Emine Ecem Esen (born May 3, 1994) is a Turkish women's football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

currently playing in the First League for

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

with jersey number 8. She is a member of the Turkish national team since 2011.

Early life

Emine Ecem Esen was born on May 3, 1994, in

Güngören Güngören is an industrial and working class residential district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is located near the district of Bakırköy on the Çatalca Peninsula in the western half of Istanbul Province. It is the smallest district of Turkey in ter ...

district of

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. She followed the footsteps of her maternal cousin, who is a footballer. She remembers that the main theme in her home was about football. With the encouragement of her aunt, she began playing football and got registered in the nearby club

Hasköy Hasköy may refer to the following places in Turkey: * Hasköy, Istanbul, a quarter or neighborhood of the district of Beyoğlu in Istanbul * Hasköy, Ardahan, a village in the district of Ardahan, Ardahan Province * Hasköy, Çınar * Hasköy, ...

, which had recently established a women's football team.

Club career

She received her license on June 17, 2009, for the Women's Regional League team Hasköy, where she played one season. In the 2010–11 season, she moved to Çamlıcaspor playing in the Women's First League. After three seasons, Esen signed for Marmara Üniversitesi Spor starting in the 2013–14 season. On January 10, 2014, Esen was transferred by the Istanbul-based club Ataşehir Belediyespor. After one season, she left Ataşehir Belediyespor to play for Beşiktaş J.K. in the Women's Second League. 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.

ALG Spor

In the 2019-20 Women's First League season, she transferred to the

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approxi ...

-based club

ALG Spor ALG Spor, formerly known as Güneykent Spor, is a women's football club based in Gaziantep, southeastern Turkey. Founded in 1998. The club is named after its local sponsor ALG Textile. The club's president is Ali Gözcü. It is located in the İn ...

. She enjoyed the 2021-22 Women's Super League champion title of her team.

Galatasaray

On 9 August 2022, she transferred to 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 ...

club

International career

Esen debuted in the Turkey women's national team in the Kuban Spring Tournament qualification match against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

on March 8, 2011. She was member of the women's U-19 national team and capped 20 times in total playing against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and

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 ...

at the 2011 UEFA Women's U-19 Championship Second qualifying round Group 3, against

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 ...

, at the 2012 UEFA Women's U-19 Championship – Final tournament Group A and finally against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and

at the 2013 UEFA Women's U-19 Championship First qualifying round Group 5 matches. Esen played at the

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

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 ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and

Career statistics

Honours

; Turkish Women's First League :; Ataşehir Belediyespor :: ''Runners-up'' (2): 2013–14, 2014–15 :; Beşiktaş J.K. :: ''Winners'' (1): 2018–19 :: ''Runners-up'' (2): 2016–17, 2017–18 :; ALG Spor :: ''Winners'' (2): 2019-20, 2021-22 :: ''Third places'' (1):

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 ...

; Turkish Women's Second League :; Beşiktaş J.K. :: ''Winners'' (1): 2015–16

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esen, Emine Ecem Living people 1994 births People from Güngören Footballers from Istanbul Turkish women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Marmara Üniversitesi Spor players Ataşehir Belediyespor players Turkey women's international footballers Beşiktaş J.K. women's football players ALG Spor players Turkish Women's Football Super League players Galatasaray S.K. women's football players 20th-century Turkish sportswomen 21st-century Turkish sportswomen