FATMA ÇELİK - AMEDSPOR WOMEN'S FOOTBALL TEAM

Women have been playing football in Turkey since 1954, yet it wasn’t until 1994 that a women's league was established due to deeply ingrained beliefs that football belonged to men and that women who played were out of place or even banned from the sport. Founded in 2009 by the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, Amedspor Women’s Football Team brought together young women who had grown up playing on the streets of the city. The team climbed quickly through the ranks, joining the Turkish Women’s League in 2011 and earning promotion to the First League in 2017.

In 2014, the team adopted the name "Amedspor," highlighting its Kurdish identity—a choice that subjected both the men’s and women’s teams to intense discrimination and hostility, especially during matches in western Turkey. While the Amedspor men's team gained a large, identity-driven fanbase, the women's team saw little support despite back-to-back championships. This lack of visibility speaks to the ongoing perception that women’s football is either unimportant or not a “real” sport.

In this series, I document the young women of Amedspor—ages 16 to 26—capturing their relationships with each other, their city, and the game itself. I followed their fragility and resilience, moments of victory and defeat, the unique weight of being both Kurdish and female in a society that often sidelines both.