Türkiye will make its first-ever appearance in the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship top tier next week in Heidelberg, a landmark moment for a programme that has spent much of the past two decades battling to reach this level.
The team will be led by head coach Zafer Kir, a German-born coach with Turkish roots who has assembled a 12-player squad through two intensive training camps and a short run of pre-tournament club friendlies in Germany.
“This is a huge step,” Kir said of Türkiye’s rise following promotion from Championship II-A in Budapest in 2024. “When I played, the highest level we reached was the third division. I still think of Sheffield 2008 – we played England and Sweden – and Portugal in 2012 against Belgium. Now, we’re in the A division. It’s a huge step!”
To bridge that gap, they have undergone two intense seven-day get-togethers, one in November to assess the wider panel before trimming the panel for the second camp after which Kir named his tournament panel.
To counter-act missing out on traditional warm-up tournaments, they are arriving early on January 2nd in Heidelberg where they will play tune-up games against Mannheimer HC and TG Frankenthal.
Despite the compressed schedule, Kir said the team’s rate of improvement has been hugely encouraging. “The first day was very low level but then at the end of the training camp it was much better. They learn fast!”
His selection draws heavily from the Gaziantep region with eight of the panel from either Volkan Group SK, Gaziantep Hokeygücü or the famed Polisgücü teams. The remaining hail from either Konya and Alanya while Volkan Baser plays with DTV Hannover in the Bundesliga.
Kir described the squad as predominantly senior. “We have a very well-experienced senior team—there’s only the goalkeeper [Tolunay Kasim] he’s born in 2009. The others are much older than 21.”
Kir’s connection to the Turkish national team spans 20 years. “My first contact with the Turkish national team was in 2005,” he said. “I had my first game in under-21 in 2007 in Milan before I started my international career with the Turkish national team which finished in 2016.”
The indoor phase finished on a personal high, scoring the key goal to tie with Wales 3-3, a result which earned silver in Championship III in Vantaa and brought promotion to the second tier for the first time.
Kir also scored in his final outdoor international, a narrow 3-2 loss against an Austria side featuring HTHC club mates Xaver Hasun, Michael Körper and Benny Stanzl.
A number of selections link that vintage and the Heidelberg panel, namely Ali Akin Özkiliç and Celal Aydin, the latter being their top scorer in 2024’s promotion tournament with 14 goals.
Goalkeeper Necip Çilkiz, captain Onur Açi̇kgöz, Furkan Ataş, Müslüm Elagoz (12 goals in 2024) and Müslüm Ekinci were also part of that success.
** Kir pictured during his final outdoor international, right, against Austria
At the other end of the spectrum, Volkan Başer, Tolunay Kasim and Sait Can Kalkan are set for their debuts.
For Kir, the coaching bug had already bitten long before his playing days were over. He moved to Hamburg for university in 2008 where he linked up with Harvestehuder THC to play and subsequently work with their youth section.
Through that avenue, one of his first “minis” would be current Under-21 World Cup winning captain Ben Hasbach in the Under-8 team. This generation went on to win several national championships.
At the club, Kir was often tapped up for his contact book to aid the Turkish efforts, helping co-opt Christoph Bechmann in 2011 and Oliver Kurz in 2012 for their expertise. He also helped another German with Turkish roots, Max Silanoglu, to link up on the playing front.
Since 2022, he swapped Hamburg for Mannheim where he became assistant coach to Andreu Enrich outdoors – winning the national title in 2024 – and is now indoor head coach; he combines these with a coaching role with Germany’s underage teams.
It is this range of experiences which make the 39-year-old a neat fit for Türkiye with current federation president Mustafa Çakir particularly keen to get Kir on board.
“He was one of the first guys who took care of me as I arrived in 2005,” Kir said. “He asked me many times if I have the possibility to join the Turkish side as a coach… Now he is president and he asked me again. I said, ‘You are motivated, you have a good mindset, and I can support you.’
“The good thing is he’s the first president coming from hockey—he was a hockey player, a coach, a sports director. He knows the game; the former presidents did not have this same background.”
He also believes the technical level in Türkiye has risen and the squad can accelerate further with the right support.
“I feel they improved technical skills since my time. One or two players are at a very high technical level; they did it by themselves, learning by doing, trial and error. If there’s good know-how and education, and a strong trainers’ squad, they can grow very fast.”
In coaching mode with Mannheimer HC. Picture: World Sport Pics/Sabine Müller
Kir acknowledged the uncertainty that comes with stepping into the top tier for the first time. “We don’t know what we will face,” he said. “It could be amazing, it could be a disaster but I hope it will be a great experience for all the guys, for the federation, for the staff, and for me. We will give everything and show the best possible performance.
“In Heidelberg, we want to enjoy every single second and minute that we have because we don’t know what the future holds.
“Of course we are targeting Portugal and Czechia, but we also have to play against Poland and Austria. Our first goal will be to stay in this competition and have the possibility to participate two years later again.”
Türkiye squad: Ali Akin Özkiliç (Gaziantep Polisgücü), Celal Aydin (Selçuklu Belediyespor), Furkan Ataş (Volkan Group Sk), Müslüm Ekinci (Gaziantep Polisgücü), Müslüm Elagöz (Volkan Group Sk), Necip Çilkiz (Volkan Group Sk), Numan Poyraz (Metpack Alanya Yildizlari), Onur Açi̇kgöz (Gaziantep Hokeygücü), Sait Can Kalkan (Selçuklu Belediyespor), Tolunay Kasim (Gaziantep Polisgücü), Vakif Can Kilinç (Metpack Alanya Yildizlari), Volkan Başer (DTV Hannover)
Tickets for the group match days on Thursday, January 8th, and Friday, January 9th, are available at https://www.schauinsland-eurohockey2026.com/tickets.
Every match from the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship will be streamed live on www.eurohockeytv.org with an event pass for €11.99.
