Over 20 Super Lig players playing at World Cup

Turkey’s top flight is home to 22 players who are representing their country at the World Cup in Russia.

Although Turkey is not able participate in this year’s World Cup, Turkish football fans will at least be able to watch 22 familiar players who ply their trade in the Turkish Super Lig.

Besiktas and Bursaspor are have the most footballers in Russia with four stars each. They are followed by Galatasaray and Kasımpasa with three players each.

Besiktas’ Portuguese players Ricardo Quaresma and Pepe, Croatian player Domagoj Vida and Serbian defender Dusko Tosic who signed for China’s Guangzhou R&F will play in the prestigious international tournament.

Bursaspor will send Abdullahi Shehu and William Ekong to the Nigerian national team and Aziz Eraltay to the Australian national team.

Galatasaray’s goalkeeper Fernando Muslera will play for Uruguay, Yuto Nagatomo for Japan and Younes Belhanda for Morocco. Kasımpaşa sent Siyam Ben Youssef to Tunisia, Kenneth Omeruo to Nigeria and Trezeguet (Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan) to Egypt.

Other players from the Turkish league include:

Fenerbahce: Nabil Dirar (Morocco)
Istanbul Basaksehir: Manuel da Costa (Morocco)
Trabzonspor: Ogenyi Onazi (Nigeria)
Goztepe: Beto (Portugal)
Evkur Yeni Malatyaspor: Khalid Boutaib (Morocco)
Antalyaspor: Johan Djourou (Switzerland)
Aytemiz Alanyaspor: Lamine Gassama (Senegal)
Kardemir Karabukspor: Olafur Ingi Skulason (Iceland)