Football: Turkey to meet Austria in friendly Tuesday

ISTANBUL

The Turkish national football team will be hosted by Austria in a friendly match in Vienna on Tuesday within the scope of the preparations for Euro 2016 tournament in France this summer.

The match at Ernst Happel Stadium will kick off at 8.30 p.m. local time (1830GMT).

Both teams, Turkey and Austria, will be playing in the Euro 2016.

Turkey are 20th in the FIFA rankings while Austria are 10th.

Turkey recently beat Sweden 2-1 in a friendly match on March 24.

Galatasaray defender Hakan Balta has been omitted from the Turkish squad as he was injured in the friendly.

Austria boast three players of Turkish origin in their squad: Besiktas midfielder Veli Kavlak, Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Yasin Pehlivan and Ingolstadt goalkeeper Ramazan Ozcan.

Europe's top tier international football tournament, the Euro 2016, will be held in France from June 10 to July 10.

Turkey squad for friendly against Austria:

Goalkeepers: Volkan Babacan (Medipol Basaksehir), Harun Tekin (Bursaspor), Muammer Zulfikar Yildirim (Mersin Idmanyurdu)

Defenders: Gokhan Gonul, Sener Ozbayrakli, Caner Erkin (Fenerbahce), Ahmet Yilmaz Calik (Genclerbirligi), Caglar Soyuncu (Altinordu), Ismail Koybasi (Besiktas)

Midfielders: Mehmet Topal, Volkan Sen, Alper Potuk, Ozan Tufan (Fenerbahce), Selcuk Inan, Yasin Oztekin (Galatasaray), Kerim Frei, Oguzhan Ozyakup, Olcay Sahan (Besiktas), Arda Turan (Barcelona), Hakan Calhanoglu (Bayer Leverkusen), Nuri Sahin (Borussia Dortmund), Yunus Malli (Mainz 05)

Forwards: Cenk Tosun (Besiktas)

Austria announced their squad for Turkey match on March 22.

German football giants Bayern Munich star David Alaba is expected to play against Turkey. The 23-year-old left-back, who plays regularly for Bayern Munich, is known for his pace, dribbling and crossing skills and penalty and freekick abilities.

Goalkeepers: Robert Almer (Austria Wien), Heinz Lindner (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ramazan Ozcan (Ingolstadt)

Defenders: Aleksandar Dragovic (Dynamo Kyiv), Gyorgy Garics (SV Darmstadt 98), Christian Fuchs (Leicester City), Florian Klein (Stuttgart), Sebastian Prodl (Watford), Martin Hinteregger (Borussia Monchengladbach), Markus Suttner (Ingolstadt), Kevin Wimmer (Tottenham Hotspur), Andreas Ulmer (RB Salzburg)

Midfielders: Zlatko Junuzovic (Werder Bremen), David Alaba (Bayern Munich), Julian Baumgartlinger (Mainz 05), Stefan Ilsanker (RB Leipzig), Valentino Lazaro (RB Salzburg), Yasin Pehlivan (RB Salzburg), Christoph Leitgeb (RB Salzburg), Guido Burgstaller (Nurnberg), Veli Kavlak (Besiktas), Jakob Jantscher (Luzern)

Forwards: Marko Arnautovic (Stoke City), Martin Harnik (Stuttgart), Lukas Hinterseer (Ingolstadt), Rubin Okotie (1860 Munich), Marc Janko (Basel), Karim Onisiwo (Mainz 05)