Çiğdem Belci (born 17 June 1987) is a Turkish women's football defender currently playing in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

for

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

with jersey number 5. She is a member of the Turkish national team since 2003.

Early life

Çiğdem Belci was born on 17 June 1987 in

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

, southern Turkey. She has three older sisters and a younger brother, who follows her footsteps playing in a feeder club in Mersin. At the age of eight, she began playing football with boys in the neighborhood. Convinced by her daughter's interest, the father took her then to Mersin Camspor, and registered her. However, feared of her daughter's future, he wanted her leave the club. Her mother supported Çiğdem, and was able to stop the father's pressure. Her father changed his mind when she transferred to successful clubs and continued with her higher education. She studied physical education and sports at

Ondokuz Mayıs University Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) is a major state university founded in 1975 in Samsun, Turkey. The university bears the name “19 May”, which marks the date when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, came to Samsun in or ...

Samsun Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta ( gr, Σαμψούντα) and Amisos (Ancient Greek: Αμισός), is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and is a major Black Sea port. In 2021, Samsun reco ...

. After graduation, she was appointed a teacher.

Career

Club

Çiğdem Belci obtained her license from her hometown club

Mersin Camspor Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezit ...

on 1 September 1999, where she played until the end of 2007–08 season and capped 13 times scoring three goals. She moved to Mersingücü Cengiz Topelspor and after one season, she transferred to the Black Sea club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

for the 2009–10 season. The next season, Belci signed for the Istanbul-based club Ataşehirspor, and enjoyed two consecutive league championships in 2011 and 2012. She debuted in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

playing against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n side

Gintra Universitetas FC Gintra is a Lithuanian women's football club from Šiauliai. It is the team of the local Šiauliai University. History The club plays in the highest Lithuanian league, the A Lyga and has won 13 championships so far. The fourth one in 2005 and ...

on 11 August 2011. She participated in three group matches of the qualifying round. The

next year "Next Year" is a song released as the last single from the third Foo Fighters' album ''There Is Nothing Left to Lose''. History A shorter version (running at just 3:21 compared to the original's 4:36) was released as a single in 2000 and wa ...

, she played again in three qualifying round matches. However, her team was not successful either in 2011–12 or in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

to advance further to the knockout stage. For the 2015–16 season, she signed with

Kireçburnu Spor Kireçburnu Spor Women's Football ( tr, Kireçburnu Spor Kulübü Bayan Futbol Takımı) is a women's football team based in Kireçburnu, Sarıyer, Istanbul playing in the Turkish Women's First Football League. It was formed in 2010 as part of th ...

, which was recently promoted to the Women's First League. Belci serves as the captain of the team. In the 2016–17 season, she returned to her former club Ataşehir Belediyespor. In the 2018–19 league season, she transferred to

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (), also known simply as Beşiktaş (), is a Turkish sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

She enjoyed the champion title of her team in the 2018–19 season. She took part at the 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League - Group 9 matches. She played in one matc of the

2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying rounds The 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying rounds began on 17 August and ended on 9 September 2021. A total of 68 teams competed in the group stage qualifying rounds of the 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League, which includes two rou ...

. In the 2022-23 Super League season, she transferred to

Fatih Karagümrük S.K. Fatih Karagümrük Spor Kulübü, also called Karagümrük, is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in the Karagümrük neighbourhood of the Fatih district in Istanbul. They currently play in the Süper Lig, the top t ...

International

Belci made her first appearance in the Turkey women's U-19 national team in the match against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

juniors at the International Norte Alentejano Tournament held in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

on 28 May 2003. She capped five times in the junior women's national team. On 6 August 2003, she debuted in the national team playing in the friendly match against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Her international participations followed at the

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying Qualifying for UEFA Women's Euro 2009 determined which 11 teams joined Finland, the hosts of the 2009 tournament, to play for the UEFA Women's Championship. Preliminary round 20 teams were divided into 5 groups of 4. The 5 group winners qualified ...

round (

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

), at the UEFA Support International Tournaments (

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and Macedonia). Belci played in seven of the eight matches at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 5 matches (

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) as well as in eight of ten matches at the

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying – Group 2 The UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying – Group 2 was contested by six teams competing for one spot for the final tournament. Spain's María Paz set a new competition record when she scored seven goals against Kazakhstan. Standings Fixtures ...

(

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

). In 2013, she participated in all the three

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6 The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification UEFA Group 6 was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The group comprised Belarus, England, Montenegro, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales. The group winners qualified directly for the ...

matches against

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and Montenegron women.

Career statistics

Honours

Turkish Women's First Football League :;Ataşehir Belediyespor :: ''Winners'' (3):

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2011–12, 2017–18 :: ''Runners-up'' (3):

, 2013–14, 2014–15 ::''Third places'' (1): 2016–17 :;Beşiktaş J.K. :: ''Winners'' (2): 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Belci, Cigdem Living people 1987 births Sportspeople from Mersin Turkish women's footballers Trabzonspor women's players Ataşehir Belediyespor players Kireçburnu Spor players Turkey women's international footballers Ondokuz Mayıs University alumni Turkish schoolteachers Women's association football defenders Beşiktaş J.K. women's football players Turkish Women's Football Super League players Fatih Karagümrük S.K. (women's football) players 21st-century Turkish women