Turkish Crescent-Stars suffer humiliating 6-1 loss in Austria friendly

The Crescent-Stars trailed 2-1 at halftime before conceding four more goals in the second half, two of which were penalties.

This defeat comes just four days after Türkiye lost 1-0 to Hungary away, marking their second consecutive loss in preparation for the 2024 European Football Championship (Euros).

The 6-1 loss to Austria is the 15th time in their 101-year history that Türkiye have conceded five or more goals in a match out of the 624 games they have played.

Under the management of Vincenzo Montella, Türkiye had not suffered a defeat in their first four matches.

However, they have now lost their last two matches, first to Hungary and now to Austria.

In their last two matches, Türkiye have conceded a total of seven goals, with their only goal coming from a penalty scored by Hakan Çalhanoğlu.

This is only the third time in their history that Türkiye has lost a match by a 6-1 scoreline.

The first was in a friendly match against Poland in Istanbul on Sept. 12, 1926, and the second was in the 2022 FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers against the Netherlands on Sept. 7, 2021.

The defeat against the Netherlands under coach Şenol Güneş was Türkiye's most significant loss in 31 years.

Their previous biggest defeat was a 5-0 loss to the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in a European Championship qualifying match on Oct. 17, 1990.

The Crescent-Stars have suffered their heaviest defeats twice, losing 8-0 to England on two occasions and once to Poland.