Gamze İskeçeli (born May 26, 1983) is a Turkish former women's football footballer. She lately played in the Women's First League for

Konak Belediyespor Konak Belediyespor Women's Football () is the women's association football, women's football team of the Turkey, Turkish multi-sport club Konak Belediyespor based in Konak, Izmir, Konak district of İzmir, Turkey. The team was established by the ...

as forward. She made her Champions League debut in 2013. İskeçeli was a member of the Turkish national team in 2001–2013.

Early life

Gamze İskeçeli was born on May 28, 1983, in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, western Turkey. At the age of six, she got interested in playing football. Her father supported Gamze, and registered her in a İzmir-based sport club. However, at that time, there was no girls' football team available, so she had to play with her coeval boys. The talented girl even became top scorer among them. She studied physical education and sports at

Gazi University Gazi University () is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded in 1926 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk originally as the Gazi Education Institute (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Gazi Eğitim Ens ...

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

between 2002 and 2007. Today, she works as a teacher of physical education in a primary school in Buca, İzmir.

Club career

She entered İzmirspor on her father's and uncle's initiative. After playing football with boys for two years, she was admitted to Altay S.K. After the dissolving of Altay in a short time, she went to İzmir Öztürkspor. İskeçeli received her license on November 8, 1999. As once the goalkeeper got injured, İskeçeli, normally a forward, served also as goalkeeper. In this position, she transferred to the newly formed Van Eğitimspor at Van, eastern Turkey in February 2001. She received an offer from

for higher education, and so moved to Gazi Üniversitesispor in January 2002. After four seasons with Gazi Üniversitesispor, and completing her education there, İskeçeli returned home and paused for a while. Then, she joined

Bucaspor Bucaspor was a professional Turkish Association football, football club based in Buca, İzmir. Formed in 1928, Bucaspor were nicknamed Fırtına (Storm). The club colours were yellow and navy. It was dissolved in 2020. History Bucaspor was the ...

in the 2006–07 season. Finally, she signed for

in the 2009–10 season. At the end of the 2012–13 season, she enjoyed league championship with her club Konak Belediyespor. Iskeçeli debuted in the 2013–14 UEFA Women's Champions League match against FC NSA Sofia on August 8, 2013, and played in the subsequent preliminary round matches. Beside her playing career, she acts also as a football coach in the school she is serving as a teacher. After coaching initially the boys' team, she formed a girls' football team, which became provincial champion in futsal and football.

International career

On September 9, 2000, İskeçeli became part of the U-19 national team in the match against Austrian junior women. She capped sixteen times in total, and participated thereby at the 2001 and 2002 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualifying round matches. İskeçeli made her debut in the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

on May 20, 2001, playing in the friendly match against the Greek team. She took part at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 8,

2005 Summer Universiade The 2005 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXIII Summer Universiade, took place in İzmir, Turkey, in August. Emblem The emblem is the letter "U", inspired by the bird's-eye view of the Gulf of İzmir. This shape has perfectly fit the letter ...

, 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6 matches and a

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 Vilas, María Paz set a new competition record when she scored seven goals against Kazakhstan. Stand ...

match. She capped seventeen times for the Turkey national team as of November 28, 2013. In addition to her capacity as forward, İskeçeli played also as goalkeeper for the national team.

Retirement

Gamze İskeçeli sustained an injury to her right leg during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6 match against

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on November 28, 2013. She decided to retire from active sports after the rupture of her

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

was cured.

Career statistics

Managerial career

On 24 January 2022, İskeçeli was appointed head coach of the newly established

-based club Bornova Hitab Spor for their first league season of 2021-22 Women's Third League. Her team finished the seasın undefeared after ten league and two play-off matches, became hampion and was promoted to the Women's Second League. Her contract ended at the end of the season on 31 May 2022.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

; Turkish Women's First League :;

:: ''Runners-up'' (2): 2007–08, 2008–09 :; Konak Belediyespor :: ''Champions'' (2): 2012–13, 2013–14 :: ''Runners-up'' (1): 010–11 :: ''Third places'' (1): 2009–10

Manager

; Turkish Women's Third League :; Bornova Hitab Spor :: ''Champions'' (1): 2021-22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iskeceli, Gamze 1983 births Living people Footballers from İzmir Turkish women's footballers Gazi University alumni Women's association football forwards Women's association football goalkeepers Gazi Üniversitesispor players Bucaspor women's players Konak Belediyespor players Turkey women's youth international footballers Turkey women's international footballers Turkish schoolteachers Turkish female football managers 21st-century Turkish sportswomen