when leading Adana Demirspor to a historic fourth-place finish in the Super Lig —enough to convince the Turkish FA to hand him the national job last summer.
Montella’s stint started with three impressive wins over Croatia, Latvia and Germany but that momentum has quickly vanished, thanks to a disappointing draw with Wales and humbling defeats to Hungary and Austria.
The latter was particularly disastrous. A 6-1 thumping in Vienna which even prompted a Turkish journalist to ask Montella if he would be resigning from his post.
Montella was bullish in his response, suggesting the question was “provocative” and insisting the performance gave him “the answers needed” regarding some of his playing squad.
That said, a failure to progress from their group at Euro 2024 could ensure his spell with Turkey is a short one.
Turkey’s Euro 2024 betting odds
Turkey to win Euro 2024 - 80/1
Turkey to reach the Euro 2024 final - 33/1
Turkey to win Group B - 9/2
Turkey top team goalscorer - Cenk Tosun 6/1, Hakan Calhanoglu 13/2, Kenan Yildiz 10/1, 12/1 BAR
*All best UK prices as of 30/05/24
Analysis and best bets for Turkey at Euro 2024
Expert analysis from Odds Now’s Matt Hill:
“Turkey’s record at major tournaments leaves a lot to be desired. They haven’t qualified for a World Cup since reaching the semi-finals in 2002 and their two recent Euros campaigns were both disastrous.
“It’s hard to not see that changing at some point soon, particularly given some of the emerging talent in their ranks.
“Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz look to have the world at their feet, though the general youthfulness of Vincezo Montella’s Euro 2024 squad means things could go either way in Germany.
“Confidence will be key, which makes an opening-day win over Georgia an absolute necessity. Should they do so, this side would be well positioned to give Portugal a scare in their second outing playing on the counter-attack.
“However, if things do look to be going wrong, you’d worry about a brittle underbelly — as was on display during an embarrassing 6-1 loss to Austria in March.
“I’d advise a watching brief on Turkey initially, though wonderkids Yildiz and Guler look worth split-staking in their team top scorer market.
“Enes Unal has broken his toe and stand-in striker Cenk Tosun is past his best, meaning the young guns may have to lead the way on the goal front.”
Matt’s Best Bets:
Arda Guler to be Turkey’s top goalscorer - 9/1 (Bet365)
Kenan Yildiz to be Turkey’s top goalscorer - 12/1 (SkyBet)