The Eintracht twins want to go their separate ways

Das Frankfurter Universitätsklinikum ist ein Labyrinth, schier unüberschaubar. Ilayda Acikgöz ging dort an einem Juliabend schwermütig die Gänge entlang. Sie lief unrund. Sie kannte den Weg genau. Am Krankenbett ihrer Zwillingsschwester Dilara angekommen, hätten beide geweint, erzählt sie. Aber dann auch gelacht. „Das war so surreal, dass wir dachten, uns würde jemand verspotten.“

Gerade hatte Dilara Acikgöz nach einem MRT die Diagnose bekommen, die sie nach dem Unfall nicht mehr überraschte: Kreuzbandriss im rechten Knie. Es war wenige Stunden zuvor in Leverkusen passiert. Sommerliches Testspiel, Ballverlust, Antritt und als sie gerade in einen Zweikampf gehen wollte, habe es „krass reingestochen“ ins Knie.

llayda Acikgöz war mit in Leverkusen, und als sie ihre Schwester dort liegen sah, fühlte sie, dass etwas Schlimmes passiert war. Die 20 Jahre alten Zwillingsschwestern haben eine besondere Verbindung, haben ihre gesamte Fußballkarriere, ja ihr bisheriges Leben zusammen verbracht. Die beiden gibt es, seit sie mit 14 daheim in Schwäbisch Hall ausgezogen sind und am Olympiastützpunkt Stuttgart wohnten und mit 17 weiter ins Frankfurter Sportinternat und zur Eintracht zogen, eigentlich nur im Doppelpack.

Ilayda Acikgöz rushes to Dilara on the pitch in Leverkusen with a doctor and physiotherapist. And then in the evening through the corridors of the university clinic. Where she had lain eight weeks before, bandaged, deeply sad, full of pain. It happened to her during training when she shifted her weight, as she has done thousands of times, and got stuck in the grass. She immediately realized that something bad had happened. The diagnosis in the clinic was a torn cruciate ligament.

Not only are the twins both 1.63 meters tall, they have been through the German Football Association’s (DFB) youth selection teams together from the U15 to the U20, played almost the same number of international matches (36:35), and almost the same number of appearances for the Eintracht had in the league, cup and Champions League (21:20) and recently extended their contracts together until mid-2027, they each sustained the same injury in the same knee within a short period of time to.

They were able to complete the rehabilitation measures together for a few weeks. Ilayda Acikgöz, the long-haired offensive player, is now two months ahead of Dilara, the short-haired full-back, when it comes to healing. Accordingly, Ilayda hopes to be fully involved again in Eintracht’s winter training camp in January. Dilara, on the other hand, is aiming to return to team training in mid-February.

Since the sisters left home, their aspirations and everyday lives have been focused precisely on a professional football career. For the first time, they have now been torn away from the usual structure of training, games and travel. Since they started kicking balls to each other in kindergarten (their mother once played for Crailsheim in the second Bundesliga), it was the first time in the lives of the Turkish-born twins that they didn’t have a ball on their feet for three months. “Such a serious injury helps you to know yourself and your body better, to know how your body and mind act in exceptional situations,” says Ilayda Acikgöz. “From now on I will definitely prepare better for every training session and go to physiotherapy more often,” says Dilara Acikgöz.

The contract extensions that were secured during the convalescence at the beginning of November had been in the works for some time, and the two top talents now want to work together at least until mid-2027. As you are used to in kindergarten, school and football career, Plan A, which initially took place exclusively in boys’ teams from the F-youth onwards and reached its climax with Champions League appearances for Eintracht. How they are used to sharing every high and helping each other out of lows. This has been the path taken by the two, who once had half the Bundesliga behind them.

“The fact that we had each other during this phase after the injuries was very helpful in developing a positive mindset,” says Dilara Acikgöz. Missing out on the U-20 World Cup in Colombia was a shared painful experience.

Despite all the similarities and parallelism, it is important for the Acikgöz sisters to emphasize one thing: “We are now reaching an age where we would like to be perceived more as independent people and not just as the other’s twin sisters,” says Ilayda Acikgöz: “At some point A life alone will begin for each of us.” Dilara Acikgöz calls it “a goal” that we sometimes “go our separate ways and play for different clubs. Clubs won’t always be interested in both of us at the same time.” In the end, they are both aware that “we are also competitors.”

Last year, Dilara Acikgöz received the Fritz Walter Bronze Medal from the DFB, which is important in the industry. The question arose in the association as to whether Ilayda should also be awarded a medal at the same time. “No, I said,” says Ilayda Acikgöz. “I don’t have to be honored if Dilara wins something.”

Who knows whether each of them would have taken the hard path of leaving home at the age of 14 to develop their talent in a foreign environment. “In the early days and even at 17, you need each other a lot. But at 18, 19 years old, with more maturity, you realize that you no longer necessarily need each other just to not feel alone,” says Dilara Acikgöz.

Since their arrival in Frankfurt, which becomes very clear when comparing conversations with them then and now, the sisters, who initially seemed somewhat insecure and withdrawn, have become two mature, adult, self-confident women. Before their injuries, they fought for their playing minutes despite the great competition in the Eintracht squad with many seasoned, internationally experienced players (especially on the offensive). Even if they were still a bit away from a regular place before the injuries.

“Anyone who knows us knows that we are different types,” says Dilara Acikgöz. Ilayda, for example, was once the (elected) captain of the U15 boys team. Even today, despite her youth, she still strives for a leadership role at Eintracht. “I would like to be a player and person who radiates that she enjoys every moment, is happy and positive and is also there for the atmosphere in a team,” says Ilayda Acikgöz. “Yes,” says her sister, “Ilayda just does it. If she sees something that she’s interested in, she’ll do it.” She herself is “the quieter type.”

The older one observes and feels her way forward, the younger one is more bold and daring. What the two roommates, who are both aiming for distance learning after recently obtaining their high school diploma, are experiencing in these weeks with a slight delay: soothing, even cathartic milestones with a view to the recovery of their knees. Being allowed to go on the treadmill for the first time, being allowed to go on the trampoline for the first time – even if any jumping two-year-old would have cut a better figure there, says Ilayda Acikgöz with a laugh. Being able to put the football boots back on and run on grass was a big, important moment, says Dilara Acikgöz.

Similar to her ten minutes on the field against the world team of FC Barcelona last season, being on the field with players that she “looks at and wants to go to”. Ilaydas Acikgöz’s greatest moment in the Eintracht jersey was her goal in the European Cup match against Rosengard in the large arena in the city forest. She scored a dream goal from the edge of the sixteen-yard box, which she initially marveled at in disbelief before the well-wishers rushed over.

There has not yet been a Bundesliga team that puts one over the other. A question of time? Maybe so, says Ilayda Acikgöz. “At some point it will be a matter of time that we play and live separately from each other. That will be good for us too.”