Cem Keskin reflects on the highs and lows of his personal life and beach soccer career so far
Turkey’s representative in the beach soccer ambassador line-up is Cem Keskin, and this is his story…
The striker was born in Samsun, Turkey on the 9th of September 1988. He is one of three siblings, and has two sisters who are working as supervisors at BMW in Istanbul.
However, 14 years ago, tragedy struck the family, and Cem Keskin, at the tender age of just 17, would see his life change forever…
“Both of my parents passed away in 2005. I lost them both in space of a one-month period.” He shared.
But the young athlete kept to his studies and graduated from Istanbul’s Okan University with a degree in Sports Management and Science.
It was after this that Keskin’s career began to take off. “I always played football in my work life and now, as well as playing beach soccer, I am working at Istanbul municipality Sport Department.”
His beach soccer experience began when a friend asked him to play with a local team in Istanbul. “I was invited to play beach soccer with the team and I fell in love with the sport straight away, because I love doing fancy skills and tricks like the bicycle kick.”
It was shortly after this debut that he made the contacts that would shape his beach soccer life.
“Following that tournament, I met my present team mates and Coach from Alanya. They inspired me and from that moment I really began to be a huge fan of the sport.”
These people had a big influence over Keskin, as Turkey’s number ten expresses himself. “After I met my present captain Yucel and coach Adil, things began to develop very quickly in my beach soccer career.”
“I was invited to play for the national team and became champion of Turkish League. I also won the award for top scorer of the league. I can honestly say that my captain Yucel and coach Adil are the two most important people in this game for me.”
“We became like a family with all my team mates in this game. The bonds are really strong all across beach soccer.”
Sporting careers are often littered with highs, lows and bitter-sweet moments that define athletes as competitors and as people, and Cem Keskin shared one particular memory that has stuck with him…
“I will never forget being the second top scorer of Euro Winners Cup 2018, one position behind Llorenç. I also missed a big chance in the Euro Beach Soccer League in Nazaré when I had to share the top scorer award with three other players – this really affected me.”
The Turkish forward went on to share some of his best memories in beach soccer. “For us in the Turkish national team, the greatest moment was being promoted into Division A in 2017.”
“With my club Alanyaspor, we are currently the best team in Turkey and won the championship cup in 2017. This season we performed well in the Euro Winners Cup and finished as the sixth best team in Europe. This was the best period of my career and I will never forget it.”
