A thought of the Turkish football team and its UEFA-AFC allegiance

Third-place.

Third in a FIFA World Cup. You can imagine this in Turkey after the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan. And more of irony: this is Turkey's just only second appearance.

Most of the Muslim-dominated countries do have national teams that qualified for more than a World Cup, but only two appearances is a surprise. Yet Turkey achieved the unthinkable that still, no Muslim majority countries could: finishing in the last four.

Ever since the Turks opted to join the European football family, the question has always lingered among the Turkish population that, should they have switched to the Asian football home instead, or stay in Europe for better football development. Many people question the same, why Turkey has little success in qualifying for more than two World Cups in spite of mad supporters?

Turkey is a country with a rich history. It was conquered by the Byzantine and the Persians for various eras, then the Arab expansion before the Turks settled in Anatolia following the Turkic migration westward. They founded the Ottoman Empire that would later reckon three continents before its collapse in 1921. Then, a secular, though unstable, republic.

Turkey has a vast historical connection with Europe as it attempted to conquer the whole continent, including besieging Vienna twice. It has also ruled the people of the Balkans, a region that was once known as the dump of Europe, as well as the Caucasus, for once the Ottomans ruled here, or even the Ukrainian/Russian steppe. The Turks brought many Balkan and Caucasian kids separated from Christian families by force, raising them with the traditional teachings of Sunni Islam. Therefore, many modern Turks carried the genes of the people from some parts of Europe.

I won't be surprised if Turkey is very much a football-fanatic nation. Look at the Eastern European and the Balkan nations, fans are passionate about football. They're mad, really. The Turks have always loved to fight for a football place. But Turkey's success is a modern phenomenon.

Turkey qualified for a major tournament, back in 1954 when the World Cup was held in Switzerland. It was the first time that Turkey took part. By that time, the World Cup's group stage was still very simple: play only two group games to determine the leader. If the score remained equal between the second and third-placed teams, a playoff would be taken to decide the winner, as there was no goal difference rule. The Turks did not progress, with only a win coming against South Korea 7-0.

Only by the 1990s had we seen Turkey really become more radical in football: German manager Sepp Piontek engineered a new Turkish team with German and Western European standards. Turkey went on to qualify for the first European Championship (Euro) in 1996, where the Turks lost all three games, the result which would be repeated in 2021. Subsequently, Turkey became a more frequent participant in the Euro, but going to the World Cup, it only gained a second appearance in 2002, where they made history indeed.

The question about the Turks is far from simple: does Turkey really regret joining the UEFA? I have remained the same issue after seeing the unfortunate performance of the Turks in the Euro. Strange for you, Turkey is actually the first team I supported - because of my anti-Croatian attitude after England was eliminated in the qualification by Croatia for Euro 2008 - and I was just a kid.

I'd be cautious about Turkey's taking part. They're far from being a loser in football - in fact, Turkey is incredible because of punching above the weight - but joining the UEFA has somewhat curtailed Turkey's chance to progress in the FIFA World Cup qualifications, a good explanation for the team's two World Cup appearances. As for the Euro, with the expansion to 24 teams, I can easily sense Turkey's growing opportunities to become a frequent team in the European football family.

Painfully, many Turks don't see any reason for Turkey to join the AFC, and in some aspects, I agree with them. The standard of Asian football is far more horrible than in Europe. You have to imagine stadiums in Asia have always been nearly empty, or partly empty. Besides, winning the AFC Asian Cup does not offer prizes similar to that of Europe. It is not a secret: even a group stage team in the UEFA European Championship got more money bonus than the Asian champions.

Turkish football supporters are renowned to be passionate and fanatical.

Turkish supporters can also be attributed a simple reason: they're fanatical: something most European fans found more familiarities with. Asian fans have been the opposite: they're not passionate nor even willing enough to support their national teams. Stadiums are barely filled with full capacities. By contrast, European football has offered an insane aura of fighting for glories in the European football frontier. Everyone in the world will agree with it, regardless.

Moreover, corruption and bribery are widespread in Asian football, something that differs from European football. I have lived for years to see the misery of Asian football quality and poor refereeing and I have already lost my trust in Asian football, even though I remain willing to see Asian football moving forward. A stark contrast from Europe where football is governed fairly. Of course, European football is far from perfect, but it is called the "golden standard" for the right reasons. Turkey sees European football successes as an aspiration to go ahead. And most Turkish people are in favour to stay in Europe rather than moving to Asia.

Then, the last issue is logistics. Asian cities, by flying distance, is longer than Europe's. This greatly affects how these Asian teams can play. Turkey found better chances to stay in Europe, where travelling cost is cheaper. Immediately, yes, they did it well. Besides, the Turkish professional league, the Süper Lig, is among one of the ten biggest leagues in Europe.

Let's imagine if Turkey had been a part of the AFC instead of the UEFA - they would've been in the same place with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Japan, South Korea and Australia, the current 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification would have seen Turkey, not Lebanon, on the last 12. And obviously, they would have taken a place for the World Cup. Players like Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Burak Yılmaz, Ozan Tufan, Ahmed Kutucu, Abdülkadir Ömür, Cenk Tosun, Enes Ünal and Çağlar Söyüncü would have been some of Asia's hottest players, perhaps far exceeding the likes of Son Heung-min or Takumi Minamino.

In my understanding, I see why Turkey is unwilling to abandon the UEFA benefit even though they have harder times to achieve since AFC is designated not to allow weaker teams to move forward, while the UEFA is. Unless Asian football becomes more professional, Turkey is likely to stay within the UEFA and will not change its affiliation. The lesson of losing Kazakhstan remains deeply relevant for the AFC.