Teammates become housemates for women's team in Antalya

A total of eight players from 1207 Antalya Muratpa?a Belediyespor, a Turkish women's first league football team in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, are sharing the same house as they sweat over their team's success on the green pitch.

The club's new season transfers, Filiz Koç, Ya?am Göksu, Efsane Nur Düzparmak, Semanur Akba?, Serra Ça?an, Sude Topçu, Jacquette Ada and Adama Smith Dickens, all live together in a five-bedroom apartment in Antalya, sharing housework including dishes, cleaning and cooking. 

"The environment is very nice here; we both cry and laugh together which is also the case during the games. We win together and lose together," said Koç, a 28-year-old Turkish national team player who was transferred from German second league team Hannover Limner. 

Koç said she normally did not like crowded environments, but she saw her teammates as her family members.

"We do not have any problems here because we all want the same thing, being champions. This is how we should be a team as it is very important on the pitch," said Koç.

Another player of the team, Göksu, 20, said she started playing football with boys in her neighborhood when she was young and later became the only girl on her school's boys' team. 

Transferred from ?zmir's Konak Belediyespor, Göksu said she had no aim when she started to play on a women's team, but as she started to earn money from it, she got involved in football professionally.

"I came here [to Antalya] and I play here this year. I want to continue soccer in the best way, professionally. I already knew most of my friends at home. We are like a family here... When someone says something, no one says no or opposes it. On the contrary, we handle things together,"...