Esmeral Tunçluer

Esmeral Tunçluer — Biography

Esmeral Tunçluer was born on 7 June 1980 in Ede, the Netherlands. She is one of the best-known shooting guards in Turkish women's basketball; at 1.75 m she could also run the offence as a point guard when needed. She began her professional career at Beşiktaş in 1998, played for Fenerbahçe from 2000 to 2002, and then moved to BOTAŞ (2002-05). Later she played for Mersin Metropolitan Municipality and Beşiktaş Cola Turka.

In 2007 she returned to Fenerbahçe and stayed until 2014. In those years she won Turkish Women's Basketball League titles, the Turkish Cup and the Presidential Cup with the club, and Fenerbahçe reached the quarter-finals in all four of its EuroLeague Women seasons. She averaged 6.2, 8.4, 8.8 and 5.9 points in those four campaigns. She had also won the league title with Beşiktaş in 2005.

She was a regular for the national team for many years and played 170 times for Turkey. She was in the squad that won gold at the 2005 Mediterranean Games in Almería, Spain, beating Croatia 68-66 in the final. She represented Turkey at the 2012 London Olympics. She ended her career after Turkey's third-place game against Australia at the 2014 FIBA Women's World Championship.