The 2020–21 Turkcell Women's Football League is the 25th season of Turkey's premier

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

league. The league, formerly called the Turkish Women's First Football League (), was renamed to Turkscell Women's Football League after a sponsorship agreement was signed on 8 March 2021, the

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

, between 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 Turkish Foo ...

and the

mobile phone operator A mobile phone operator, wireless provider, or carrier is a mobile telecommunications company that provides wireless Internet GSM services for mobile device users. The operator gives a SIM card to the customer who inserts it into the mobile devi ...

Turkcell Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (''lit. Turkcell Communication Services'') (, ) is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 39.3 million subscribers as of September 2021. In 2015, the company's number ...

. The 2020–21 season was dedicated to

healthcare Worker A health professional, healthcare professional (HCP), or healthcare worker (sometimes abbreviated as HCW) is a provider of health care treatment and advice based on formal training and experience. The field includes those who work as a nurse, physi ...

s and was officially named(). Due to ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include f ...

, the regular season, which is used to start in the Fall and to conclude in the next year's Spring, was postponed to Spring with changed competition format. The 2020–21 season starts on 17 April and ends on 5 May. The number of participating teams increased to 16, including all the 12 teams from the 2019-20 First League season and additional 4 top teams promoted from the 2019-20 Second League season. The 16 teams are divided in four groups of four teams. Each of the four promoted Second-League teams are assigned to one group. Each team in a group plays three matches in total. The first two top teams of each group are qualified for quarterfinals in a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

. The team winning the final match will represent Turkey at the

2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League The 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League was the 21st edition of the European women's club football championship organised by UEFA, and the 13th edition since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League. It was the first edition to fe ...

Teams

Team changes

Qualifying stage

All matches of the four groups are played at the Emirhan Sport Complex in

Manavgat Manavgat is a municipality and district of Antalya Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,351 km2, and its population is 252,941 (2022). It is from the city of Antalya. The Manavgat River has a waterfall near the city. Geography Between the Ta ...

district of

Antalya Province Antalya Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey. It is located on the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taur ...

between 17 and 24 April 2021.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Honours

The Turkish Football Federation awarded following sportspeople for the league season following the final match. * ''Top goalscorer'': Zelal Baturay of

Fatih Vatan Spor Fatih Vatan Spor Kulübü is a women's association football, women's football team based in Fatih, Istanbul. The team completed the 2016–17 season of Turkish Women's Second Football League as champion, and were promoted to the Turkish Women's Fi ...

(7 goals), * ''Best goalkeeper'':

Fatma Şahin Fatma Şahin (born 20 June 1966) is a Turkish chemical engineer and politician. On 6 July 2011 she was appointed as the Minister of Family and Social Policies in the third cabinet of Erdoğan. Biography She was born on 20 June 1966 in Gazia ...

of Beşiktaş J.K., *'' Most valuable player'':

Cansu Nur Kaya Cansu Nur Kaya (born 28 February 2000) is a Turkish women's football defender, who plays in the Turkish Super League for Fatih Vatan Spor with jersey number 20. She played for the Turkey girls' U-17 and women's U1-19 teams before she became a ...

of Fatih Vatan Spor, * ''Best manager'': Efe Mehmet Aydın of Fatih Vatan Spor. Additionally, the referees of the final matches,

Melis Özçiğdem Melis Özçiğdem (born October 26, 1982), aka Meliz Özçiğdem, is a Turkish FIFA listed football referee and former international women's footballer. She is a teacher of physical education at a secondary school in Konak, İzmir. Sports ca ...

, Deybet Gök,

Betül Nur Yılmaz Betül Nur Yılmaz is a Turkish woman football referee and school teacher. She is a FIFA listed woman assistant referee. Yılmaz started her officiating career as an assistant referee in the Amateur league for boys in 2009. She served at thi ...

Cansu Tiryaki Cansu Tiryaki (born 1990), misspelled as Cansu Tryak, is a Turkish FIFA listed football referee. She is a native of Edirne, Turkey, where she works as a school teacher. Personal life Cansu Tiryaki was born in Edirne, Turkey in 1990. She was ...

and Özlem Yapaklar as well as the organizers Dr. Esin Nur Taşdemir and Dr. İsmail Başöz were honored with a plaque.

Top goalscorers

Hat-tricks and more

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turkish Women's First Football League, 2019-20

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020–21 in European women's association football leagues Women's First League Turkish Women's First Football League, 2021

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...