Melike Pekel (born 14 April 1995) is a German-born Turkish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for French

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twelv ...

club

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...

and the Turkey women's national team.

Early life

Melike Pekel was born to Turkish immigrant parents in

München Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Germany on 14 April 1995. After completing her vocational education in July 2015, she started to work as an optician in

Schrobenhausen Schrobenhausen (; Central Bavarian: ''Schrobenhausn'') is a town in the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the River Paar approx. south-west of Ingolstadt and north-east of Augsburg. The town hosts notable ...

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

, where she resides.

Club career

Pekel began her career in the youth team of FC Schrobenhausen in her hometown, and displayed her high footballer talent. In the 2012–13 season, she started to play for the second team of

TSV Schwaben Augsburg TSV Schwaben Augsburg is a German football club which is part of a larger sports association whose origins go back to the 1847 formation of the gymnastics club Turnverein Augsburg. The association's football department was formed in 1907 and af ...

in the German

Bezirksoberliga Schwaben The Bezirksoberliga Schwaben was the seventh tier of the German football league system in the Bavarian ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Swabia (german: Schwaben). Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the sixth tier of the league system, unt ...

. Already after one game in the same season, she was promoted to the first squad of the club, which competed in the Regionalliga Süd. She scored in total 20 goals in 40 matches in two league seasons. Pekel became the topscorer of the Regionalliga Süd in the 2013–14 season. For the 2014–15 season,

FC Bayern München Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

transferred her in the second team of the club to play in the 2. Bundesliga Frauen Süd. In the 12th play day of the season on 7 December 2014, manager Thomas Wörle took her into the first squad in the Bundesliga Frauen match against

1. FFC Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt is a German women's association football club based in Frankfurt. Its first team currently plays in the German top flight, Frauen-Bundesliga. From 1998 to 2020, the club was known as 1. FFC Frankfurt. Eintracht have won sev ...

. She appeared in two games for the first squad until the end of the season. She enjoyed her team's champion title in the 2014–15 Bundesliga season. In the 2015–16 season, Pekel returned to her place in the second squad of the club playing in the 2. Frauen-Bundesliga Süd again. As of 22 November 2015, she scored 15 goals in 26 games for her club. At the beginning of 2017, she left Munich and transferred to FC Metz-Algrange to play in the

. She made her debut in the away game against

ASPTT Albi ASPTT Albi (or Association Sportive de La Poste et France Télécom Albi) is a French women's football team based in Albi. The club reached Division 2 in 2000 for the first time in their history, however they were relegated the following season. ...

on 5 February 2017. Pekel scored her first and her team's only goal in the third minute in the home match against

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

on 26 February 2017. Ahead of the 2017–2018 season Pekel joined

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. With her playing time limited, Pekel went on loan to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

in 2019. In August 2019, Pekel re-signed with Metz.

International career

Pekel was called up to the Turkey women's national team, and debuted in the friendly match against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

on 19 August 2015. She took part in four of 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 the Turkish nationals. She appeared in three matches of the

. On 1 March 2017, Pekel scored her first national goal 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 ...

in the 2017 Goldcity Women's Cup. She took part at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA preliminary round – Group 4 matches. In the second match of the tournament, she scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in the match against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

on 8 April 2017. She scored her team's only goal in the third game of the qualification tournament against

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. In 1990 the German Foo ...

:: ''Winners'' (1): 2014–15. Individual * ''Top Scorer'': 2013–14 – Regionalliga Süd with

'' (16 goals)

References

External links

*
Turkey player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pekel, Melike 1995 births Living people Citizens of Turkey through descent Turkish women's footballers Women's association football forwards Division 1 Féminine players FC Metz (women) players Paris Saint-Germain Féminine players FC Girondins de Bordeaux (women) players Turkey women's international footballers Turkish expatriate women's footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France Footballers from Munich German women's footballers German expatriate women's footballers German people of Turkish descent Frauen-Bundesliga players 2. Frauen-Bundesliga players FC Bayern Munich (women) players German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in France TSV Schwaben Augsburg players