Galatasaray Celebrates Its 119th Anniversary

The yellow-red giant of Turkish sports, Galatasaray, celebrates its 119th anniversary.

The foundations of the yellow-red club were laid at Galatasaray High School (Mektebi Sultani), whose history dates back to 1481.

Founded by II. Beyazıt in 1481 to train statesmen, the school took its name from the region it was established in, “Galata Sarayı.” The school achieved its modern status on September 1, 1868, during the reign of Sultan AbdUlaziz. With the restructuring of the school, the first real sporting activities in the Ottoman Empire began. Physical education was introduced into the curriculum by gymnast Monsieur Curel.

Following Curel, M. Moiroux, Signor Martinetti, and Stangali, who served as physical education teachers at Galatasaray High School, introduced students to gymnastics, athletics, swimming, rowing, and apparatus gymnastics.

In the following period, Faik Üstünidman, Major Mazhar Kazancı, and brothers Abdurrahman and Ahmet Robenson brought sports such as scouting, tennis, and hockey to the school. Under the leadership of teacher Faik ustUnidman, Galatasaray High School students discovered football.

In the early 1900s, football, which was played primarily among foreigners and minorities in Istanbul, began to spread among the youth at Galatasaray High School as well.

The club’s founder, first president, and number one member, Ali Sami Yen, narrated the founding story of Galatasaray Club in his book “50th”: “On 1 Tesrin (the common name for October and November in the old Rumi calendar) 1905, during a lesson of our literature teacher, the late Mehmet Ata Bey, several friends and I decided to establish a football club at Galatasaray.”

With the motto “Our aim is to play collectively like the English, to have a color and a name, and to defeat non-Turkish teams,” the club initially considered names like Gloria (Victory) or Audace (Courage), but ultimately agreed on Galatasaray.

Ali Sami Yen, who served as president of Galatasaray Sports Club from 1905 to 1919 and was the 889th student of the school, listed the 13 founding members on pages 181 and 182 of his handwritten “Galatasaray Terbiye-i Bedeniye Kulubu ” Ihsaiyet Defteri (Registration-Statistics Notebook) :

1- Ali Sami Yen

2- Asım Sonumut

3- Emin Bulend Serdaroglu

4- Celal İbrahim

5- B. Nikolof

6- Milo Bakis

7- Pol Bakis

8- Bekir Sıtkı Bircan

9- Tahsin Nahit

10- Reşat Şirvanizade

11- Huseyin Husnu

12- Refik Cevdet Kalpakcıoglu

13- Abidin Daver

Officially Registered in 1913

Despite being founded on October 1, 1905, Galatasaray Club was officially recorded on September 1, 1913.

In 1905, there was no association law in the Ottoman Empire, so Galatasaray Sports Club could not find the opportunity to be legally registered. After the Associations Law was enacted in 1912, the club gained legal identity.

Since it was mandatory to submit the club’s statutes along with the names and addresses of the founding members to the relevant authorities, members who resigned or returned to their countries after completing their education were removed from the first list, and the founding list was reorganized on September 1, 1913.

The new order of the founding members was as follows:

1. Ali Sami Yen
2. Asım Sonumut
3. Emin Bulend Serdaroglu
4. Celal İbrahim
5. Bekir Sıtkı Bircan
6. Resat Sİrvanizade
7. Refik Cevdet Kalpakcıoğlu
8. Abidin Daver

First Match

Galatasaray Football Team played its first match on November 10, 1905, in Kadikoy.

Considering the teams that still exist today, the yellow-red team, which is the first Turkish football team, played its first match at Papazın Çayırı, where the current Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium is located.

Composed of young high school students, Galatasaray won its first match 2-0 against a Greek team, Kadikoy Faure Mektebi.

Colors and Logo

The first colors of Galatasaray Sports Club were determined as red and white, symbolizing “Turkism.” Although the use of these colors was banned by the administration of the time, yellow and black colors were used for a while but did not become permanent, and the club adopted its current colors.

The founder of the club, Ali Sami Yen, described the selection of the colors as follows: “After visiting many places, we finally went to Şişman Yanko’s shop in Bahçekapı and stumbled upon two elegant woolen fabrics there. One was a deep sweet red, resembling cherry, and the other was a bold yellow with traces of orange. The shopkeeper, with a masterly hand gesture, combined the waves of the fabrics. A brightness similar to the beauty of colors created by the head and wing of a laughing bird was formed. We felt as if we were seeing the color games in the fire. We imagined the yellow-red flame shining over our team and believed it would lead us immediately from victory to victory. And indeed, it happened.”

Nevertheless, one of the founders, Bekir Sıtkı, claimed that the colors were inspired by the yellow and red roses given by Gul Baba to Sultan II. Beyazıt.

The club’s logo was first published by Ahmet Ayetullah, a first-grade student at Galatasaray High School, in 1923 in a magazine called “Kara Kedi,” which he co-published with Sinasi. Ayetullah used the letters corresponding to G and S from the alphabet used before the letter revolution in his drawing.

This logo was accepted at the congress in 1923, during the club’s 18th year.

Won the Gazi Bust

In the pre-professional era, Galatasaray, which won league matches played under various names such as Istanbul League, Friday League, and Sunday League, took home the first and only trophy organized in honor of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk during his lifetime.

In 1925, under the order of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, an organization was arranged in 1928 to raise funds for the Tayyare Cemiyeti, which later became known as the Turkish Aeronautical Association. According to this organization, a match would be held between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, and the winning side would receive a bust of Ataturk. The trophy, named Gazi Bust, was signed by sculptor Pietro Canonica, who also created the Taksim Republic Monument during the same period.

On August 10, 1928, at Taksim Stadium, the reserve teams of Galatasaray and Fenerbahce would also face each other the same day. The match between the main teams ended in a 3-3 draw, so the winner of the trophy was determined in a second match. Refereed by Besiktas’s Seref Bey, the rematch took place at Taksim Stadium on August 31, 1928, where Galatasaray won 4-0 with three goals from Necdet and one from Sadlı.

The yellow-red team experienced one of the most valuable championships in history by winning the only trophy dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk while he was alive.

The Gazi Bust still resides in the Galatasaray Museum and is used during memorial ceremonies held annually on November 10.

38 Presidents Served

So far, 38 different presidents have served at Galatasaray Club.

From the beginning with Ali Sami Yen in 1905 to the current president Dursun Ozbek, 38 different presidents have managed the yellow-red club over 118 years and 104 terms.

The presidents of the yellow-red club by terms are as follows:

• Ali Sami Yen (1905-1918, 1925)
• Refik Cevdet Kalpakcıoğlu (1919-1922, 1934)
• Yusuf Ziya Onis (1922-1924, 1950-1952)
• Ali Haydar Şekip (1925)
• Ahmet Robenson (1926)
• Adnan İnrahim Pirioglu (1927)
• Necmettin Sadak (1928-1929)
• Abidin Daver (1929-1930)
• Ahmet Kara (1930-1931, 1933)
• Tahir Kevkep (1931-1932)
• Ali Haydar Barsal (1932-1933, 1933-1934)
• Fethi İsfendiyaroğlu (1933)
• Ethem Mememencioğlu (1934-1936)
• Saim Gogen (1936-1937)
• Safat Ziya Kantoglu (1937-1939, 1944)
• Nizan Nuri (1939)
• Adnan Akıska (1939)
• Tevfik Ali Cınar (1940-1942)
• Osman Dardağan (1942-1943)
• Muslihittin Peykoglu (1944-1946)
• Suphi Batur (1946-1950, 1965-1968)
• Ulvi Yenal (1953, 1962-1964)
• Refik Selimoglu (1954-1956, 1960-1962)
• Sadık Giz (1957-1959)
• Salahattin Beyazıt (1969-1973, 1975-1979)
• Mustafa Pekin (1973-1975)
• Ali Uras (1979-1984, 1984-1986)
• Ali Tanrıyar (1986-1988)
• Alp Yalman (1990-1992, 1992-1996)
• Faruk Suren (1996-2001)
• Mehmet Cansun (2001-2002)
• Özhan Canaydın (2002-2008)
• Adnan Polat (2008-2011)
• Unal Aysal (2011-2014)
• Duygun Yarsuvat (2014-2015)
• Mustafa Cengiz (2018-2021)
• Burak Elmas (2021-2022)
• Dursun Ozbek (2015-2018, 2022-Present)

Unrivaled in Football Championships

Galatasaray stands out as Turkey’s most successful team in its primary branch, football.

The yellow-red team has reached a happy ending 24 times in the current league known as the Super League, which was established in 1959. Galatasaray is 5 championships ahead of its closest rival, Fenerbahce.

Since the 1962-1963 season, Galatasaray has become the team that has won the Turkish Cup the most. “Cimbom” has reached the final 23 times and achieved victory in 18 of those finals.

The yellow-red team has won the Presidential Cup, which pits the Super League champion against the Turkish Cup winner, 10 times and the TFF Super Cup 7 times.

Galatasaray has also taken the oremiership Cup, which was played until 1998 and matched league runners-up with cup finalists, 5 times. Additionally, they have won the TSYD Cup, a preseason preparation tournament, 12 times.

Turkey’s Only European Champion in Football

Galatasaray has achieved the greatest success ever by a Turkish football team.

As the most successful Turkish team in European competitions, the yellow-reds won the UEFA Cup in the 1999-2000 season under the management of coach Fatih Terim.

Before the 2000-2001 season, Galatasaray also succeeded in lifting the UEFA Super Cup under the guidance of Mircea Lucescu.

With a total of 78 trophies, Galatasaray is at the top, 22 championships ahead of its closest rival, Fenerbahce.

Success in Other Branches

The yellow-reds have achieved success in men’s basketball, winning the Turkish Basketball League 5 times, the Turkish Cup 3 times, the Presidential Cup 2 times, the Turkish Championship 11 times, and the Istanbul League 17 times. Galatasaray obtained its only European trophy in the ULEB Eurocup.

In women’s basketball, they have claimed the Turkish Women’s Basketball League title 13 times, the Turkish Cup 11 times, and the Presidential Cup 8 times. The yellow-reds have also lifted the FIBA Women’s Euroleague trophy once and the FIBA European Cup twice in Europe.

The Galatasaray Men’s Volleyball Team has won the league, now known as the Efeler League, 4 times. The yellow-reds have achieved victory in the Turkish Championship 12 times, the Istanbul League 16 times, and the Men’s Champions Cup once.

However, the Galatasaray Women’s Volleyball Team has yet to win a championship in the league currently known as the Sultanlar League. They have lifted the Istanbul Women’s Volleyball Championship trophy 8 times and the Turkish Women’s Volleyball Championship 5 times.

The Galatasaray Men’s Water Polo Team has also been league champions a total of 29 times.

In addition to football, basketball, volleyball, and water polo, Galatasaray includes swimming, rowing, sailing, wheelchair basketball, athletics, judo, equestrianism, bridge, and e-sports among its branches.

Active Membership Exceeds 11,000

Club membership at Galatasaray is subject to quotas and specific criteria. As of May 31, 2024, the number of active members was recorded at 11,460.

Galatasaray has 3,107 active members who have completed 25 years and have the right to enter the council.