Çiğdem Belci (born 17 June 1987) is a Turkish women's football defender currently playing in the Women's Super League for Çekmeköy BilgiDoğa Spor in Istanbul with jersey number 33. She is a member of the Turkish national team since 2003.

Early life Çiğdem Belci was born on 17 June 1987 in Mersin, southern Turkey. She has three older sisters and a younger brother, who follows her footsteps playing in a feeder club in Mersin.

At the age of eight, she began playing football with boys in the neighborhood. Convinced by her daughter's interest, the father took her then to Mersin Camspor, and registered her. However, feared of her daughter's future, he wanted her leave the club. Her mother supported Çiğdem, and was able to stop the father's pressure. Her father changed his mind when she transferred to successful clubs and continued with her higher education.

She studied physical education and sports at Ondokuz Mayıs University in Samsun. After graduation, she was appointed a teacher.

Club career

Çiğdem Belci obtained her license from her hometown club Mersin Camspor on 1 September 1999, where she played until the end of 2007–08 season and capped 13 times scoring three goals. She moved to Mersingücü Cengiz Topelspor and after one season, she transferred to the Black Sea club Trabzonspor for the 2009–10 season.

The next season, Belci signed for the Istanbul-based club Ataşehirspor, and enjoyed two consecutive league championships in 2011 and 2012. She debuted in the UEFA Women's Champions League playing against Lithuanian side Gintra Universitetas on 11 August 2011. She participated in three group matches of the qualifying round. The next year, she played again in three qualifying round matches. However, her team was not successful either in 2011–12 or in 2012–13 to advance further to the knockout stage.

For the 2015–16 season, she signed with Kireçburnu Spor, which was recently promoted to the Women's First League. Belci serves as the captain of the team. In the 2016–17 season, she returned to her former club Ataşehir Belediyespor.

Beşiktaş In the 2018–19 league season, she transferred to Beşiktaş J.K. She enjoyed the champion title of her team in the 2018–19 season. She took part at the 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League – Group 9 matches. She played in one match of the 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying rounds.

Fatih Karagümrük In the 2022–23 Super League season, she transferred to Fatih Karagümrük S.K.

Beylerbeyi End July 2023, she transferred to Beylerbeyi, which play for the first time in the Super League

Galatasaray On 17 February 2025 she signed a contract with Turkish giant Galatasaray until the end of the 2024–25 season.

In the statement made by Galatasaray club on July 20, 2025, it was said that we thank you for your efforts and wish you success in your future careers.

International career

Belci made her first appearance in the Turkey women's U-19 national team in the match against Romania juniors at the International Norte Alentejano Tournament held in Portugal on 28 May 2003. She capped five times in the junior women's national team.

On 6 August 2003, she debuted in the national team playing in the friendly match against Russia. Her international participations followed at the UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying round (Northern Ireland, Croatia and Georgia), at the UEFA Support International Tournaments (Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Croatia, Malta, Latvia and Macedonia). Belci played in seven of the eight matches at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 5 matches (Spain, England, Malta and Austria) as well as in eight of ten matches at the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying – Group 2 (Spain, Kazakhstan, Romania, Germany and Switzerland). In 2013, she participated in all the three 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6 matches against English and Montenegron women.

Career statistics .

ClubSeasonLeagueContinentalNationalTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsMersin Camspor1999–2008First League11 2 – – 12 0 25 2Mersingücü Cengiz Topelspor2008–09First League17 4 – – 4 0 21 4Trabzonspor2009–10First League17 3 – – 4 0 21 3Ataşehir Belediyespor2010–11First League22 6 – – 4 0 26 62011–12First League19 3 3 0 7 0 29 32012–13First League17 1 3 0 2 0 22 12013–14First League15 1 – – 7 0 22 12014–15First League15 0 – – 3 0 18 0Total88 11 6 0 23 0 117 11Kireçburnu Spor2015–16First League18 5 – – 9 0 27 5Ataşehir Belediyespor2016–17First League23 0 – – 0 0 23 02017–18First League18 2 – – 0 0 18 22018–19First League0 0 3 0 0 0 3 0Total41 2 3 0 0 0 44 2Beşiktaş2018–19First League16 4 – – 0 0 16 42019–20 First League11 2 3 0 1 0 15 22020–21 First League6 0 0 0 0 0 6 02021–22 Super League16 0 1 0 0 0 17 0Total49 6 4 0 1 0 55 6Fatih Karagümrük2022–23Super League15 1 – - 0 0 15 1Beylerbeyi2023–24Super League27 0 4 0 0 0 27 0Galatasaray2024–25Super League9 0 4 0 0 0 9 0Career total292 34 13 0 53 0 358 34

Honours Turkish Women's First Football League Ataşehir Belediyespor Winners (3): 2010–11, 2011–12, 2017–18 Runners-up (3): 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 Third places (1): 2016–17

Beşiktaş J.K. Winners (2): 2018–19, 2020–21

References

External links