Samet Akaydin

Samet Akaydin has taken an unconventional path to international football — spending years in the lower tiers of Turkish football before working his way up through Adana Demirspor and Fenerbahçe. A physically imposing centre-back who defends with aggression and directness, he earned Turkey recognition relatively late but has shown he can perform at the top level domestically. Now at Rizespor at 32, he is at the fringes of the national squad rather than its core. His story is one of persistence through Turkey's football pyramid, but at this stage of his career, holding down a place in the squad will require others to struggle.