Hilal Başkol

Hilal Başkol — Biography

Hilal Başkol was born in Amasya on 10 January 1995 and is a former Turkish women's footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. At school she first took an interest in basketball, but her physical education teacher steered her to the school's newly formed girls' football team, with which she won a Turkish title. At the U-15 national team trials she caught the eye of the Gölcükspor coach, and since no league-playing women's team existed in Amasya she agreed with her parents to move to Gölcük in Kocaeli.

She received her licence on 22 October 2009 and scored 21 goals in 39 matches for Gölcükspor. In 2011-12 she moved to Derince Belediyespor, scored 16 goals in 27 matches and became known as the "super scorer". From July 2013 she played for Konak Belediyespor in İzmir, winning the Women's First League four years running, 2013-14 to 2016-17. In the 2015-16 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying round she scored her team's only goal against FC Minsk and also scored in the 5-0 win over Hibernians.

She played at every national-team level: she scored on her U-15 debut against Georgia, added three more goals at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, and then played for the U-17, U-19 and U-21 sides, earning one senior cap in 2015. She retired in 2017 and moved into coaching, becoming assistant coach of the women's national team in 2024.