Gençlerbirliği S.K.

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Gençlerbirliği

Full name

Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü

Nickname(s)

“Alkaralar”
"The Red-blacks"

Founded

1923

Ground

19 Mayıs Stadyumu,
Ankara, Turkey

Capacity

19,125

Chairman

İlhan Cavcav

Manager

Mesut Bakkal

League

Turkcell Süper Lig

2005-06

Turkcell Süper Lig, 6th





Home colours





Away colours

Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü is a Turkish football club from the capital, Ankara, playing in the Turkish Superlig. The name translates literally as Union of Juveniles.

1 History
2 Colors
3 Rivalry
4 Youth Academy and Scouting
5 Current Squad
6 Notable Players
7 Achievements
8 Trivia
9 Contact Information
10 See Also
11 External links
12 Further Readings

[edit] History

Gençlerbirliği has rather different establishment story then many other football clubs. Gençlerbirliği started by Ankara Erkek Lisesi(Sultani Mektebi) high school students (Ramiz Eren, Mennan İz, Mazhar Atacanlı , Sait, Kenan, Nuri, Namik Katoğlu, Namık Ambarcıoğlu, Ridvan Kırmacı, Hafi Araç, Ruhi, Sari Ziya and Hakki) which they were not selected to their own school team. These talented students choose one of their student friend Asim to talk with his father about setting up a football team for them to show how good they can play. In march 14, 1923 parliment member from Muş Province established the team for his son (Asim Kurt) and his friends. Since all the members of the teams were students he choose the name Union of Juveniles. They elected Sarı Ziya's father Faik Bey as their first chairman.[1] Subsequently these young students wanted to play against their own school team. Game was at “Hamit tarlası” and Gençlerbirliği won the game 3-0. According to these young rebel players this incident made their establishment a team.

[edit] Colors

Black & Red There are many rumors about how Gençlerbirliği got these colors;

First one, These young students went to a local linen store and only available colors were black and red. They purchased these colors to sew their own uniforms.
Another one, during that time İstanbul Altınordu team was famous and favorable in many Anatolian cities. Students bought ten Altınordu jerseys and team colors established.
Outskirts of Ankara during spring time will have plenty of Poppy flowers (Gelincik) and Gençlerbirliği selected this flower for its colors. Gençlerbirliği merchandise in its store usually called Gelincik by its supporters.

[edit] Rivalry

Gençlerbirliği's arch-rival is the neighbouring club Ankaragücü and derbies between the clubs are considered as "Derby of Ankara".

[edit] Youth Academy and Scouting

Gençlerbirliği has always been one of the teams in Turkey most notable for its talented young footballers that it procures through scouting both in Turkey and throughout Europe and Africa. For example Geremi was scouted and raised by the club, transferred to Real Madrid and later Chelsea. Also Gençlerbirliği's another young talent Isaac Promise received 2005-2006 Turkcell Super League Indivudual Youth player of the year award.

Gençlerbirliği built their newest youth Academy in Beştepe, Ankara with 50 acres tranning facilities (Beştepe İlhan Cavcav Tesisleri).

Gençlerbirligi has been run by the current president İlhan Cavcav since 1977. With Cavcav's help, Gençlerbirliği have become one of the more stable clubs in Turkey. This has been achieved mainly through the departure of the most talented players every season to the bigger clubs in Turkey. Departing players are usually replaced with much cheaper imports from Turkey, Europe or Africa.

For the last ten years the team has consistently finished in the top half of the table, and in the 2002/2003 season they were in contention for the championship until a month before the end of the season. The next season, they were eliminated in the fourth round of the UEFA Cup by eventual winners Valencia. In 2004/05 they finished fifth in the league, but with a large number of their most talented players leaving the club, they were again forced to confront the challenges of replacing them before the start of the next season.

[edit] Current Squad

Turkish clubs are limited to six players without Turkish citizenship. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player.

As of 7 December 2006:

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Recep Öztürk
2	DF	Adem Dursun
3	DF	Fredrik Risp
5	MF	Lamine Traoré
6	DF	Erkan Özbey
7	MF	Mehmet Nas
9	FW	Okan Öztürk
10	FW	Mehmet Çakır
11	FW	Mihael Nicoise
12	MF	Ayman Abdelaziz

No.	Position	Player
14	FW	Promise Isaac
16	MF	Hakan Aslantaş
17	MF	Ferhat Kiraz
21	GK	Ulaş Güler
23	MF	Haminu Dramani
34	DF	Eren Aydın
35	DF	Tuna Üzümcü
38	MF	Engin Baytar
44	DF	Erhan Güven
61	MF	Kerem Şeras
99	GK	Gökhan Tokgöz

[edit] Notable Players

[edit] Achievements

Ankara Football League:
- Winners(4): 1929-1930 Season, 1930-1931, 1932-1933, 1934-1935 [2]
Turkish Cup:
- Winners (2): 1987, 2001
- Runners-up (2): 2003, 2004

[edit] Trivia

Gençlerbirliği S.K. had 22 chairmans in 54 years and for 29 years İlhan Cavcav is the chairman. He is the longest serving chairman for a football team in Turkey. [3]
Vehbi Koc was the honorary chairman for Gençlerbirliği. [4]