Esra Sibel Tezkan (born February 23, 1993) is a

Turkish-German Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans (german: Türken in Deutschland/Deutschtürken; tr, Almanya'da yaşayan Türkler/Almanya Türkleri), are ethnic Turkish people living in Germany. These terms are also used ...

female football defender currently playing in the German Women's Regional League of the Middle Rhine for 1. FFC Bergisch Gladbach 2009. She is part of the Turkey women's national football team.

Family life

Esra Sibel Tezkan was born to a Turkish immigrant father and a German mother in

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

, Germany, on February 23, 1993. She was supported in playing football by her father, a professor of

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...

at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

, who is an amateur footballer as well. She has two older brothers, one a footballer and the other performing athletics.

Playing career

Her father always took her to football matches when he was playing so she became interested in football at an early age. She began playing football with boys because no girls were available to play with. At age five, her father registered her with a club where she had to play again with boys. At eleven, she was transferred to the women's side of

SC Fortuna Köln SC Fortuna Köln is a German association football club based in the city of Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. History The club was formed as on 21 February 1948 through the merger of three local sides: Victoria Köln 1911 (one of two clubs to ...

in her home town. She finds that her time playing with boys has contributed positively to her strength.

Club

After four years with SC Fortuna Köln, Tezkan moved at age fifteen to Bayer 04 Leverkusen. In the 2013–14 season, she signed for 1. FFC Bergisch Gladbach 2009, where she currently plays in the Frauen-Mittelrheinliga (Women's League of the

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river a ...

International

Tezkan was discovered for the Turkey women's national team by

Bilgin Defterli Bilgin Defterli (born 1 November 1980) is a Turkish women's soccer, women's football forward (association football), forward currently playing in the 2. Bundesliga (women), 2. Frauen-Bundesliga for Alemannia Aachen in Germany with jersey number 9 ...

, a Turkish women's footballer, who moved from Turkey to Germany for her professional football career. Tezkan was admitted to the Turkey girls' U-17 team debuting in the International Women's Football Friendship Tournament against Bulgaria on June 27, 2010. She was capped four times for the Turkey girls' U-17 team. On September 11, 2010, she appeared for the first time in the Turkey women's U-19 team playing at the 2011 UEFA Women's U-19 Championship First qualifying round – Group 9 match against Romania. She took part at the 2011 UEFA Women's U-19 Championship Second qualifying round – Group 3 in the 2011 Kuban Spring Tournament and 2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship – Group A matches. She was capped in 13 games with the Turkey women's U-19 team. Tezkan played once for the Turkey women's U-21 team in a friendly match against Belgium on November 26, 2014. On February 26, 2015, she took part in the friendly game of the Turkey women's team against

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 ...

. She played at the

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying Group 5 Group 5 of the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying competition consisted of five teams: Germany, Russia, Hungary, Turkey, and Croatia. The composition of the eight groups in the qualifying group stage was decided by the draw held on 20 April 2015. T ...

matches for Turkey.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tezkan, Esra Sibel Living people 1993 births Sportspeople from Bremerhaven Footballers from Bremen (state) German people of Turkish descent Women's association football defenders German women's footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen (women) players Turkish women's footballers Turkey women's international footballers