The Big Four Widen the Gap, Turkish Football Is Losing Ground
In the 2021-22 season, the total squad value of 20 teams in the league reached 1.09 billion euros, with the Big Four accounting for 51% of that amount. However, this figure has now risen to 64%. This season, the total value of 19 teams is calculated at 1.15 billion euros, while the players in the Big Four are worth over 735 million euros. This data reveals that over the past three seasons, the Big Four have become 13% wealthier, further widening the gap with the other teams.
Galatasaray’s coach, Okan Buruk, mentioned after their 1-0 victory against Corendon Alanyaspor that it was a challenging game, saying, “As quality increases, the league becomes more exciting.” His statement rings true: the closer the power balance is between teams, the higher the quality. However, recent developments indicate that Turkish football is moving in the opposite direction. Aside from a few exceptional seasons, the Big Four—Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Besiktas, and Trabzonspor—have historically dominated the Super League, and each year they build stronger and more expensive squads, while other teams fall behind.
Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, and Besiktas’s lost points are a ‘surprise’
The widening gap between teams is reducing the competition and excitement. Last season, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce finished in the top two, with a points gap of over 30 between them and their closest rivals—a memory still fresh in our minds! This season, barring Trabzonspor’s unexpectedly poor results, the Big Three are almost guaranteed winners every week, and it seems miraculous when other teams manage to claim points. Any match where Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, or Besiktas drop points is considered a ‘surprise.’
The cake isn’t growing, but the sharing ratio between teams is changing
Let’s back up this argument with some numbers… According to data from the globally renowned football statistics site ‘transfermarkt.com,’ the total squad value of Super League teams has averaged around 1.2 billion euros over the past three seasons. So, there hasn’t been much change in the total value of our clubs in terms of foreign currency. The change is in the distribution of the pie… In the 2021-22 season, the total squad value of the 20 Super League teams was calculated at 1.09 billion euros, with the squads of the Big Four making up 51.27% of that value.
If no measures are taken, the gap between the Big Four and the others will continue to widen
As you can see in the table below, the gap in squad value between the Big Four and other teams has increased every season. In the 2022-23 season, the Big Four’s squads accounted for 54.9% of the total 1.2 billion euros (658.88 million euros), 58.68% of the total 1.26 billion euros (739.36 million euros) in the 2023-24 season, and a full 63.95% of the total 1.15 billion euros (735.51 million euros) in the 2024-25 season. It appears that this gap, which has exceeded 12 percentage points over the last three seasons, will continue to grow unless preventative measures are taken.
