Turkey

The Atatürk Olympic Stadium sits on the edge of Istanbul, a bowl raised for an Olympic bid that never arrived, and it is where Turkey stage their biggest nights — though for other matches the federation still turns to Fenerbahçe's Şükrü Saracoğlu or the smaller Kadir Has, so the national side has never quite settled on one home even as the Atatürk's own capacity grew to 77,563.

The Turkish Football Federation was formed on 23 April 1923, and the team it put out played its first international that October in Istanbul, a 2-2 draw with Romania. A century later the crest still carries the crescent and star off the flag, which gave the side its nickname, Ay-Yıldızlılar, and the red shirt with white trim has held to those colours ever since.

The high point came in 2002: a run to the World Cup semi-final in Japan and South Korea, lost to Brazil, then a third-place win over South Korea that remains the best finish by a Turkish side at a major tournament. Six years on came a semi-final at Euro 2008, ended by Germany. The stretches either side have been leaner — Turkey withdrew from the 1950 World Cup over money, lost 7-2 to West Germany in 1954, and missed Euro 2004, Euro 2012 and four straight World Cups from 2010 to 2022. Qualification for the 2026 finals broke that run, before the side went out at the group stage in June.

Greece has long stood as the fixture that matters most, without the rivalry ever taking on a name of its own.

No one carries the shirt's history the way Hakan Şükür does — his 51 goals still stand as the national record, the bulk of them scored on the road that ended with Istanbul's one true finish on a World Cup podium.