by Izzet Inak

Created on: September 22, 2010

In Turkey, soccer (football) started thanks to the Europeans. Italians and British people were the ones who used to play and the Muslims only watched them during 1890s. The first team that was founded in Turkey was Football Club Smyrn and many other foreign clubs followed it.

It was 1905 and Ali Sami Yen, founded the first Turkish football club, Galatasaray and in one of his statements he said ‘’our aim is to play with foreign clubs and win victories’’. This statement of him was later to be seen on the posters of Galatasaray when the team won the UEFA Cup in 2000.

After Galatasaray’s foundation, there were several other teams that were founded in Turkey mostly in Istanbul. Besiktas was a famous sports club in Turkey but they weren’t involved in football since 1910 and one of the other famous Turkish team Fenerbahce was founded in 1907.

Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas were the only teams that won the Turkish League till 1975. A team out of Istanbul won the League for the first time in the Turkish football history, Trabzonspor. This wasn’t going to be their only victory; they won the league for five more times.

Galatasaray is the most successful club in the Turkish Football History. The only Turkish team that ever won UEFA and Super Cup. There are millions of Galatasaray supporters around the world. The team plays its matches in Ali Sami Yen Stadium but the construction of the new stadium, Turk Telekom Arena continues and planned to be in service February 2011. The team has yellow and red colors and nicknamed ‘’Lions’’. In the chants, the fans often use the word Cimbom or Cimbombom. Metin Oktay, Hakan Sukur, Gheorghe Hagi, Bulent Korkmaz and the captain of the football team Arda Turan are the icons of the club. Bulent Korkmaz is called by the fans ‘’Brave heart’’ as he continued playing in the UEFA Cup Final even he was injured from his arm and needed to be substituted.

Besiktas is the only team that carries the Turkish flag on its uniform officially. Called as ‘’Black Eagles’’ and the one of the supporter groups of the club is very famous around the world, Carsi. They currently hold the highest decibel record and the group organizes the chants and celebrations for the other spectators too. The team was very famous during 80s because of its victories and three players that organized most of the attacks. These players were ‘’Yellow

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