Melike Pekel

Melike Pekel — Biography

Melike Pekel is a forward who was born in Germany, chose to play for Turkey and wears the number 10 shirt for the Turkey women's national team. She won the Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich, played for several clubs in France including Paris Saint-Germain, and joined Galatasaray in July 2025.

She started out in the youth ranks of FC Schrobenhausen; after finishing her vocational education in 2015 she began working as an optician. In 2012-13 she moved to TSV Schwaben Augsburg, scored 20 goals in 40 matches over two seasons and was top scorer of the Regionalliga Süd in 2013-14. In 2014-15 she transferred to Bayern Munich's second team, made her first-team bow in December 2014 and appeared in two matches for the side that finished the season as champions. In early 2017 she moved to France with Metz and joined Paris Saint-Germain the same year; she was loaned to Bordeaux in 2019, returned to Metz, then played for Le Havre and Reims. She left Reims in 2021 and, after a two-year break, played for Ingolstadt in 2023-24 and from 2024 for SKN St. Pölten in Austria.

She made her national debut on 19 August 2015 against Albania. She scored her first international goal against Romania in March 2017 and stood out in April 2017 with a hat-trick against Luxembourg in the World Cup preliminary round. She was in the Turkey squad that beat Kosovo in October 2025 and Northern Ireland in June 2026.