Besiktas Mogaz players make up the core of Turkey’s national team

Turkey’s men’s national team has started its preparations for the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 Qualification, strongly relying on players who also take to the court for handball history’s first Turkish VELUX EHF Champions League participants, Besiktas Mogaz from Istanbul.

The team’s 24-player squad, who will face Norway away on 29 October and Croatia at home on 2 November in Group 1, features six Besiktas players: Goalkeeper Yunus Özmusul, left wing Ugur Coban, centre backs Senol Boyar and Volkan Caliskan, right wing Ramazan Döne and line player Tolga Özbahar.

The majority of them are expected to play in the starting line-up which head coach Adnan Öztürk will field for the qualifiers.

Overall 23 of 24 players nominated play for Turkish clubs in the domestic league, with Can Celebi, who plays for Nexe Nasice in Croatia, joining the national team from abroad.

Turkey have never qualified for a major international tournament, but now try to make the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 in Poland the first.

"When we took over the national team four years ago, we focused on young and promising players.

"They are improving everyday but haven’t reached their full potential yet. These types of matches will give them an opportunity to gain experience," says Adnan Öztürk.

"We hope they learn to implement the requirements of modern handball soon and become international stars. Unfortunately, even though they had over 40 international appearances, we did not get the best out of our 1994 and 1995 generation

"Now, we focus on 1996/7 and players born even and expect them to make up the time we lost."

The national team will train at the THF Handball Hall in Ankara until October 28 and will then travel to Norway for their opening match on Wednesday.