Vincenzo Montella has created harmony in the squad to mould one of the country’s strongest teams ever around a generational talent in Arda GulerThis article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June. Continue reading...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!Arne Slot tries his best not to choke up when he talks of last year’s meeting between Liverpool and PSG. “I hope every fan around the world was hoping this game wouldn’t stop because it was incredible,” he blubbed in March 2025. His team had just lost on penalties to the soon-to-be Bigger Cup winners. “It was the best game of football that I was ever involved in.” If the Slot regime comes to its end this summer, with a significant groundswell of opinion among Kopites nodding in that direction, then it is curious he keeps returning to an infamous European night at Anfield which may well prove the beginning of the end. A few days later, Liverpool deservedly lost a Fizzy Cup final to a much more inspired Newcastle. Things have never quite been the same since, despite a 20th league title being claimed in April.With Aaron Ramsey having been without a club since the end of last year and now retiring, it looks like we’ve moved from players announcing their retirement who we weren’t even aware were still playing to players announcing their retirement who were already retired but weren’t aware of it themselves”​ – Noble Francis.Dear Arsenal, how do you sustain this insane consistency in blowing your chances? Every. Single. Time. Players come and go. Managers stay and leave. The only constant is the fans’ anguish. What wizardry will you wield now to hand over the title to Manchester City?”​ – Krishna Moorthy.Re Thursday’s letters. John Groom is correct that not many Aussies use flamin’, but you don’t have to be Stefan Kuntz, Danny Sh1ttu or Christian Fuchs to know our modern alternatives aren’t always printable” – Rowan Sweeney.No-one says flamin’ anymore John, but most of us still have a flamin’ sense of humour” – Greg Wyatt. Continue reading...

Italian manager guided his team past Kosovo in their playoff final, with Kenan Yildiz a burgeoning superstarVincenzo Montella was mid-answer when a side door burst open and more than a dozen Turkey players and staff stormed his press conference, showering him with liquid. Within seconds he was bouncing up and down among them, the flimsy advertising banner behind him wobbling furiously. He had already been applauded into the room by travelling media for achieving what nobody in the previous two decades could: guiding one of football’s great enigmas to a World Cup and setting millions of hearts alight.Dark horses? That will be the time-honoured joke about Turkey this summer given their propensity at recent European Championship appearances to fall short of their excitable billing. A quarter-final finish at Euro 2024 at least constituted progress and Montella, whose team did a professional job in spoiling what had been set up as a wild party for Kosovo, has the chance to back it up. Continue reading...

It was a step too far for Kosovo, but only just. They could hardly have given more in running Turkey to the wire but it is Vincenzo Montella’s team, relieved and jubilant at the end, that will play at the World Cup in a little over two months’ time. Turkey make their return after 24 years away; Kosovo had been seeking the most unlikely of debuts and could have made that prospect real if Fisnik Asllani’s first-half effort had not come back off the bar.In the end, though, a scruffy and hotly contested finish by Kerem Akturkoglu settled things early in the second half and, via some minor scares, Turkey could scrape home from there. Kosovo will surely be back, a technically exceptional side richer for this heady experience. Continue reading...

Goalkeeper’s unorthodox tactics got in Inter captain’s head as Allegri’s side held on for all three points at San Siro It had taken 73 minutes, and a VAR review, but Inter finally had their breakthrough in the Milan derby, the referee, Simone Sozza, pointing to the spot after he saw replays of Strahinja Pavlovic treading on Marcus Thuram’s foot inside the box. Now all that remained was for Hakan Calhanoglu to convert and make the score 1-1. A formality. Since arriving in Serie A, the Turkey captain had been practically automatic in these situations – scoring 27 out of 28 penalties taken for Inter, and three out of three for Milan before that. Entire newspaper columns and late-night TV broadcasts were given over to analysing his infallibility, before he finally smacked one against a post in a draw at home to Napoli last year. Continue reading...

FA crackdown has led to the suspension of 149 match officials and more than 1,000 players in push to restore public faith in the game Everything in Turkish football, it seemed, was going too well. Galatasaray have been flying in the Champions League, powered by Victor Osimhen. Arda Güler is soaring at Real Madrid with goals and assists. Even the men’s national team, under Vincenzo Montella, have looked their most promising in years. But it would not be Turkish football without drama and drama is what the hardline president of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu, has delivered. Continue reading...

Giovane equalises Zielinski’s volleyed opener for Inter Verona’s Martin Frese scores in own net in added time Inter claimed a fortunate 2-1 victory at Hellas Verona in Serie A, with a brilliant Piotr Zielinski strike and a last-gasp own goal from Martin Frese securing the win. In the 16th minute Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner found an unmarked Zielinski on the edge of the box. The Polish midfielder curled a superb right-footed volley into the top-left corner to open the scoring. This story will be updated Continue reading...

Hakan Calhanoglu scores a penalty for Inter Milan to put them 5-3 up on aggregate in the second leg of their semi-final against Barcelona in the Champions League.

Might we eventually look back on Francisco Conceição’s winning goal as one of the pivotal moments of this season? Francisco Conceição was dead, as he recalls it, but the chance wasn’t, the cross from his teammate Andrea Cambiaso only cleared to the edge of the penalty box. Randal Kolo Muani tamed the ball and retained it as he was assailed by five Inter defenders who arrived one at a time like henchmen in a Hollywood movie: allowing him to overcome each of them in turn. He evaded Hakan Calhanoglu with a half-step backwards, leaving the Turkey captain to fall under his own momentum, held off Nicolò Barella, dragged the ball back under his boot to spin away from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, flicked it across Francesco Acerbi with the outside of his boot and then poked it with a toe beyond Carlos Augusto and into the path of Conceição. Continue reading...

Fiorentina and Inter players had squabbled over a VAR check before the hosts’ midfielder suffered a cardiac arrest Before Edoardo Bove fell, it had seemed as though a disallowed goal was the most important thing in the world. Fiorentina and Inter were waiting for a VAR check to confirm whether the ball really had gone out as Denzel Dumfries set up Lautaro Martínez to score in the 17th minute of their top-four clash. Players and coaches voiced their disagreement in the usual theatrical terms. And then, it did not matter at all. Bove had not involved himself in the discussion, waiting in the far half of the pitch. He dropped to a knee for a moment, presumed to be tying a shoelace, but in fact using his hands to steady himself on the turf. After standing back up, he took a handful of steps then collapsed beside Hakan Calhanoglu. Continue reading...

Updates from Group B4 match, kick-off 5pm GMTAny thoughts and comments? Send them to Scott Craig Bellamy talks to S4C with the atmosphere in the Kadir Has Stadium in Kayseri already bubbling up nicely. “Mark Harris is a dangerous profile … speed, looking to stretch the game … definitely a player for this type of game … the first 15-20 minutes will be massive but it will settle down … there’s a lot of scenarios that could arise … you have to embrace it … we’ve done enough meetings … hopefully we’ll be able to find solutions when they occur … adapt to situations … that’s really the test for tonight … this is football, it’s why it’s the greatest game in the world … I have full trust in the players, I believe they’re a lot better than I was … these moments … you have to take a step back .. this is why, to come here in an atmosphere like this … it’s going to be a test of course … but life’s about that, surely … whatever the outcome, I’m looking forward to what happens!” Turkey – or Türkiye, to give them their Fifa-recognised name; the FAW haven’t pushed the button on Cymru yet – are much changed from the team sent out for the 0-0 draw in Cardiff back in early September. Merih Demiral, Kerem Aktürkoğlu, Eren Elmalı, Yunus Akgün and captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu all start, replacing that day’s selection of Zeki Çelik, İsmail Yüksek and Kaan Ayhan, who are on the bench, and Çağlar Söyüncü and Kenan Yıldız, who are not in the squad. Continue reading...

Mikel Arteta’s problems keep on mounting. In the week that they were rocked by the surprise resignation of sporting director Edu, Arsenal surrendered their unbeaten record in the Champions League after Hakan Calhanoglu kept up his record of never having missed a penalty for Inter to score the only goal of a tightly contested game. It was an exasperating occasion for Arteta, who was booked in the second half for handball and came close to being sent to the stands as his side searched for an equaliser. But despite a much-improved second-half display that saw the visitors rack up 13 corners to Inter’s none, they sank to a second successive 1-0 away defeat. Continue reading...

Watch highlights as Arsenal's stuttering start to the season continues as they slump to a 1-0 defeat to Inter Milan at the San Siro after a first-half penalty from Hakan Calhanoglu.

Turkey’s golden generation owes little to domestic academies but Galatasaray, who face Spurs next week, are at least starting to move away from high-earning veterans Turkish football is having a bit of a moment. Teenager Kenan Yildiz – recently given the No 10 shirt at Juventus and a contract until 2029 – was the saviour for the Bianconeri at the weekend, scoring two late goals in the Derby d’Italia to earn a remarkable 4-4 draw at Inter. Hakan Calhanoglu was sidelined for that match but on Monday he became the first Turkish man to feature on the Ballon d’Or shortlist since 2003, finishing 20th above Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer, among others. Oh, and then there’s Real Madrid’s Arda Güler, the nation’s unequivocal poster boy, who was voted the second best young player in the world – behind only Lamine Yamal – in the Ballon d’Or’s Kopa Trophy award. Bolstered by these talents playing overseas, Turkey look stronger than they have in decades, and were unfortunate not to beat Netherlands in their Euro 2024 quarter-final. Yet of the 10 outfield players that started against the Dutch, only four players were born in the country, or brought through a Turkish academy. The pathway for domestic-based Turkish talent remains filled with obstacles. Continue reading...