Nurcan Çelik (born 1 January 1980) is a Turkish women's footballer, who last played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

in the Turkish Women's First Football League for

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 ...

. She played for the Turkey women's under-19 national team before she became a member of the Turkey women's team. She was the founder and president of Akdeniz Nurçelik Spor.After retiring from active playing, she became manager of the newly reestablished women's team of

Galatasaray S.K. 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 ...

Personal life

Early life

Nurcan Çelik was born in a low-income family as the youngest of three children, a son and two daughters, in

Artvin Artvin (Laz language, Laz and ; hy, Արտուին, translit=Artuin) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea. It is located on a hill overlooking the Çoruh, Çoruh River near the Deriner Dam ...

, northeastern Turkey on 1 January 1980. Her mother died from

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

when Nurcan was four years old. Her father remarried, and the family moved a couple of years later from Artvin to

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

. Her father died when she was 16 years old. Her elder sister was killed by a gunman. In 2013, her stepmother died also from breast cancer.

Health issues

In 2008, Çelik contracted

thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck. C ...

. After surgery and radiation treatment, she underwent eight months of chemotherapy in her family house in a village in Bursa. In 2010, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and invaded lymph nodes. As a result, one of her breasts was removed, and she underwent chemotherapy for eight months in a hospital in Bursa.

Playing career

Çelik became interested in football as a young girl. She idolized the Polish

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Roman Kosecki Roman Jacek Kosecki (born 15 February 1966) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Career In his club career, Kosecki played for RKS URSUS, Gwardia Warsaw, Legia Warsaw, Galatasaray, CA Osasuna, Atlético Madrid, ...

, who played for

in Turkey between 1990 and 1992.

Club

She learned from a cousin that women's football was being established in Turkey. At that time, she was able to juggle the ball 500-600 times. She entered the selections, and her football career started as a player in Bursaspor in 1995, where she played two seasons in the youth setup. She was a member of Bursaspor until 1999. Her coach wanted her in the goalkeeper position against her will. Even her father was against it. She unwillingly accepted the goalkeeper position. He was shocked when saw his daughter as goalkeeper during a match visit. She transferred to Gemlik Zeytinspor in

Gemlik Gemlik is a town and center of the Gemlik District of Bursa Province. It is located in the east of the Gulf of Gemlik. It is approximately away from Bursa. In antiquity, Gemlik was the location of the ancient Greek town of Cius. Gemlik is an in ...

Bursa Province Bursa Province ( tr, ) is a province in Turkey along the Sea of Marmara coast in northwestern Anatolia. It borders Balıkesir to the west, Kütahya to the south, Bilecik and Sakarya to the east, Kocaeli to the northeast and Yalova to the nor ...

. In the second half of the 2000–01 season and joined the

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, ...

-based club Zeytinburnuspor. She moved to

Maltepe Yalıspor Maltepe Yalıspor, shortly Yalıspor, is the women's football team of the club located in Maltepe district of Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Const ...

at the beginning of the second half of the 2003–04 season. In 2003, as the

Turkish Football Federation The Turkish Football Federation (; TFF) is the governing body of association football in Turkey. It was formed on 23 April 1923, and joined FIFA the same year and UEFA in 1962. It organizes the Turkey national football team, the Süper Lig, Turk ...

suspended the

women's football league The Women's Football League was a small women's American football league that began playing in 2002. Its last season was in 2007. It was composed of four teams, one in Grand Rapids, Michigan, one in Tennessee, one in North Carolina, and one in Jacks ...

s, players found no chance to continue competition football. Women with an educated profession found employment. Çelik applied to the German club

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

upon their advertisement on the internet. She signed a six-month contract with the club and obtained a residence permit for six months. The first half season, she took part in training only. After that period, she had to return to Turkey because her residence permit was not extended. Returning home, she signed for Dostluk Spor, where she stayed for one season. She then returned to her former club Zeytinburnuspor in the 2007–08 season, where she played three seasons until 2010. In June 2010, she moved to

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, isl ...

, and obtained a license. She played in two matches for Akdeniz Spor Birliği in the

KTFF Women's League KTFF-DT (channel 61) is a television station licensed to Porterville, California, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language UniMás network to the Fresno area. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Hanford-licensed Univis ...

. However, she had to return home after the final match in July 2010 due to cancellation of her license, which was issued out of the transfer period by way of an exception. In the 2011–12 season, she played one match for İstanbul Nurçelik Spor. Following a break of one year, she again played for her club, which was renamed Akdeniz Nurçelik Spor in the 2013–14 season. Aside from playing as a goalkeeper, she occasionally plays in the

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 ...

position. For the 2020-21 Turkcell Women's League season, she joined

as a goalkeeoer. This was her return to the First League after twelve years.

International

Çelik was admitted to the Turkey women's national U-19 team, and debuted in the 1998 UEFA Women's Under-18 Championship qualifying round 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 ...

on 17 November 1997. Later, she played in two matches of the 1999 UEFA Women's Under-18 Championship qualifying round against

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 Norway in September 1998. She was nominated to play for the

Turkey women's national football team The Turkey women's national football team represents Turkey in international women's football. The team was established in 1995, and compete in the qualification for UEFA Women's Championship and the UEFA qualifying of FIFA Women's World Cu ...

in February 1999. After playing for the first time for the national team in a friendly match against Israel on 3 July 1999, she took part in two matches of the UEFA Women's Euro 2001 qualification round the same year. In 2007 and 2008, Çelik played three matches in the UEFA International Support Tournament.

Career statistics

Club founder and president

In 2010, she founded her own football club İstanbul Nurçelik Spor in Turkey giving her name to the club. She took over the players of her former club Zeytinburnuspor, which had recently folded. She established a women-only club, and did not open a men's branch for fear that one day a club president may decide to close the women's branch. She intended to bring women footballers from Northern Cyprus to Turkey. However, this became impossible as an international embargo was imposed on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Therefore, the two clubs, İstanbul Nurçelik Spor and Akdeniz Spor Birliği, were merged into Akdeniz Nurçelik Spor in the 2013–14 season. Çelik acts as the president of her club.

Managerial career

Galatasaray

As of September 2021, Galatasaray Club established a women's football team and appointed Çelik as the coach. In the notification made on 10 August 2022, it was announced that the contract with Çelik, who served as the Technical Director in the 2021–22 season, has ended and the roads have parted.

Managerial career statistics

References

External links

"10 Dakika" on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Celik, Nurcan Living people 1980 births People from Artvin Turkish women's footballers Women's association football goalkeepers Turkey women's international footballers Turkish expatriate women's footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany VfL Wolfsburg (women) players Turkish football chairmen and investors Akdeniz Nurçelik Spor players Galatasaray S.K. (women's football) managers Turkish female football managers Turkish women's football managers