Turkey or Turkiye? Why football fans may be confused by the spelling of the country competing in Euro 2024

Euro 2024 will be played from June 14 to July 14, and all eyes are currently on Germany, where the best teams in European football will face each other.

Since 2016, 24 countries have qualified for the tournament every four years, and the increased number of participants guarantees some new faces on the continental stage.

Despite not being newcomers to the competition, Turkey are once again a potential surprise contender in 2024. After being drawn in Group F alongside Portugal, Georgia and the Czech Republic, they qualified for the round of 16 as runners-up.

However, eagle-eyed fans will notice a change in the way the team is referred to by international media at this tournament, as well as on television broadcasts and by tournament organisers UEFA during the competition, with both Turkey and Turkiye being used extensively.

The Jugo Mobile explains why fans watching the country at Euro 2024 might be confused.

Is it Türkiye or Turkiye, and are they the same country?

What’s in a name?

Turkey head into Euro 2024 in a similar situation to Group F rivals Czech Republic, who have officially adopted a name change as they look to make that name common in sport, rather than their former name of the Czech Republic.

Turkey’s wish to be referred to as Turkiye was ratified by the United Nations in 2022. The request for the change was made by the Turkish government as they felt it was more representative of the country, being the most commonly used name by Turkish citizens.

However, despite general acceptance of the new name as the default (including by UEFA as part of the official Euro 2024 competition schedule), English-language media (including The Jugo Mobile) still routinely use “Turkey” when writing about the country.

This is partly due to the presence of diacritics (the accents on letters used in various regional alphabets) that are not used in English. The native orthography is Türkiye.

How do you pronounce Turkiye?

The name change means both Turkey and Turkiye will be used by broadcasters, media and fans at the tournament, with the new version being pronounced differently.

Türkiye is pronounced with two syllables like “Ter–key“, while the newer adaptation is pronounced with three, as in “Türkiye“.

History and records of Türkiye in the Euro Cup

Turkey has been drawn into Group F at Euro 2024, alongside 2016 champions Portugal, the Czech Republic and Georgia.

Turkey failed to qualify for the European Championship from its first edition in 1960 until its first appearance at Euro ’96 in England. From 1996 onwards, it qualified for five European Championships, with its best performance coming in 2008, when it reached the semi-finals.