Turkey vs Belgium Nations League preview: team news, kick-off and where to watch
Turkey, pointless after four games, host Belgium in Izmir under interim pressure from a new coach. Here's the team news, kick-off times and regional broadcasters.
Turkey are in a hole, and Izmir is where they'll try to climb out. The Crescent Stars host Belgium at the Gursel Aksel Stadium in the Nations League with no points from four games and relegation looking close to certain. Belgium need a win to stay level with Italy, so both sides arrive with more to lose than their league positions suggest.
Turkey's slide and a new coach
Turkey went to the 2026 World Cup as potential dark horses. They came home having lost six of their last seven matches. The only win in that run was a 3-2 victory over the United States, which had already qualified and had little to play for. The 3-1 defeat to Italy that followed was the end for Vincenzo Montella.
Sergen Yalcin, formerly in charge at Besiktas, takes over for his first match. He doesn't have much time to change the mood. The obvious plan is to build around Arda Guler, who is 21 and the most natural creator in the squad, and Hakan Calhanoglu, whose range of passing has been central to Turkey's midfield for years. Whether Yalcin pushes them higher up the pitch or keeps them deeper will tell you a lot about his thinking after one game.
Here's the thing: a coach taking over in the middle of a bad run rarely gets a clean reset in the first fixture. Players who have lost six of seven often play with the handbrake on, and a new manager's first team sheet tends to show what he trusts rather than what he wants to be.
Belgium's need for a result
Belgium's situation is different but no less tight. Their last meeting with Turkey in the Nations League ended 3-0 in Belgium's favour, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring twice. That's a reminder of what he can still do when he's on the ball, and he returns from suspension after missing the 4-1 defeat to France.
Mark van Bommel has taken charge since Rudi Garcia's contract wasn't renewed after the World Cup. His record so far is two wins and two defeats. That's not a bad start for a coach taking over a squad mid-cycle, but it's also not a team that has settled into a clear identity yet.
The group permutations make this a two-match problem for Belgium. A win here keeps them in contention and sets up a winner-takes-all final group game against Italy, with a place in the quarter-finals on the line. Anything less and that route narrows fast.
Team news
Turkey XI: Çakır, Kadıoğlu, Kabak, M. Demiral (c), Aydın, Kökçü, Yüksek, Yılmaz, Güler, Akgün, Ünal
Turkey substitutes: Destanoğlu, E. Elmalı, Eskihellaç, Fakılı, Kaplan, Topçu, Uzun, Çalhanoğlu, Çelik, Özcan, Özer
Belgium XI: Lammens, De Cuyper, Mechele, Ngoy, Castagne, Tielemans (c), Raskin, De Bruyne, Doku, De Ketelaere, Moreira
Belgium substitutes: Cuypers, Godts, Keita, Lukebakio, Kongolo, Penders, Sabbe, Seys, Theate, Trossard, Vanaken, Vandevoordt
Kick-off and head-to-head
Kick-off is 5pm GMT, 12pm ET or 9am PT on Thursday, 12 November. In Australia that's 4am AEDT on Friday, 13 November.
The two sides have met 12 times, with Belgium winning four, Turkey three and five matches ending level. Turkey have the more recent home form to point to, but the last meeting in this competition went to Belgium comfortably.
Where to watch by region
Broadcast rights for this fixture are split by market, and a subscription that works in one country won't carry over to another. Here's how it breaks down:
- Turkey: free-to-air on atv and TV8
- Belgium: free-to-air on VTM, with streaming on RTL Play
- United States: FS1, available through Sling, YouTube TV, Fubo and DirecTV Stream. Fox One, at $19.99 a month, carries a set of Nations League matches including this one.
- United Kingdom: Prime Video, with a £2.49 pay-per-view fee
- Canada: DAZN, through its soccer package from CA$24.99 a month
- Australia: beIN Sports Connect, with a 7-day free trial and pricing from AU$16.99 a month or AU$169.99 a year
If you're travelling, check which service holds your home rights before you assume your usual account will work. Regional licensing is the practical catch with fixtures like this, and it's the detail most likely to cost a viewer their kick-off.
The match itself will show whether Yalcin can turn Turkey's midfield into a unit that works quickly again, and whether De Bruyne's return gives Belgium the control they need to protect their group position. For a team with no points, the first minutes will matter more than usual.
