Turkey running out of native soccer players to sing anthem
Turkish soccer is facing an invasion of foreign players while failing to train promising locals.
Turks love to boast about locally made products. But these days, you can see foreign influence everywhere — in imports of fruits, vegetables, meat and even hay for cattle.
In the past four years, soccer has joined the list.
With the booming number of player imports, it is sometimes hard to see a native player in Turkey’s Super Cup soccer league. How did this come about? The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) in January 2015 decided to allow as many as 14 foreign players on each soccer team with a roster of 28 players. Smaller teams of 11 players are allowed to fill their rosters completely with foreigners. The game is played with 11 athletes on the field.
Medipol Basaksehir, the team that now leads the Super League, has taken advantage of the rule, with 14 foreign players in its total roster of 28. It's not alone. Galatasaray, No. 2 in the standings, also has 14 foreign players. Third place Besiktas has 12.
