Turkey's national team goes back 44 years in İzmir

The Turkish national football team lost 2-1 to Belgium in the UEFA Nations League match played in İzmir, despite taking a 1-0 lead. The Ay Yıldızlılar left the pitch defeated, and one of the darkest statistics in Turkish football history came back into the spotlight.

In the Nations League, the national team lost 1-0 to France, 4-1 to Italy, 3-0 to Belgium, 3-1 to Italy and then 2-1 to Belgium in İzmir, in that order. This means a fifth consecutive defeat in official matches. A losing run of five matches this heavy had last happened 44 years ago, between 1980 and 1982.

During that period, the Turkish national team lost eight matches in a row in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. After defeats to Wales, Czechoslovakia, Iceland and the Soviet Union, they also lost 5-0 to Hungary in a friendly. The streak ended with a 1-0 win over Albania on 27 December 1982.

The defeat in İzmir also broke the streak that had lasted since 1997. The national team lost at home to Belgium for the first time in 29 years. In the 20th minute, Arda Güler sent the ball into the top corner with a free kick from about 30 metres out. This goal was the first direct free-kick goal scored by the Crescent-Stars since March 2021. The national team's previous free-kick goal came in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, when they beat the Netherlands 4-2.