Turkish Süper Lig

Turkey's top football flight may not be receiving the media coverage that big western European leagues enjoy, but it is one of the most followed championships in Europe, considering not only the country's vast football-crazy population, but also the millions and millions of Turks who live abroad, and make sure to be close to a TV set every weekend, to watch their beloved teams that make up the Süper Lig.

History

Football has been played in Turkey since the last years of the 19th century, and city leagues started being organized in 1904. Turkish Football Championship started in 1924 and was the first national championship in Turkish football, although not played as an all-play-all tournament and not organized by Turkish Football Federation (TFF).

In 1937, the first national league was established named National Division. The inaugural season included eight teams and was won by Fenerbahçe. Eleventh editions of National Division, but is hasn't got the same official status as Turkish Süper Lig (formerly Milli Lig) because it wasn't accepted by TFF.

The country got its first TFF organized nation-wide championship in 1959, under the name “Milli Lig”. Only three cities were represented in the 1959 edition, Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, but it is considered the first national league season in Turkey, albeit a short one, one that started and ended in the same year, for the first and the last time.

Fenerbahçe were the inaugural season's champions, even though Beşiktaş consider themselves Turkey's first champions, for winning back-to-back titles in the so-called “President's Cup” that was organized the two seasons before “Milli Lig” was established, a short-lived competition that was used to decide the team that would represent Turkey in UEFA's European Cup.

Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş, and of course Galatasaray, have been the league's dominant forces, backed by millions of fans and occasionally strong political figures, or/and powerful businessmen/companies. Even today, it looks hard to believe that a team outside Istanbul, Trabzonspor, managed to win the title an incredible six times in ten years, from the mid seventies to the mid eighties. Less, but still impressive, is the fact that Bursaspor as well managed to break the Istanbul powerhouses' monopoly in 2010.

Given how dominant the “Big Three” from Istanbul have been since the inaugural season of the league, it's no wonder that only five clubs have won the title.

One thing that has changed though since the late fifties, is how representative of the whole country the league has become. From three cities in 1959, the Süper Lig (called like that since the 2001-02 season) has evolved to feature clubs from many more cities, usually 12 or 13, with Istanbul, the country's by far most populous city, still home to almost half a dozen clubs every season.

Moreover, it's Istanbul's “Big Three” the only clubs that have never missed a season in the top flight, competing for the title in 1959 and every year since then.

Records and titles-aside, the Turkish Süper Lig stands out for another reason; the first years of the 21st century some clubs realized that investing in a new, modern, football-specific stadium was the way to go. Fast forward to these days, most clubs competing in the top flight, but also several smaller ones playing in the second category, can proud themselves of having truly impressive homes, with new ones getting delivered year in year out, putting new Turkish cities on the football map.

League system

Süper Lig is the top level of the Turkish football league system. The second division is since 2001 known as TFF 1. Lig (former Türkiye İkinci Futbol Ligi; in English: Turkish Second Football League). An overview of the current national league system is presented in table 1.

Table 1. Turkish football tiers

Club	Tier
Süper Lig	1
TFF 1. Lig	2
TFF 2. Lig	3
TFF 3. Lig	4

Below the fourth tier the league is played on amateur level.

Stats

Teams with most titles

Statistics of all Turkish clubs that have won the top league, concerning the period 1959-2024.

Table 2. Clubs and champion titles

Club	Titles
Galatasaray	24
Fenerbahçe	19
Beşiktaş	16
Trabzonspor	7
Bursaspor	1
İstanbul Başakşehir	1

Two of the titles won by Beşiktaş are controversial, since they was won before the start of the Süper Lig and in the current Turkish Federation Cup, but has got official status by the Turkish Football Federation.

Teams with most Süper Lig participation

Statistics of the Turkish clubs that have participated most times in the top league during the period 1959-2019.

Table 3. Clubs and league participation

Club	Participation
Beşiktaş	62
Fenerbahçe	62
Galatasaray	62
Ankaragücü	51
Bursaspor	50
Gençlerbirliği	47
Altay	44
Trabzonspor	46
Gaziantepspor	31
Eskişehirspor	30
Samsunspor	30

Between the first season and last, in total 72 clubs has participating in top division of the Turkish league.

Audience

Capacity of Süper Lig stadiums

Table 4 the capacity of the teams participating in Süper Lig. The average capacity in the league is 28,613.

Table 4. The stadium capacities in the Süper Lig season 2018-2019

Team	Stadium name	Capacity
Ankaragücü	Osmanlı Stadium	20,071
Akhisar Belediyespor	khisar Stadium	12,139
Alanyaspor	Bahçeşehir Okulları Stadium	10,130
Antalyaspor	Antalya Stadium	32,537
Beşiktaş	Vodafone Park	41,188
Bursaspor	Belediyesi Stadium	43,361
Çaykur Rizespor	Yeni Rize Şehir Stadı	15,332
Erzurum	Kazım Karabekir Stadium	23,277
Fenerbahçe	Ülker Stadium	50,509
Galatasaray	Türk Telekom Stadium	52,223
Göztepe İzmir	Bornova Stadium	12,500
İstanbul Başakşehir	Fatih Terim Stadium	17,319
Kasımpaşa	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Stadium	14,234
Kayserispor	Kadir Has Stadium	32,864
Konyaspor	Konya Büyükşehir Stadium	42,000
Sivasspor	Sivas Arena	27,532
Trabzonspor	Şenol Güneş Stadium	40,775
Yeni Malatyaspor	Malatya Malatya Stadium	27,044

Players

Top goalscorers

The league's all-time leading goalscorer is internationally famous Hakan Şükür. He scored 249 goals in 489 appearances, most of those playing for Galatasaray, but also Sakaryaspor and Bursaspor, in his late teens and early twenties, before moving to “Galata” in 1992, aged 21.

Şükür broke Tanju Çolak's record of 240 goals in 2007. It's interesting to note though that Çolak scored his 240 goals in just 282 matches, and he is the only Turkish player to have won the “Golden Boot”, for his 39-goal tally in 1987-88. “Bay Gol”, “Mr Goal”, as he was called during his time at Samsunspor, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, was obliged to retire aged just 31, in 1994, after only one season at Istanbulspor. Hard as it may be to believe, he was sent to prison for smuggling a luxury car into the country.

Players with most appearances

Şükür is also third in league appearances, 489, five less than Rıza Çalımbay. Both of them are looking at Oğuz Çetin's back in the list. Having worn the jersey of Sakaryaspor and Fenerbahçe for most of his 19-year career, Çetin retired in 2000, having played in 503 games.

Biggest transfers

The biggest transfers with Turkish clubs have historically concerned departing player bought by European top clubs. Nevertheless, expensive transfer has also been done in the opposite direction. (Million is abbreviated by M.)

Table 5. Most expensive player transfers year by year with Turkish clubs involved.

Year	Player	From	To	Fee
2019	Mbaye Diagne	Kasımpaşa	Galatasaray	€13M
2019	Fernando	Galatasaray	Sevilla	€4.5M
2018	Mbaye Diagne	Fenerbahçe	Al Nassr	€10.5M
2018	Josef de Souza	Fenerbahçe	Al-Ahli	€12M
2016	Nani	Fenerbahçe	Valencia	€8.5M
2014	Demba Ba	Chelsea	Beşiktaş	€6M
2013	Emmanuel Emenike	Spartak Moscow	Fenerbahçe	€13M
2012	Raul Meireles	Chelsea	Fenerbahçe	€10M
2012	Moussa Sow	Lille	Fenerbahçe	€10M
2011	Arda Turan	Galatasaray	Atlético Madrid	€13M
2010	Mamadou Niang	Marseille	Fenerbahçe	€9M
2009	Mehmet Topuz	Kayserispor	Fenerbahçe	€9M
2008	Filip Hološko	Manisaspor	Besiktas	€5
2007	Lincoln	Schalke 04	Galatasaray	€5
2006	Diego Lugano	São Paulo	Fenerbahçe	€7.5M
2006	Nicolas Anelka	Fenerbahçe	Bolton	€11.8M

When listing transfers in this way, there is always a problem with accuracy since some deals involve other players and/or conditions. In addition, the fee for great part of all transfers remains undisclosed, which make a list like this most likely incomplete.

By Dimitris Basias

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Süper_Lig
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Süper_Lig
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakan_Şükür
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oğuz_Çetin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanju_Çolak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_football_stadiums_in_Turkey
https://www.transfermarkt.com/super-lig/transferrekorde/wettbewerb/TR1/plus
http://www.tff.org/Default.aspx?pageID=487