Dilara Özlem Sucuoğlu (born 8 June 1998) is a women's footballer who plays in the German

Frauen-Regionalliga The Frauen-Regionalliga is the third tier of German women's association football. The Frauen-Regionalliga is made up of five separate leagues. Until 2017, the champion of each league was promoted to the 2. Frauen-Bundesliga for the next season, so ...

-West for SV Menden 1912, as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Born in Germany, she played for the Turkey girls' under-17 team, and is currently a member of the senior Turkish national team.

Personal life

Dilara Özlem Sucuoğlu was born to Şeref, a Turkish immigrant father, and Susanne, a German mother, in

Troisdorf Troisdorf () is a city in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis (district), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Troisdorf is located approximately 22 kilometers south of Cologne and 13 kilometers north east of Bonn. Division of the city Troisdorf consi ...

Rhein-Sieg-Kreis The Rhein-Sieg-Kreis () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the south of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, Oberbergischer Kreis, Altenkirchen (district), Altenkirchen, Neuwied (district), Neuwied, Ah ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany on 8 June 1998. She has a younger brother, Timur, who also plays football. Sucuoğlu attended

realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

Heimbach Heimbach is a town in the district of Düren of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the river Rur, in the Eifel hills, approx. 20 km south of Düren. Heimbach has the smallest population of any town in North Rhin ...

for her secondary education. She was successful in maths and sports at school, and planned a career in

sport psychology Sport psychology is defined as the study of the psychological basis, processes, and effects of sport. One definition of sport sees it as "any physical activity for the purposes of competition, recreation, education or health". Sport psychology i ...

. Sucuoğlu holds Turkish-German

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

through her Turkish father and German mother.

Playing career

Club

Sucuoğlu began playing football at the age of five inspired by her father, who was the coach of the under-10 team SF Troisdorf. She played with boys in the team. Her father went on to coach the junior teams of IKV Eitorf 1984, and SV Umutspor Troisdorf. He supported Dilara Özlem continuing to play football. Between 2011 and 2013, Sucuoğlu played in the B-Juniors

Mittelrheinliga The Mittelrheinliga (), sometimes also referred to as Oberliga (football), Oberliga Mittelrhein after its elevation to Oberliga status in 2012, is a German amateur football division administered by the German Football Association#Southern Germany, ...

for the U-17 team of SV Menden 1912 in

Sankt Augustin Sankt Augustin (; Ripuarian: ''Sank Aujustin'') is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is named after the patron saint of the Steyler missionaries, Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430). The missionaries estab ...

, although she belonged to the C-Juniors division due to her age. She was capped 16 times and scored two goals for them. In 2013, she transferred to the U-17 team of

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

. She played in 29 matches and scored a goal in the Women's Under 17 Bundesliga West/Southwest (B-Juniorinnen Bundesliga West/Südwest) until 2015. Currently, she is a member of SV Menden 1912 playing as a

in the Women's Regional League West (

-West).

International

Sucuoğlu was discovered by the Turkish national team during a tournament in Germany. She was admitted to the Turkey girls' U-17 team. She had difficulties communicating with the Turkish officials and players as she could not speak Turkish at all. She debuted on 8 April 2013 for the Turkey U-17 team in the match against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during the International Women's Under-17 Tournament in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. She was capped for six games in the U-17s. In November 2017, Sucuoğlu was named to the Turkey women's team. However, she did not appear in the friendly match played against

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. On 7 April 2018 Sucuoğlu made her first appearance for the national team in the friendly match against the

Estonia women's national football team The Estonia women's national football team () represents Estonia in international women's association football, women's football matches and are controlled by the Estonian Football Association, the governing body for football in Estonia. Estoni ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sucuoglu, Dilara Ozlem 1998 births Living people Footballers from Troisdorf German sportspeople of Turkish descent German women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Turkey women's youth international footballers Turkey women's international footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen (women) players Turkish women's footballers 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany 21st-century German sportswomen