“Footballer? Do you mean that game you play with your hands … volleyball? Tell me the offside rule if you are a footballer.” That was how one taxi driver reacted when Didem Karagenç explained to him that she is a footballer. “This is what I have to put up with,” she says with a laugh, thinking back to that moment.
Karagenç is the captain of Turkey’s national team as well as of Beşiktaş, playing a key role in the Black Eagles lifting last season’s Super Lig title. She also wants to be a role model and inspiration for the next generation of female footballers.
“Young girls had nobody to look up to in the past,” says Karagenç. “I watched men’s football and was a huge fan of Roberto Carlos. But there were no female players to emulate – I had to become my own role model.”
Beşiktaş are one of the biggest clubs in Turkey, with millions of fans, a huge number of trophies and some of the highest-paid footballers in the country. But their women’s team was only founded in 2014, 103 years after the men’s.
Karagenç, a 25-year-old left-back, joined Beşiktaş a year after they were formed and played a part in them cruising through the 2015-16 campaign as undefeated champions of the Second Football League and thus ensuring promotion to the top-tier. After finishing the 2017-18 season as runners-up, they went onto lift the title last season and book a place in the Champions League.
It was a heady time yet for Karagenç and her team-mates, as one of struggle given their lack of financial reward and support. “To be honest, I thought about quitting football,” she says. “It was heartbreaking but I couldn’t see a way I could continue supporting myself.”
“It made me feel worthless. I have loved this game since I was a little girl. I am also a teacher and an analyst for the TFF [Turkish Football Federation] – I have to do two jobs to survive, and after work I train in the evening. Thankfully the manager, Mutlucan Zavotçu, understands the situation I and a lot of my teammates are in. And I am one of the fortunate ones in a much better position than most women in the game.”
“We aren’t paid like the men, not even close,” she adds. “You can’t support yourself solely playing football in Turkey. Take boot deals. The sponsors give the guys boots but we have to get our own. A lot of the girls in the league struggle to even afford boots. It is great that women like [United States winger and equal pay-campaigner] Megan Rapinoe are speaking out. Rapinoe, Ellen White and the other big names have had such a big influence on changing people’s perceptions of the sport. For the first time, the mainstream media is taking notice of the female stars.”
The future felt bleak for Karagenç just a few months ago. “But I refused to give up even though it felt like women were invisible in football,” she says. “I wanted to show that women are strong, that we can play football as well and that hopefully if I don’t quit I could inspire young girls growing up today not to give up on their dreams. If someone loves football, why does it matter what gender they are? It shouldn’t.”
It was around the same time that Karagenç had a change in fortune. “I got a call from someone in London who said they wanted me to be a part of Team Visa.” Visa became the biggest global sponsor of women’s football after signing a seven-year partnership with Uefa last year. In a sport where pay is low – some female footballers do not even earn a wage from the game – sponsors are of vital importance.
“Team Visa told me they want me, I felt valued, that finally, someone out there noticed me,” says Karagenç. “They picked me as one of several female players around the world as part of their new campaign. It was a game-changer. I have got to travel to different countries, meet other female footballers and learn what is happening around the world.”
“I was invited to France for the [Women’s] World Cup as part of the Team Visa program. To see the women’s game reach this level was an emotional moment. I’ve never seen so many people talk about football first and gender second when it comes to women’s football,” she said. “I just wished Turkey had qualified. When I saw the national team anthem being read I imagined what it would feel like to be in that situation. It was overwhelming, I don’t know if I would be able to hold the tears back.”
As is the case in many other country’s, football is seen as a man’s game in Turkey. However, anybody attending a men’s game in the country would more often than not spot many female faces in the crowd. Back in 2011, for instance, 41,000 women watched Fenerbahçe take on Manisaspor after men had been suspended from the fixture as punishment for crowd trouble.
Despite this show of support, Fenerbahce do not have a women’s team, as is also the case at Galatasaray. “Hopefully we will see that in Turkey,” says Karagenç. “I think it would be great for competition.”
Beşiktaş deserve credit for taking the lead in the women’s game and the fans have started getting behind their team. “Beşiktaş fans are so supportive, we get a few hundred that turn up at most games and they don’t act differently because we are girls,” says Karagenç. “The more fans that come the more coverage we will get. The fans are everything.”
Football being more than a sport may sound like a cliche but in Turkey it’s very much true – female players who represent the national team are also given the chance to gain a university education while those who play for clubs that have a Turkish Football Federation license can go onto gain the credits required for a scholarship from local businesses.
“I was lucky; my father is a teacher and always supported me,” says Karagenç. “In fact, he helped me find my first team and encouraged me to play. And my mum has always been my biggest fan.” Every sport needs a hero. Turkish women’s football may just have found theirs.
