Turkey is in the process of becoming rugby league’s newest nation.

Club side Kadiköy Bulls, from a large and cosmopolitan district of Istanbul on the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara, have just arrived in Belgrade on a four-day visit that will see them undertake coaching and match official courses, play against Serbian second division side New Belgrade and attend the Serbian Cup final on Sunday.

“So far we have four clubs and Bulls of Kadiköy is the nucleus of rugby league in Turkey,” said their coach Julien Treu on arrival. “We are following all the guidelines of the Ministry of Sports to form a Federation, we have a player’s association and the next step is to have five registered clubs to complete our application.”

The touring party is made up of 27 players and management staff. Today the Serbian RLF has organised a level 1 course for coaches, with similar for match officials tomorrow prior to the match which will be live-streamed at sportuzivo.tv/v2/stream/index.php?channel=sportuzivo1 …

On Sunday, they will be guests at FC Radnicki stadium for the Serbian Cup final between rivals Dorcol and Red Star and the preceding Shield clash.

“This is great step forward for the rugby league in the Balkans with the start of the process that should see Turkey become a member of the European rugby league family,” noted Jovan Vujosevic, RLEF Regional director for East and Central Europe. “Turkey is very important strategically, not only for Europe but also for our colleagues in the Middle East.”