Galatasaray S.K. (football team)

Galatasaray Anonim Şirketi (Turkish pronunciation: [ɡaɫatasaˈɾaj ˈspoɾ kulyˈby], Galatasaray A.Ş.) is a Turkish football club, part of the Galatasaray S.K. multi-sport club of Istanbul. Galatasaray is a major sports club in Turkey, holding 17 Turkish Super League titles and the highest number of Turkish Cups.^[2] It is one of the three European clubs to ever achieve a continental quadruple, by winning the UEFA Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, the Turkish Super League Championship and the Turkish Cup in 2000. The club's colors are red and yellow, and their home stadium is the Türk Telekom Arena.

History

Galatasaray Sports Club was founded in the fall of 1905, by Galatasaray High School (a 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 FC and they won this match by 2–0.^[3] There were discussions about the club's name, in which some suggested Gloria (victory) and others Audace (courage), but it was decided that its name would be Galatasaray.^[4]

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'.

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 City Palace), and, after this incident, they adopted that name and started to call their club "Galata Sarayı". 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.^[5]

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 the Turkish flag. However, the 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 until 1907. In 1908, new colors were chosen as red and yellow. Ali Sami Yen stated, "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."^[5]

Since there were not any Turkish teams, Galatasaray joined the Istanbul League that was consisting of English and Greek teams in the season of 1905–1906. With their first championship title they won in 1907–1908, they heralded the beginning of Turkish football history.^[6]

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. Galatasaray is also the first Turkish team among the big teams (Besiktas, Fenerbahce) who is relegated to 2nd division.

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.

The Turkish Football Federation starts to organize "Turkish Cup" (today it is organized with the name Fortis Turkey 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.^[7]

Probably the greatest record that club holds is winning national championships in 15 different sport branches in 1986–87 season.

Galatasaray's most successful era came in late 1990s, when the club become the first Turkish football club ever to win a European trophy. They were aided in this by one of Turkey's best generation of home grown footballers who went on to finish third in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and played quarter finals of UEFA Euro 2000. Besides the talented players, visiting teams also disliked traveling into Ali Sami Yen Stadium which is literally called "Hell" by the supporters of Galatasaray due to the intimidating atmosphere provided by the fans including chants and riots in the crowds.^[8]

There are many successful footballers that have played for Galatasaray and made their mark on Turkish football history. Few examples may be 1930s national hero Eşfak Aykaç,^[9] Boduri who died aged 21,^[10] Mehmet Leblebi who scored a domestic record of 14 goals in a single match,^[11] Gündüz Kılıç nicknamed Baba (father) who was the coach but also the player of his team in 1950s with great success on both,^[12] Bülent-Reha Eken brothers, Suat Mamat who made a hat-trick in 1954 FIFA World Cup,^[13] Coşkun Özarı a life devoted to Galatasaray,^[14] Turgay Şeren the heroic goalkeeper that called "the Panther of Berlin",^[15] Fatih Terim the team captain of Galatasaray and Turkish National Football team for years and won Uefa Cup at 2000 as the coach,^[16] Metin Oktay the legendary six time top scorer of the Turkish league,^[17] Zoran Simović another skilled goalkeeper known for his penalty saves,^[18] Cüneyt Tanman who played a record of 342 games for Galatasaray,^[19] Tanju Çolak an extraordinary goalscorer and European Golden Boot 1988 winner with Galatasaray,^[20] Cevad Prekazi an Albanian teammate of Tanju specializing in free kicks,^[21] Taffarel the world cup winner goalkeeper of Brazil,^[22] Gheorghe Hagi, the Romanian football hero who is still described as the best foreign player ever to play in Turkey,^[23] Brazilian striker Mário Jardel, who was called Super Mário by the fans and scored Galatasarays only two goals in the European Super Cup Final in 2000 against Real Madrid, and last but not least, Hakan Şükür, the player who scored most goals in the first division of Turkish football history (249 goals).

Name and Pronunciation

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.^[24]

Team colors and kit

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.^[25]

The official color codes

Home kit

The Galatasaray AŞ home kit have always been fundamentally the same since 1908. The two team colours, yellow and red, split across the shirt. The part at the logo side is red and the other one yellow. The back is the same as the front, making it looking halved also from the side. So the home kit exists of eight parts. The sleeve next to the red body part is yellow and the other one yellow. The shorts are white and the socks red. This classic combination has been used during Ali Sami Yen era as Galatasaray SK president. From 1925-1950, 1987-1991 and 2009-2012 the club used beside the classic style also a back to front style of the halved kit. The shorts stayed white till 1983. Like many other turkish clubs in the 1980s the club started to wear a colorful (red) short. A black short was mainly used during Fatih Terim's time as Galatasaray SK manager in the late 1990s and from 2002-2004. The colour of the shorts were black in the 1920s-1940s and at the black short periods. Because of lack of money the club used to wear standard kits with standard red and yellow colours, which were more brighter than the original colours. From 1943-1983 the red tone stayed mainly the same, but the yellow was still standard like Göztepe SK or Kayserispor. For the 100th anniversary year former Galatasaray SK president Özhan Canaydın brought back the original colours. In some years the clubs also used striped kits as an alternative for the halved one. Ironically the club won the 2000 UEFA Cup Final and the 2000 UEFA Super Cup with striped kits. Since 2008 the club uses again white shorts and for the first time as first alternative / choice white socks. Because of this and the fact that the club uses the back to front style of the halved kit style since 2009 the fans started a campaign to bring back the real classic Galatasray SK home kit back.^[27]

Away kit

Since 1963-1964^[28] the Galatasaray AŞ away strip has more often than not been a white shirt, white shorts and white socks with some red and yellow elements at the sleeves or collar. It is also one of the favourite kits every year, because the club won the 2000 UEFA Cup Final in an all white strip.

Kit history

Stadium

When Galatasaray were formed no Turkish teams had their own home ground, and all games in the Istanbul Football League took place at Papazın Çayırı - now the site of Fenerbahçe's Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium. In 1921 the city's first proper football stadium was constructed, Taksim Stadium, which was used as the home ground for all of Istanbul's teams.^[29] When historic Taksim Stadium was demolished in 1940, 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 Şeref Stadi and Dolmabahçe Stadi

Ali Sami Yen Stadi

On 20 December 1964, Ali Sami Yen Stadium opened.^[30] Named after the founder of Galatasaray, Ali Sami Yen, it is in the Mecidiyeköy quarter of the Şişli district at the center of the city. In 1964, the stadium had capacity over 35,000. Today, due to improvements in security and prohibition of non-seater spectators, it has an all-seater capacity of 24,990.^[31]

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 among Turkish stadiums was broken there, in Galatasaray–Olympiacos match played in front of 79,414 spectators. Yet, Ali Sami Yen Stadium has historic importance for Galatasaray fans although it is smaller and older.^[32]

Türk Telekom Arena

The new home ground of Galatasaray is the newly built Türk Telekom Arena in the Aslantepe quarter near Maslak financial district in Şişli. The new stadium, which was opened 15 January 2011, has a capacity of 52,695 seats, making it the largest private stadium owned by a club in Turkey.^[33]

Stadium Anthem

Since 1998, after every goal scored by Galatasaray, the last part of the song I Will Survive by the Hermes House Band played. Although the song is in English, the part used has no lyrics except "la la la la". In addition, before every game the Florida State Warchant is played accompanied by what the fans call a "scarf show" where fans display and wave their Galatasaray scarves, banners and flags.A lot of people call stadium 'Cehennem' (hell) because of stadium anthem

Stadium history

Player records

• Most Süper Lig appearances
  • Bülent Korkmaz – 430
• Most Süper Lig goals
  • Hakan Şükür – 228

Supporters and rivalries

European matches

Galatasaray fans attach high importance to European competitions, and Galatasaray is known as the Conqueror of Europe by their fans. This nickname underlines the importance of the UEFA Cup and Super Cup Galatasaray managed to win during the 1999–2000 season. Galatasaray fans also have a reputation in Europe as being one of the fiercest in the world, along with ultrAslan. Ryan Giggs once said I've never experienced anything like Galatasaray. Two hours before kick-off, we went out to have a look at the pitch and the stadium was packed! The chanting was brilliant: one side starts, then the other, then quiet, then all of them chanting! The players really enjoyed it. Before it was good, after it wasn't!'^{[35] [36]}

Record

Galatasaray fans broke the "loudest crowd roar at a sport stadium" record on 18 March 2011 at Galatasaray’s new stadium Türk Telekom Arena in Istanbul. A peak reading of 131.76 dBA was recorded.^[37]

Istanbul derbies

"The big three" clubs of Istanbul, Beşiktaş J.K., Fenerbahçe S.K. and Galatasaray S.K. have a century-long history of rivalry. Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray rivalry is the primary Istanbul derby and the most important rivalry in Turkish football. The rivalry has led to violence among supporters on numerous occasions.^[38] Other top level İstanbul derbies include the teams; İstanbul BB and Kasımpaşa although these teams pose a minor rivalry as the history and the nation-wide attention to the derbies among the big three is unmatched.

Torches, smoke, drums, flags and giant posters used to create visual grandeur and apply psychological pressure on visiting teams, which fans call "welcoming them to hell".^[39]

Honours and achievements

International competitions

• UEFA Super Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2000

• UEFA Europa League:
  • Winners (1): 1999-2000

• UEFA Champions League:
  • Semi-Finals (1): 1988–1989
  • Quarter-Finals (4): 1962–1963, 1969–1970, 1993–1994, 2000–2001

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:
  • Quarter-Finals (1): 1991–1992

Domestic competitions

• Süper Lig:
  • Winners (17): 1961-62, 1962-63, 1968-69, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2005-06, 2007-08
  • Runners-up (9): 1959, 1960-61, 1965-66, 1974-75, 1978-79, 1985-86, 1990-91, 2000-01, 2002-03

• Türkiye Kupası: (record)
  • Winners (14): 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2005
  • Runners-up (5): 1969, 1980, 1994, 1995, 1998

• Süper Kupa: (record)
  • Winners (11): 1966, 1969, 1972, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2008
  • Runners-up (7): 1971, 1973, 1976, 1985, 1994, 1998, 2006

Defunct Domestic competitions

• Milli Küme Şampiyonası:
  • Winners (1): 1938-39

• Chancellor Cup:
  • Winners (5): 1975, 1979, 1986, 1990, 1995

• TSYD Cup: (shared-record)
  • Winners (12): 1963, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1977, 1981, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1997, 1998, 1999

• Atatürk Gazi Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1928

• 50. Yıl Cup:
  • Winners (1):1973

Defunct Regional Titles

• Istanbul Football League: (shared-record)
  • Winners (15): 1908-09, 1909–10, 1910–11, 1914–15, 1915–16, 1921–22, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1948–49, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1957–58

• Istanbul Football Cup: (shared-record)
  • Winners (2): 1942, 1943

• Istanbul Shield:
  • Winners (1): 1932-33

• Union Club Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1909

Current squad

As of 15 September 2011

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Reserves and Academy squad

Former players

For details on former players, see Category:Galatasaray S.K. footballers, List of Galatasaray S.K. footballers and List of foreign football players in Galatasaray.

Club captains

Presidents

Club officials

Football Management Trade I.C.

Coaching staff

Managerial history

Recent seasons

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe		Manager
2005/06	TS	1	34	26	5	3	82	34	83		UC	1st round	Eric Gerets
2006/07	TS	3	34	15	11	8	58	37	56		UCL	group stage	Eric Gerets
2007/08	TS	1	34	24	7	3	64	23	79		UC	3rd round	Karl-Heinz Feldkamp/Cevat Güler
2008/09	TS	5	34	17	8	9	57	39	61		UC	last 16	Michael Skibbe/Bülent Korkmaz
2009/10	TS	3	34	19	7	8	61	35	64		UC	last 32	Frank Rijkaard
2010/11	TS	8	34	14	4	16	41	46	46		UC	Play-off round	Frank Rijkaard/Gheorghe Hagi/Bülent Ünder

Last updated: 23 May 2011
¹ Galatasaray SK started season in UCL but joined UC after group stage.
Div. = Division;TS = Turkcell Super League; Pos. = Position; Pl = Match played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lost; GS = Goal Scored; GA = Goal Against; P = Points
UCL = UEFA Champions League; UCWC = UEFA Cup Winners' Cup; UC = UEFA Cup; Cup = Fortis Turkey Cup. Colors: Gold = winner; Silver = runner-up.

Youth Facilities

Galatasaray has one of the most successful youth facilities in Turkey.^[40] Gündüz Kılıç Youth Facilities in Florya is the center of the department. Club has been supporting and serving Turkish Football since the Republican Period has given more than 300 footballers to the National teams.

The goal is to raise footballers who are loyal to Galatasaray traditions, who can develop creative ideas, have a high standard of capturing strategical points, fast, technical, powerful, determined, loyal to fair play principles and have respect for the arbitrager, rival and supporters.

Galatasaray Star Team became champions in Europe recently, and Galatasaray S.K. PAF were the champions for three consecutive years in Turkish Youth League between the years 2005–2007 (For the 2007–2008 season, they finished runners-up after Sivasspor).^[41]

Football Academy

Galatasaray football academy trains children between seven and fifteen. This organization is open for the whole year and gives education on technical and strategical areas in football by giving an opportunity to kids to practice what they learn during the lessons.

The organization consists of 75 football academies that are located in Turkey and elsewhere:

Turkey

Adana, Adıyaman, Ankara (3), Antalya (3), Bandırma, Batman, Bursa, Bingöl,Çorlu, Çorum, Denizli, Düzce, Edirne, Elazığ, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Gebze, Gölcük, Hatay, İnegöl, İzmir, İstanbul European Side(22), Istanbul Asian Side(12) Kahramanmaraş, Karaman, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Kuşadası, Ordu, Malatya, Manisa, Mersin, Midyat, Nusaybin, Sakarya, Torbalı and Zonguldak.

Australia

Melbourne (2)

Netherlands

Rotterdam, Den Haag, Amsterdam

United Kingdom

London

Sponsorship

Companies that Galatasaray S.K. currently has sponsorship deals with include.

Notes

References

• Birand, M. A., & Polat, M. M. (2006). Passion that continues for 100 years. İstanbul: D Yapım. OCLC 164788939
• Turagay, U., Özgün, G., Gökçin, B., Ahunbay (2006). 17 May: The story of a championship. İstanbul: D Yapım. OCLC 169899400
• Hasol, D. (2004). Dreams/realities in Galatasaray. İstanbul: Yapı Yayın. ISBN 978-975-8599-44-8
• Tuncay, B. (2003). Galatasaray with European Success and Notable Players. Yapı Kredi Kü̈ltü̈r Sanat Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-975-08-0427-4
• Yamak, O. (2001). Galatasaray: Story of 95 years. Sinerji. OCLC 59287768
• Çakar, A. (1995). 90 questions about history of Galatasaray SK. Cağaloğlu, İstanbul: Demir Ajans Yayınları. OCLC 42434622
• Tekil, S. (1986). History of Galatasaray, 1905–1985. Galatasaray Spor Kulübü. OCLC 25025508
• Tekil, S. (1983). Galatasaray 1905–1982: Memories. Arset Matbaacılık Koll. Şti. OCLC 62614035
• İsfendiyar, F. (1952). History of Galatasaray. İstanbul: [Doğan Kardeş yayınları]. OCLC 27753643

External links

• (Turkish) (English) (French) Galatasaray Sports Club Official Website
• (Turkish) (English) (French) Galatasaray Sports Club Official Facebook
• (Turkish) ultrAslan Supporters' Group
• (Turkish) Galatasaray Multimedia Archives
• (Turkish) Galatasaray SK on Twitter