Leylâ Güngör

Leylâ Güngör — Biography

Leylâ Güngör is a women's footballer who was born and raised in Sweden, chose to represent Turkey and plays as a defender. She has played in the Swedish Damallsvenskan for FC Rosengård and Linköpings FC, and she is a member of the Turkish senior women's national team. She was born in Malmö, the second child of a Turkish father and a Swedish mother.

She started playing at five, following her older brother, and joined the mixed-gender team of Malmö's Turkish community, Türk Anadolu FF, with her parents' support; her grandfather took her to training while they were at work. At eleven she moved to IF Limhamn Bunkeflo, and Rosengård came afterwards. After a spell with the Sweden under-17 team, she accepted an invitation from the Turkish Football Federation promptly and enthusiastically, choosing Turkey. She understood Turkish but could not speak it well, so at first she talked to her teammates in English.

On 11 September 2010 she made her debut for Turkey's under-19 team and scored both goals against Romania in the first qualifying round (Group 9) of the 2011 UEFA Women's U-19 Championship. She was promoted to the senior team in 2011, and in her first appearance, a UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifier (Group 2) against Spain, she scored Turkey's only goal.