İstanbulspor

History

İstanbulspor was founded by Kemal Halim Gürgen, also known by his native Albanian name of Qemal Omari and Istanbul Boys High School students. It was founded on 4 January 1926, being one of the first sports clubs of the Turkish Republican period. In the 1931–32 season, İstanbulspor won both the Istanbul League and Turkish Football Championship.

Until 1990, the club was managed by the Istanbul High School foundation. During this period, İstanbulspor has been relegated from and promoted to the top division several times. Also, it relegated to the amateur level in 1979 and played at the amateur level for two seasons. In 1984, club was relegated to third league. In 1990, Uzan Holding, led by Turkish businessman Cem Uzan, bought the club and converted it into İstanbulspor A.Ş., İstanbulspor incorporation. After that, Istanbulspor was funded by Uzan family and promoted back to first league in 1995. Istanbulspor became one of the most successful Turkish football clubs again, as they reached fourth place in the 1997–98 season and played in the UEFA Cup. Uzan family withdrew its support from İstanbulspor in 2001. Because of this, İstanbulspor fell into financial crisis and came ninth in the 2002–03 season.

Eventually, in 2003, the Turkish government took over the financially collapsed club. However, Istanbulspor were relegated to the second league in 2004–05. In 2006, İstanbulspor were resold by the government to former Turkish player Saffet Sancaklı's Marmara Spor Faaliyetleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş. for $3,250,000. In 2007, Ömer Sarıalioğlu, a Turkish businessman, bought the club from Saffet Sancaklı. İstanbulspor tried to avoid relegation at the last two seasons. İstanbulspor escaped from relegation in the 2008–09 season after finishing sixth in the Third Group. However, İstanbulspor finished the second group of the 2nd League next season as second from last and were finally relegated to the Third League, which is the fourth level of the Turkish football system. They played in the promotion play-offs in the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons but failed to achieve success. İstanbulspor finally promoted to the Second League after defeating Zonguldak Kömürspor and Çorum Belediyespor successively in promotion play-offs in the 2014–15 season.

Colours and crest

The colours of İstanbulspor are yellow and black, which are the colours of Istanbul High School. Also, white is accepted as a third colour, but this is not official. Having represented Turkey in an international competition, İstanbulspor was granted the privilege to use the Turkish flag in its emblem, located on the top left corner. The emblem of Istanbul High School is in the middle.

League participations

• Süper Lig (25): 1959–67, 1968–72, 1995–2005, 2022–24
• TFF First League (18): 1967–68, 1972–75, 1981–84, 1992–95, 2005–08, 2017–2022, 2024-
• TFF Second League (16): 1975–79, 1984–92, 2008–10, 2015–17
• TFF Third League (5): 2010–15
• Turkish Regional Amateur League (35): 1926–59, 1979–81

European history

UEFA Cup:

UEFA Intertoto Cup:

Honours

European competitions

• UEFA Intertoto Cup
  • Semi-finals (1): 1997

Domestic competitions

• Turkish Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 1932
• TFF First League
  • Winners (1): 1967–68
  • Runners-up (1): 1994–95
• TFF Second League
  • Winners (2): 1991–92, 2016–17
• TFF Third League
  • Winners (1): 2014–15

Regional competitions

• Istanbul Football League
  • Winners (1): 1931–32
• Istanbul Shield
  • Winners (1): 1931–32
• Istanbul 2. Football League
  • Winners (1): 1926–27

Others

• Spor Toto Cup
  • Winners (1): 1970–71
• TSYD Cup
  • Winners (2): 1996, 2000

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Club officials

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Retired numbers

Notable players

Europe

Albania

• ALB Kristal Abazaj
• ALB Sindrit Guri

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• BIH Aldin Čajić
• BIH Fahrudin Omerović
• BIH Elvir Bolić
• BIH Elvir Baljić
• BIH Hadis Zubanović
• BIH Enes Demirović

Bulgaria

• BUL Ivaylo Petkov
• BUL Zdravko Zdravkov

France

• FRA Jean-Michel Ferri

Kosovo

• KVX Florian Loshaj
• KVX Jetmir Topalli
• KVX Valmir Veliu

Lithuania

• LTU Modestas Vorobjovas

Netherlands

• NED John van den Brom
• NED Peter van Vossen

North Macedonia

• MKD Valon Ethemi

Russia

• RUS Oleg Salenko

Slovakia

• SVK Marián Zeman

Turkey

• TUR Zeki Çelik
• TUR Volkan Babacan
• TUR Ümit Davala
• TUR Turhan Akra
• TUR Sergen Yalçın
• TUR Tanju Çolak
• TUR Aykut Kocaman
• TUR Oğuz Çetin

Asia

Iran

• IRN Allahyar Sayyadmanesh

Africa

Gabon

• GAB David Sambissa

Ivory Coast

• CIV Simon Deli

Senegal

• SEN Racine Coly
• SEN Alassane Ndao

List of presidents

• 1925–1935: Kemal Halim Gürgen
• 1935–1941: Fethi Tanalay
• 1941–1946: Murat Çelikel
• 1946–1968: Ali Sohtorik
• 1968–1970: Talha Dinçel
• 1970–1972: Nirun Şahingiray
• 1972–1973: Hayri Aydıner
• 1973–1977: Hüseyin Taşdelenler
• 1977–1978: Ural Aydıner
• 1978–1980: Orhan Togar
• 1980–1981: Dursun Öztürk
• 1981–1984: Fethi Erhan
• 1984–1987: Muhsin Sarıcı
• 1987–1988: Mehmet Yıldırım
• 1988–1992: Aziz Alturfan
• 1992–1998: Cem Uzan
• 1998–2002: Tayfun Gündoğar
• 2002–2004: Adnan Sezgin
• 2004–2006: Mehmet Akif Yaşin
• 2006–2008: Saffet Sancaklı
• 2008–2015: Ömer Sarıalioğlu
• 2015–present: Ecmel Faik Sarıalioğlu

References

References

1. "Kuruluş". Istanbulspor Supporters Association.
2. (17 March 2016). "Football in Asia: History, Culture and Business". Routledge.
3. "Turkish Süper Lig - facts, stats and history".
4. (2020-09-15). "Kemal Halim Gürgen'in Arnavutluk Anıları".
5. Öğünç, Mehmet Şakir. (2021-01-06). "Kemal Halim Gürgen".
6. "Omari, Singeri, Ljukshinovi, Kempesi… trajnerët e huaj në klubet shqiptare".
7. (2019-11-03). "Korçari Qemal Omari që themeloi Istanbulspor - Koha News".
8. Kaygusuz, Hakan. (2017-12-10). "Geçmişten Günümüze Formalarımız".
9. "A Takım". İstanbulspor.
10. (13 January 2019). "İstanbulspor, Zeki Çelik'in formasını emekli etti". [[Milliyet]].
11. (13 January 2019). "İstanbulspor, Mehmet Zeki Çelik'in formasını 'emekli' etti". [[Habertürk]].
12. "Başkanlarımız".