Gençlerbirliği S.K.

Gençlerbirliği
Full name Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü
Nickname(s) Ankara Rüzgârı
(The Wind of Ankara)
Founded March 14, 1923
Ground 19 Mayıs Stadyumu, Ankara
(Capacity: 19,209)
President İlhan Cavcav
Head Coach Fuat Çapa
League Süper Lig
2010–11 Süper Lig, 14th
Website Club home page
Home colours
Away colours

Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü (pronounced [ɟentʃˈleɾbiɾliː]) is a professional Turkish football club located in the city of Ankara, which is the capital of Turkey. Formed in 1923, Gençlerbirliği are nicknamed Ankara Rüzgârı (The Wind of Ankara). The club colours are black and red. They play their home matches at Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium.Domestically, the club has won the Türkiye Kupası twice, in 1987 and 2001. The club also won the now-defunct Turkish Football Championship (twice) and Ankara Football League (ten times). Their greatest success continentally came in 2004. The club reached the fourth round of the UEFA Cup before losing to eventual champions Valencia CF.

Contents

History

Gençlerbirliği was founded in a slightly different way to many other football clubs, having been established by students from the high school, Ankara Erkek Lisesi (Sultani Mektebi). The students in question (Ramiz Eren, Mennan İz, Mazhar Atacanlı, Sait, Kenan, Nuri, Namık Katoğlu, Namık Ambarcıoğlu, Rıdvan Kırmacı, Hafi Araç, Ruhi, Sarı Ziya and Hakkı) had failed to be selected for their own school team, and asked one of their student friends, Asim, to talk with his father about setting up a football team for them to show how well they could play.

On March 14, 1923, Asim's father, the member of parliament from Muş Province established the team for his son and his friends. Since all the members of the teams were students he chose the name 'Youth Union'. They elected Sarı Ziya's father Faik Bey as their first chairman.[1]

Subsequently these young students wanted to play against the school team which had not selected them. Gençlerbirliği won the game, played at “Hamit tarlası”, 3–0. According to these young rebel players this victory forged the identity of their new team.

They won Ankara Football League 10 times between 1923-1959. They entered the Turkish National League in 1959 and played 12 seasons until relegation in 1969-70 season. They played in the second level until relegation to third level in 1978-79 season. They came back to second level after merging third level with second level after finishing 1979-80 season. They finished second from last in A Group of Second League, Sakaryaspor won championship, and had to relegation to regional league. But, because of increasing teams of the second level, Gençlerbirliği was readmitted. Gençlerbirliği won D Group of it in 1982-83 season and returned to the top-flight after 13 years. They relegated again in 1987-88 season. Finally, Gençlerbirliği returned to the top-flight in 1988-89 season, in first return attempt. Gençlerbirliği's the most successful seasons were 1965-66 and 2002-2003. They had 3rd in these seasons.

Colors

There are two rumors about how Gençlerbirliği got its team colors, black and red:

Rivalry

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

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. Another of Gençlerbirliği's young stars Promise Isaac received the 2005–2006 Turkcell Super League Individual Youth player of the year award.

Gençlerbirliği's state-of-the-art youth academy is in Beştepe, Ankara with 50 acres (200,000 m2) of training 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 other clubs in Turkey. Departing players are usually replaced with much cheaper imports from Turkey, Europe or Africa.

Honours

European Participations

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:

Season Round Country Club Home Away Aggregate
1987-88 1R Dinamo Minsk 1-2 0-2 1-4

UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League:

Season Round Country Club Home Away Aggregate
2001-02 1R Halmstad 1-1 0–1 1-2
2003-04 1R Blackburn Rovers 3-1 1–1 4-2
2R Sporting CP 1-1 3–0 4-1
3R Parma 3-0 1–0 4-0
4R Valencia 1-0 0–2 (aet) 1-2
2004-05 Q2 Rijeka 1-0 1–2 2-2 (ag)
1R Egaleo 1-1 0–1 1-2

UEFA Intertoto Cup:

Season Round Country Club Home Away
1995 GS Hapoel Petah Tikva 4-0
GS Strasbourg 1–4
GS Floriana 3-0
GS Tirol Innsbruck 2-3

Players

Current Squad

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

No. Position Player
1 GK Ramazan Köse
3 DF Burak Özsaraç
4 DF Aykut Demir
5 DF Debatik Curri
6 DF Ante Kulušić
7 FW Serkan Çalık
9 MF Yasin Öztekin
10 FW Ermin Zec
12 MF Randall Azofeifa
13 MF Oktay Delibalta
17 MF Hurşut Meriç
18 FW Hervé Tum
20 MF Soner Aydoğdu
21 FW Franck Mawuena
22 DF Efşan Geçgin
24 MF Özgür İleri
No. Position Player
27 DF Aytaç Sulu
28 MF Mehmet Akgün
35 GK Ferhat Kaplan
40 MF Cem Can (captain)
58 GK Özkan Karabulut
59 DF Mehmet Sedef
61 FW Emre Aygün
64 MF Oliver Ogbonnaya
77 FW Erdal Kılıçarslan
88 MF Joachim Mununga
94 MF Berat Tosun
DF Ergün Teber
MF Murat Duruer
FW Atabey Çiçek
MF Onur Bayramoğlu
FW Ersen Martin

Coaching Staff

Position Staff
Head Coach Fuat Çapa
Assistant Coach Eric Hellemons
Assistant Coach Bülent Kayıtken
Goalkeeping Coach Ümit Levent Zorluer
Analyst Hüseyin Özkamçı
A2 Team Head Coach Tarık Daşgün
A2 Team Assistant Coach Aykın Demir
 
Position Staff
U-18 Team Head Coach Veyis Kanber
U-18 Team Assistant Coach Ahmet Zorlu
U-17 Team Head Coach Niyazi Güney
U-16 Team Head Coach Düzgün Canpolat
U-15 Team Head Coach Yücel Koçak
U-14 Team Head Coach Tuncay Mocan
Youth Academy Goalkeeping Coach Mustafa Gedik

Source: Gençlerbirliği SK Official Website

Player of the Year

Year Winner
2004 Ali Tandoğan
2005 Erkan Özbey
2006 Lars Fredrik Risp
2007 Erkan Özbey
2008 Burhan Eşer
2009 Mehmet Nas
2010 Hurşut Meriç
2011 Oktay Delibalta
 

Source: Gençlerbirliği statistics and news site, in Turkish

Most Capped Players

Player Caps Period
1 Tevfik Kutlay 341 1959–72
2 Selçuk Çakmaklı 335 1959–72
3 Avni Okumuş 317 1983–93
4 Zeynel Soyuer 290 1959–70
5 Metin Diyadin 286 1988–98
6 Nihat Baştürk 279 1994–04
7 Okan Gedikali 274 1981–91
8 Orhan Yüksel 235 1975–84
9 Cemalettin Sakallıoğlu 235 1993–01
10 Mehmet Şimşek 233 1959–66

Source: Gençlerbirliği statistics and news site, in Turkish

Top Goalscorers

Player Goals (Caps) Period
1 Andre Kona N'Gole 73 (147) 1993–01
2 Avni Okumuş 72 (317) 1983–93
3 Orhan Yüksel 70 (235) 1959–66
4 Ümit Karan 60 (150) 1997–01
5 Souleymane Youla 56 (134) 2001–05
6 Muammer Nurlu 48 (150) 1983–89
7 Zeynel Soyuer 48 (290) 1959–70
8 Abdullah Çevrim 47 (154) 1961–66
9 Asım Gündüz 46 (124) 1972–78
10 Tevfik Kutlay 43 (341) 1959–72

Source: Gençlerbirliği statistics and news site, in Turkish

Former Players

Managers

  • Yüksel Doğanay (1960–70)
  • Oktay Arıca (1970–71)
  • Kazım Türesin (1971–72)
  • Yüksel Doğanay (1972–73)
  • Fehmi Baştüzel (1973–74)
  • Tevfik Kutlay (1975)
  • Avni Bulduk (1975)
  • Fehmi Baştüzel (1975–76)
  • Avni Bulduk (1976)
  • Oktay Arıca (1976–77)
  • Ruhi Yavuz (1977–78)
  • Fehmi Baştüzel (1978–81)
  • Mümtaz Tümer (1981)
  • Fehmi Baştüzel (1981)
  • Enver Ürekli (1981)
  • Teoman Yamanlar (1981–82)

Source: Gençlerbirliği statistics and news site, in Turkish

Presidents

 
Name Years
Münif Kemal Ak 1923–36
Saffet Gürol 1936–43
Namık Ambarlıoğlu 1943–44
Fevzi Magat 1944–46
Namık Katoğlu 1947–48
Yusuf Bahri 1948–49
Orhan Şeref Apak 1949–50
Reşat Taşer 1950–52
 
Name Years
Nuri Togay 1952–55
Mümtaz Tarhan 1955–57
Ahmet Salih Korur 1957–58
Orhan Şeref Apak 1958–61
Turhan Ogan 1961–63
İbrahim Sıtkı Hatipoğlu 1964–65
Muslihittin Yılmaz Mete 1965–66
İsmet Sezgin 1966–67
 
Name Years
Hadi Özbay 1967–68
Necip Türegen 1968–69
Mehmet Ali Tuzcuoğlu 1969–70
Adil Evrensel 1970–72
Sezai Diblan 1972–74
Hasan Şengel 1976–77
İlhan Cavcav 1977–

Source: Gençlerbirliği SK Official Website

Further Reading

See Also

References

External Links