| Full name | Galatasaray Spor Kulübü |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 1, 1905 as Galata-Serai Football Club[1] |
| Nicknames | Cim bom Aslanlar (The Lions) Sarı-Kırmızılılar (Yellow-Reds) Avrupa Fatihi (Conqueror of Europe) Gala (Mostly used in Europe) |
| Club colors | Red and Yellow |
| President | Ünal Aysal |
| Website | http://www.galatasaray.org/ |
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (Turkish pronunciation: [ɡaɫatasaˈɾaj ˈspoɾ kulyˈby], Galatasaray Sports Club) is a Turkish sports club based in Istanbul, most notable for its football section, also known as Galatasaray S.K.. It also fields teams in Athletics, Basketball, Wheelchair basketball, Volleyball, Water polo, Swimming, Rowing, Sailing, Judo, Bridge, Equestrian, Handball, Tennis and Superleague Formula Motorsports. Galatasaray Sports Club is one of the most important members of Galatasaray Community as Galatasaray University and Galatasaray High School.
The football team of the club is the major team in Turkey, holding highest number of TSYD Cup, Turkish Super Cup as well as Turkish Cups.[2][3] Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in 2000.
İhsan Emre Vural and his teammate Ahmet Yumrukaya became the first world-champions in the history of Turkey when they finished first in the 2004 Under 23 World Rowing Championships held in Poznań, Poland. The club's Wheelchair Basketball team won the Champions Cup in 2008, 2009 and 2011. They also won Kitakyushu Champions Cup and became world champion in 2008, 2009 and 2011.[4][5] Galatasaray women's basketball team won the FIBA Eurocup 2009.[6]
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The name Galatasaray means Galata Palace, as Galatasaray High School is located near Galata, the medieval Genoese citadel at the north of the Golden Horn, also known as Pera (Peran en Sykais). Since the 19th century, the name "Pera" refers to the larger borough of Beyoğlu which includes the Galata.[7]
| Active departments of Galatasaray | ||
|---|---|---|
| Football | Volleyball (Men's) | Volleyball (Women's) |
| Basketball (Men's) | Basketball (Women's) | Wheelchair Basketball |
| Athletics | Bridge | Equestrian |
| Judo | Rowing | Sailing |
| Swimming | Water Polo (Men's) | Water Polo (Women's) |
| Galatasaray Tennis Team | SL Formula | Galatasaray Handball Team |
Galatasaray Sports Club was founded in the fall of 1905, by Galatasaray High School (an elite high school founded in 1481) students as a football club. Galatasaray's first president was Ali Sami Yen. Their first match was against Cadi Keuy FRC and they won this match 2–0.[8] There were discussions about the clubs name, in which some suggested Gloria (victory) and others Audace (courage), but it was decided that its name would be Galatasaray.[9]
According to researcher Cem Atabeyoğlu, Galatasaray took its name from one of its first matches. In that match, Galatasaray won 2–0 over Rûm club and the spectators called them "Galata Sarayı Efendileri" (in English: Gentlemen of Galata (City) Palace), and, after this event, they adopted that name and started to call their club "GalataSaray". In 1905, during the era of the Ottoman Empire, there were no laws for associations so the club could not be registered officially, but, after the 1912 Law of Association, the club registered legally.[10]
| “ | Our aim is to play together, to have a color and a name and to beat the teams of outside of Turkey. | ” |
Among with the founder Ali Sami Yen, the co-founders were the ones who were keen to do this sport, such as Asim Tevfik Sonumut, Reşat Şirvani, Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu, Abidin Daver and Kamil.
At first, the colors of the Galatasaray Sports Club were red and white. These are the colors in Turkish flag. However, Turkish Republic was not founded at that time. Therefore, this inspiration caused repressive administration of the day feel uncomfortable and the administration hounded the footballers. For this reason, the colors were changed to yellow and dark blue till 1907. In 1908, new colors were chosen as red and yellow. Ali Sami Yen stated, "We were imagining brightness of yellow - red fire over our team and thinking that it would carry us from one victory to another."[10]
While the football in Turkey began to fully develop, Galatasaray won ten more Istanbul League titles, six Sunday League titles and three Friday League titles until 1952. Upon recognition of professional football in 1952, the first professional but non-national league of Turkey, Istanbul Professional League played between 1952 and 1959. Galatasaray won three of these seven titles.
Türkiye Profesyonel 1. Ligi (Turkcell Super League today) formed in 1959. This is the top-flight professional league in Turkish nationwide football, and the most popular sporting competition in the country. Galatasaray joined all seasons and won 17 league titles since then.[11]
The Turkish Football Federation starts to organize "Turkish Cup" (today it is organized with the name Ziraat Turkish Cup) in the 1962–63 season for Turkish clubs to qualify for the UEFA competitions. This is the only national cup competition in Turkey. Galatasaray joined all seasons and won 14 trophies since then.[12]
The name Galatasaray itself comes from that of Galatasaray High School, which in turn takes its name from Galata Sarayı Enderûn-u Hümâyûn (Galata Palace Imperial School), the name of the original school founded on the site in 1481, and which in turn took its name from the nearby medieval Genoese colony of Galata. Galatasaray translates directly as 'Galata Palace'.
There is no diminutive form of Galatasaray. Fans refer to the club either by its full name or by its nickname "Cim Bom Bom" (pronounced 'Jim Bom Bom') or the shortened 'Cim Bom'. The shortened form 'Gala' is sometimes used in Europe/Americas.
It is important to keep in mind Galatasaray is a compound word and it is pronounced as such. The most common mistake that is done by non-Turkish speakers is to intonate as Gala-tasaray, while the correct enunciation should be Galata-Saray with a very brief pause between the two words.
Galatasaray wore red and white colors when founded, then played in dark yellow and dark blue in 1907-1908 season. For a match against the British Royal Navy cruiser HMS Barham football team played in 8 December 1908, Galatasaray finally settled on playing in red and yellow. Ali Sami Yen, the main founder of Galatasaray wrote the following in his diaries: “Our goalkeeper Asım Tevfik, left-forwarder Emin Bülent and right midfielder Ali Sami Yen are commissioned for the task of determining new team colors. “After we have been in and out of several shops, we saw two different elegant-looking wool materials in Fatty Yanko’s store at Bahçekapısı (between Eminönü and Sirkeci in Istanbul, now called Bahçekapı). One of them was quite dark red, resembling the cherry color, and the other a rich yellow with a touch of orange. When the sales clerk made the two fabrics fly together with a twist of his hand they became so bright that it reminded us the beauty of a goldfinch. We thought we were looking at the colors flickering in burning fire. We were picturing the yellow-red flames shining on our team and dreaming that it would take us to victories. Indeed it did.”
The red and yellow were inspired from the colors of the roses which Gül Baba offered to Sultan Bayezid II.[13]
| Color | Pantone | CMYK color model | Hex Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1235 | C%0 M%30 Y%100 K%0 | #FCB514 or #FFB517 | |
| 201 | C%0 M%100 Y%65 K%34 | #A32638 or #B50043 |
| Sport | Teams |
|---|---|
| Football | Galatasaray A.Ş. |
| Volleyball | Galatasaray Women' s Volleyball Team |
| Volleyball | Galatasaray Yurtiçi Kargo |
| Basketball | Galatasaray Medical Park (men's basketball) |
| Basketball | Galatasaray Medical Park (women's basketball) |
| Wheelchair Basketball | Galatasaray Wheelchair Basketball Team |
| Athletics | Galatasaray Athletics |
| Bridge | Galatasaray Bridge |
| Equestrian | Galatasaray Equestrian |
| Judo | Galatasaray Judo |
| Rowing | Galatasaray Rowing |
| Sailing | Galatasaray Sailing |
| SL Formula | Galatasaray S.K. |
| Swimming | Galatasaray Swimming |
| Water Polo | Galatasaray Men's Water Polo Team |
| Water Polo | Galatasaray Women's Water Polo Team |
| Handball | Galatasaray Handball Team |
| Tennis | Galatasaray Tennis Team |
The first boxer in Turkey was Sabri Mahir.
Galatasaray played during its first years in different fields, since there were not any stadiums in Istanbul. In 1921, the first stadium, Taksim Stadium opened.[15] Galatasaray played there until 1940. When the historic Taksim Stadium was demolished, Galatasaray decided to build a large, modern stadium. Due to difficulties stemming from World War II, construction was delayed for over two decades. In this period, they played in İnönü Stadium.
On 20 December 1964, Ali Sami Yen Stadium opened.[16] It is named after the founder of the club, Ali Sami Yen. It is in the Mecidiyeköy quarter of the Şişli district at the center of the city. In 1964, the stadium had a capacity of over 35,000. Today, due to improvements in security and prohibition of standing spectators, it has an all-seater capacity of 24,990. The nickname of the stadium is "Hell".[17]
After 2002, when Atatürk Olympic Stadium was built for Istanbul's Olympic Games bid, Galatasaray started to play European Cup matches there. The attendance record for a Turkish stadium was broken there, in a Galatasaray–Olympiacos match played in front of 79,414 spectators. But the Ali Sami Yen Stadium has historic importance for Galatasaray fans although it is smaller and older.[18]
The new Türk Telekom Arena stadium was opened 15 January 2011, and will be the new home ground for Galatasaray S.K., replacing the old Ali Sami Yen Stadium. The new stadium has a capacity of 52,695 seats.
Since 1998, after every goal scored by Galatasaray, the last part of the song I Will Survive by the Hermes House Band is played. Although the song is in English, the part used has no lyrics except "la la la la". This makes it easy for fans to participate.
In addition, before every game the Florida State Seminoles' War chant is played accompanied by what the fans call a "scarf show", where fans display and wave their Galatasaray scarves.[19]
| Office | Name |
|---|---|
| President | Ünal Aysal |
| Deputy President | Ali Dürüst |
| Vice President | Adnan Öztürk |
| Vice President | Refik Arkan |
| Board secretary | Aka Gündüz Özdemir |
| Treasurer | Adnan Nas |
| From-to | Names |
|---|---|
| 1905–1918 | Ali Sami Yen |
| 1990–1996 | Alp Yalman |
| 1996–2001 | Faruk Süren |
| 2001–2002 | Mehmet Cansun |
| 2002–2008 | Özhan Canaydın |
| 2008–2011 | Adnan Polat |
| 2011– | Ünal Aysal |
Galatasaray AŞ owns a chain of shops, Galatasaray Store, selling club merchandise in Turkey, Germany, Northern Cyprus. Shops are in İstanbul (24), Ankara (3), İzmir (1), Antalya (2), İzmit (1), Kayseri (1), Gaziantep (1), Mersin (1), Adana (1), Lefkoşa [20][21]
The club also owns an online betting company, GS Bilyoner,[22] an insurance company, GS Sigorta HDI,[23] and an Internet service provider company, GSNET.[24][25]
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