İstanbul(Constantineopolis): Galatasaray (First Football Team of İstanbul)

Galatasaray Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Galatasaray, is a Turkish professional football club based in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the association football branch of the larger Galatasaray Sports Club, itself a part of the Galatasaray Community which includes theGalatasaray University and Galatasaray High School.

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.^[42]Galatasaray has won 46 domestic trophies, including a record 19 Süper Lig titles, a record 14 Turkish Cups and a record 13 Turkish Super Cups. It is one of three teams to have participated in all seasons of the Turkish Süper Lig since 1959, following the dissolution of the Istanbul Football League, and are the only club to have won the Süper Lig in four successive seasons.

Internationally, Galatasaray has won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2000, becoming the first Turkish team to win a European trophy, and one of the few teams in the history of UEFA competitions to become the undefeated winners of a major tournament, losing none of their games in the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup season. In the 1999-2000 season, the club achieved the rare feat of completing aquadruple by winning the Turkish Süper Lig, the Turkish Cup, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in a single season. Galatasaray is also the only Turkish club to have been ranked 1st on the IFFHS World Rankings.^[5]

Since 2011, the club's stadium is the 52,695 capacity Türk Telekom Arena in Seyrantepe, Istanbul. Previously, the club had played at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium, as well as a succession of other grounds in Istanbul, which included groundshares with Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe(İstanbul Anatolia) at the Taksim Stadium and İnönü Stadium.

The club has a long-standing rivalry with other major Istanbul teams, namely with Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe. The derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe is dubbed the Kıtalar Arası Derbi (English: Intercontinental Derby) due to the location of their headquarters and stadiums on the European (Galatasaray) and Asian (Fenerbahçe) sides of the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul.

Galatasaray is the most-supported club in Turkey, with an estimated 25 million fans worldwide.^[6]

alatasaray SK was founded in the fall of 1905, by Ali Sami yen and 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.^[7] There were discussions about the club's name, in which some suggested Gloria (victory) and othersAudace (courage), but it was decided that its name would be Galatasaray.^[8]

The first photo of Galatasaray (1905)

“	Our aim is to play together, to have a colour and a name, and to beat the teams of outside of Turkey.	”
—Ali Sami Yen

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 citadel of Galata (the modern quarter of Karaköy) in the Beyoğlu (Pera) district of Istanbul. Galatasaray literally means "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 a local Greek club and the spectators called them "Galata Sarayı efendileri" (in English: Gentlemen of Galata 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.^[9]

Among with the founder Ali Sami Yen, the co-founders were the ones who were keen to do this sport, such as Asım Tevfik Sonumut, Reşat Şirvani, Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu, Abidin Daver and Kamil.

Since there weren't any other 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.^[10]

While 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 the initiation of professional football in 1952, the first professional but non-national league of Turkey, Istanbul Professional League, was played between 1952 and 1959. Galatasaray won three of these seven titles.

2000 UEFA Cup Final match line-up against Arsenal F.C., 17 May 2000.

2000 UEFA Super Cup match line-up against Real Madrid, 25 August 2000.

Türkiye Profesyonel 1. Ligi (Turkish 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 19 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.

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.

There are many successful footballers who have played for Galatasaray and made their mark on Turkish football history. The team's legendary players include the 1930s national hero Eşfak Aykaç; Boduri who died aged 21;Mehmet Leblebi who scored a domestic record of 14 goals in a single match;Gündüz Kılıç nicknamed Baba(Father) who was the coach but also the player of his team in the 1950s, with great success in both duties; Bülent-Reha Eken brothers; Suat Mamat who made a hat-trick in the 1954 FIFA World Cup;^[17] Coşkun Özarı who devoted his life to Galatasaray;Turgay Şeren the heroic goalkeeper who was called "the Panther of Berlin";Fatih Terim, the team captain of Galatasaray and Turkish national football team for many years, who won the UEFA Cup in 2000 as the team's coach;^[20] Metin Oktay the legendary six-time top-scorer of the Turkish Super League;^[21] Zoran Simović, another skilled goalkeeper known for his penalty saves;Cüneyt Tanman who played a record of 342 games for Galatasaray;^[23] Tanju Çolak, an extraordinary goalscorer and the 1988European Golden Boot winner with Galatasaray;^[24] Cevad Prekazi, an Albanian teammate of Tanju Çolak specializing in free kicks;^[25] Taffarel the World Cup winner goalkeeper of Brazil;Gheorghe Hagi, the Romanian football hero who is still described as the best foreign player ever to play in Turkey;^[27] Brazilian striker Mário Jardel, who was called Super Mário by the fans and scored both of Galatasaray's 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 Turkish Super League history, with 249 goals.

Name and pronunciation

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.

Crest

The first Galatasaray SK crest

Galatasaray's first emblem was drawn by 333 [School Number] Şevki Ege. This was the figure of a spread-winged eagle with a football in its beak. The eagle was a model emblem that Galatasaray dwelled on in the beginning. But when the name did not attract too much interest, Şevki Ege’s composition was pushed aside. It was replaced by the current design in the 1920s. This replaced in 1925 by the current “Ghayn-Sin” crest, designed by Ayetullah Emin

Team colours and kit

Galatasaray wore red and white colours when founded, then played in dark yellow and dark blue during the 1907–1908 season. For a match against the football team of theRoyal Navy cruiser HMS Barham's crewmen, played on 8 December 1908, Galatasaray finally settled on playing in red and yellow, inspired by the roses which Gül Babaoffered to Sultan Bayezid II.

Since 1908 the club's home kit has typically been an 8-piece halved design. The shirt’s front, back and sleeves are made up of two alternating colours. This changed in the mid-1980s, when sportswear manufacturer Adidas began to provide the shirts. The club reverted to the "classic" kit in 2012.The official colours are Pantoneshades 1235 (yellow) and 201 (red).