Türkiye Cricket

Cricket in Türkiye is surprisingly old, with games having been played in Istanbul in the early 20th century. It was big enough for one of Türkiye's biggest football clubs, Fenerbache, to even establish its own cricket branch in 1911. Unfortunately, the First World War resulted in cricket dying out in Istanbul and it is only now, almost a century later, that cricket has once again taken root.

The General Directorate of Sports (Gençlik ve Spor Genel Müdürlügü) decided to form a Developing Sports Branches Federation (TDSBF) on 21 December 2006 and, after approaches from the Turkish cricket community, 'kriket' was included officially as a 'developing sport'.

With state recognition, an official board established and regular competitions, the TCB in September 2007 applied for Membership of the ICC. Türkiye was granted ICC Affiliate Membership in 2008 and is then qualified to play international cricket.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Türkiye decided to affiliate the Cricket sports branch within the Türkiye Developing Sport Branches Federation to the Türkiye Rugby Federation (TRF) on 29 November 2024.

Mr. Nahit SAHIN is the current President of TRF, and Mr. Baki PEKBAK is the Chairman of Cricket in Türkiye.

In accordance with Turkish Regulations, in order for any person to play cricket in Turkish Cricket Sport Clubs, the person shall either have Turkish citizienship or permament residency, or temporary residency (more than one year stay in Turkiye) is a requirement. And, in order to be a Turkish National Team player in any category, the person shall be a Turkish citizen.

TRF does not send any invitation to any foreign players or coaches or support staff to come to Türkiye or does not provide any support letter to get a visa or temporary or permanent residency in Türkiye.

Turkey's first ever international matches took place in Corfu, Greece during the ICC European Championship Division 5 in September 2009. Although its baptism proved to a difficult one, Turkey did at least claim its first victory when it defeated Bulgaria. In their second international participation in Ljubljana, Slovenia, during the ICC European Championship Division 3 in May 2011, Turkey could win two of the five matches. They were able to beat both Bulgaria and Czech Republic.

Cricket is being played in Turkey with 25 sports clubs having their cricket branches actively involved in cricket organizations with around 1000 cricket players all around Turkey with the support of 58 umpires and 65 coaches. Of those 25 sports clubs, 15 of those have senior men, and 10 of them have senior women teams. And also, 15 of those sports clubs have junior men and 10 of those have junior women teams.