Women’s Football in Türkiye from The Perspectives of Female Footballers on the Field

Abstract

Women’s football in Türkiye, like in other parts of the world, is a relatively new sport branch. Women began playing football later than men, and the fact that it is a branch in which men are more interested and visible, has caused certain issues in women’s enthusiasm in this sport. The phenomenology approach was utilized to investigate the challenges faced by Turkish female football players in this study. Data was gathered using a semi-structured interview form and face-to-face interviews in this research. When the research findings were assessed, female footballers who took part in the study indicated that they had problems with ‘gender discrimination’, and they stated that the most significant problem faced by female footballers in Türkiye was ‘not being valued’. According to the conclusions of this study, it has been concluded that certain female footballers in Türkiye face gender discrimination, are undervalued, lack material and moral assistance, lack media support, and are unprofessional.