Süper Lig

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Süper Lig

Countries	Turkey
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1959
Number of teams	18
Relegation to	TFF First League
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Domestic cup(s)	Turkish Super Cup Fortis Turkey Cup
International cup(s)	Champions League UEFA Cup Intertoto Cup
Current champions	Galatasaray S.K. (2007-08)
Most successful club	Fenerbahçe S.K. (17 titles) Galatasaray S.K. (17 titles)
Website	http://www.turkcellsuperlig.com
2008-09 season

The Süper Lig (formerly National League, First Football League and First Super League and currently known under a sponsorship deal as the Turkcell Süper Lig) is the top-flight league in Turkish nationwide football, and the most popular sporting competition in the country. It is managed by Turkish Football Federation.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Super League clubs, 2008-09 3 Champions 4 Performance by club 5 Title wins by decade 6 Participations 7 Popular Players 8 Records 8.1 Top scorers 9 UEFA ranking 10 See also 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Overview

The league was established in 1959 as an attempt to unify some of the many regional leagues around the country. The season begins in August each year and ends in May, with a month-long winter break in December and January. The 18 clubs in the league play each other twice, once at home and once away. The bottom three teams are relegated to the TFF First League at the end of each season and replaced by three others teams from that league.

As of the 2005/06 season, the top two teams qualify for the Champions League, with the champions entering the third qualifying round and the runners-up entering in the second qualifying round. The third-placed league team and the winners of the Turkey Cup make up the two Turkish teams that enter the UEFA Cup.

The arrival of private television channels in Turkey in the 1990s created a bidding war for live coverage rights, pouring money into the league and raising footballing standards dramatically. Live coverage rights are currently held by Digiturk, the digital satellite platform, until the contract expires in 2010. Digiturk bought the rights in 2004 for 135.85 million New Turkish lira (US$99 million).^[1] On the other hand, Doğan Medya, the company of the Turkish media magnate Aydın Doğan, argues that the contract of Digiturk will expire in 2008. In accordance to this claim, Doğan Medya came out with a new offer of approximately $180 million.^[2]

In 2005, the Turkish Football Federation signed a five-year deal with mobile phone operator Turkcell that saw the league's name changed to the 'Turkcell Super League' for five years. It came some years after an abortive sponsorship attempt by Turkcell's rivals, Telsim, in 1999.

For the new inspiring Turkcell Super Lig Season season saw more than £50,000,000 spent on new exciting players, this includes such super stars as Daniel Guiza, Milan Baros, Gokhan Unal, Emre Belozoglu, Harry Kewell, Fernando Meira and many more. Economist in the next five years have foreshadowed, that the Turkcell Super Lig will be one of the top leagues to be watched in the world.

[edit] Super League clubs, 2008-09

The clubs to play in the 2008-2009 season are listed below, alongside their home towns.

Club	Home town	Founded in	Stadium	In league since	Finishing position last season	First season in top division	Number of seasons in top division	Last title	Number of titles
Ankara S.A.Ş.	Ankara	1978	Yenikent	2004-2005	10th	2004-2005	5	-	0
Antalya S.K.	Antalya	1966	Antalya Atatürk	2008-2009	TFF First League; 2nd	1982-1983	14	-	0
Beşiktaş J.K.	İstanbul	1903	İnönü	1959	3rd	1959	51	2002-2003	12
Bursaspor	Bursa	1963	Bursa Atatürk	2006-2007	13th	1967-1968	40	-	0
Denizlispor	Denizli	1966	Denizli Atatürk	1999-2000	7th	1983-1984	18	-	0
Eskişehirspor	Eskişehir	1965	Eskişehir Atatürk	2008-2009	TFF First League; Play-Off winner	1966-1967	23	-	0
Fenerbahçe S.K.	İstanbul	1907	Şükrü Saracoğlu	1959	2nd	1959	51	2006-2007	17
Galatasaray A.Ş.	İstanbul	1905	Ali Sami Yen	1959	1st	1959	51	2007-2008	17
Gaziantepspor	Gaziantep	1969	Kamil Ocak	1990-1991	9th	1979-1980	23	-	0
Gençlerbirliği S.K.	Ankara	1923	Ankara 19 Mayıs	1989-1990	15th	1959	37	-	0
Hacettepe S.K.	Ankara	1949	Ankara 19 Mayıs	2007-2008	11th	2007-2008	2	-	0
İstanbul B.B.	İstanbul	1990	Atatürk Olympic	2007-2008	12th	2007-2008	2	-	0
Kayserispor	Kayseri	1966	Kadir Has	2004-2005	5th	2004-2005	5	-	0
Kocaelispor	Kocaeli	1966	İsmet Paşa	2008-2009	TFF First League; 1st	1980-1981	20	-	0
Konyaspor	Konya	1981	Konya Atatürk	2003-2004	14th	1988-1989	11	-	0
M.K.E. Ankaragücü	Ankara	1910	Ankara 19 Mayıs	1981-1982	8th	1959	46	-	0
Sivasspor	Sivas	1967	4 Eylül	2005-2006	4th	2005-2006	4	-	0
Trabzonspor	Trabzon	1967	Avni Aker	1974-1975	6th	1974-1975	35	1983-1984	6

The clubs below took part in the TFF First League play-offs but failed to clinch the final promotion spot for the 2008-09 season.

Club	Home town	Founded in	Last season in Super League	Finishing position in Category A
Sakaryaspor	Sakarya	1966	2006-2007	3rd
Diyarbakırspor	Diyarbakır	1968	2005-2006	5th
Boluspor	Bolu	1965	1991-1992	6th

The clubs below were relegated to the TFF First League at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Club	Home town	Founded in	In league since	Finishing position last season
Manisaspor	Manisa	1931	2005-2006	16th
Çaykur Rizespor	Rize	1953	2002-2003	17th
Kasımpaşa S.K.	İstanbul	1921	2007-2008	18th

[edit] Champions

Only four clubs, also known as the "Big Four" have been champions since the beginning of the Super League: Fenerbahçe SK (17), Galatasaray A.Ş (17), Beşiktaş J.K. (12, normally 10) and Trabzonspor (6). The first three, all Istanbul-based clubs, are known as Big Three (Üç Büyükler in Turkish).

Season Champion Runner Up Third Place 1959 Fenerbahçe Galatasaray 1959–1960 Beşiktaş Fenerbahçe Galatasaray 1960–1961 Fenerbahçe Galatasaray Beşiktaş 1961–1962 Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş 1962–1963 Galatasaray Beşiktaş Fenerbahçe 1963–1964 Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş Galatasaray 1964–1965 Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş Galatasaray 1965–1966 Beşiktaş Galatasaray Gençlerbirliği 1966–1967 Beşiktaş Fenerbahçe Galatasaray 1967–1968 Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş Galatasaray 1968–1969 Galatasaray Eskişehirspor Beşiktaş 1969–1970 Fenerbahçe Eskişehirspor Altay 1970–1971 Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Göztepe 1971–1972 Galatasaray Eskişehirspor Fenerbahçe 1972–1973 Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Eskişehirspor 1973–1974 Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş Boluspor 1974–1975 Fenerbahçe Galatasaray Eskişehirspor

Season Champion Runner Up Third Place 1975–1976 Trabzonspor Fenerbahçe Galatasaray 1976–1977 Trabzonspor Fenerbahçe Altay 1977–1978 Fenerbahçe Trabzonspor Galatasaray 1978–1979 Trabzonspor Galatasaray Fenerbahçe 1979–1980 Trabzonspor Fenerbahçe Zonguldakspor 1980–1981 Trabzonspor Adanaspor Galatasaray 1981–1982 Beşiktaş Trabzonspor Fenerbahçe 1982–1983 Fenerbahçe Trabzonspor Galatasaray 1983–1984 Trabzonspor Fenerbahçe Galatasaray 1984–1985 Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş Trabzonspor 1985–1986 Beşiktaş Galatasaray Samsunspor 1986–1987 Galatasaray Beşiktaş Samsunspor 1987–1988 Galatasaray Beşiktaş Malatyaspor 1988–1989 Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş Galatasaray 1989–1990 Beşiktaş Fenerbahçe Trabzonspor 1990–1991 Beşiktaş Galatasaray Trabzonspor 1991–1992 Beşiktaş Fenerbahçe Galatasaray

Season Champion Runner Up Third Place 1992–1993 Galatasaray Beşiktaş Trabzonspor 1993–1994 Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Trabzonspor 1994–1995 Beşiktaş Trabzonspor Galatasaray 1995–1996 Fenerbahçe Trabzonspor Beşiktaş 1996–1997 Galatasaray Beşiktaş Fenerbahçe 1997–1998 Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Trabzonspor 1998–1999 Galatasaray Beşiktaş Fenerbahçe 1999–2000 Galatasaray Beşiktaş Gaziantepspor 2000–2001 Fenerbahçe Galatasaray Gaziantepspor 2001–2002 Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş 2002–2003 Beşiktaş Galatasaray Gençlerbirliği 2003–2004 Fenerbahçe Trabzonspor Beşiktaş 2004–2005 Fenerbahçe Trabzonspor Galatasaray 2005–2006 Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş 2006–2007 Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş Galatasaray 2007–2008 Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş

[edit] Performance by club

Club	Champions	Winning years
Fenerbahce SK	17	1959,1961,1964,1965,1968,1970,1974,1975,1978,1983,1985,1989,1996,2001,2004,2005,2007
Galatasaray SK	17	1962,1963,1969,1971,1972,1973,1987,1988,1993,1994,1997,1998,1999,2000,2002,2006,2008
Beşiktaş JK	10	1960,1966,1967,1982,1986,1990,1991,1992,1995,2003
Trabzonspor	6	1976,1977,1979,1980,1981,1984

Beşiktaş have formally requested that championships won in the 1956/57 and 1957/58 versions of the Turkish Federation Cup to be counted as Turkish Professional First Division championships. The Turkish Football Federation's ruling on this matter was announced in a press release on March 25, 2002. The press release indicated that the championships won by Beşiktaş in the Turkish Federation Cup will be considered as national championships but the Turkish Federation Cup can not be considered as the precursor to the Turkish Professional First Division (later named Süper Lig) and as such these titles can not be categorized as a Turkish Professional First Division championships.^[3]

The Turkish Football Federation permits clubs to place a golden star above their crest on their uniforms for every five national championships won. For the purposes of calculating national championships, the Turkish Football Federation ruled that Beşiktaş has two additional national championships due to their success in the Turkish Federation Cup during the 1956/57 and 1957/58 seasons.^[4] For the 2008/09 season Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray are permitted three golden stars, Beşiktaş are permitted two golden stars and Trabzonspor are permitted one golden star to be placed above their crest on their jerseys.

[edit] Title wins by decade

1950s	Team
1	Fenerbahçe

1960s	Team
4	Fenerbahçe
3	Galatasaray,Beşiktaş

1970s	Team
4	Fenerbahçe
3	Galatasaray,Trabzonspor

1980s	Team
3	Tabzonspor,Fenerbahçe
2	Beşiktaş,Galatasaray

1990s	Team
5	Galatasaray
4	Beşiktaş
1	Fenerbahçe

2000s	Team
4	Fenerbahçe
3	Galatasaray
1	Beşiktaş

[edit] Participations

Türkcell Super League was created in the Spring of 1959 by the Turkish Football Federation and played as 1 league only with 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 22 teams. These are the 66 teams which took part to the championships played from 1959 to 2009. Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray are the only clubs which played all the seasons.

50 seasons: Besiktas J.K.,Fenerbahçe S.K.,Galatasaray A.Ş., 46 seasons: M.K.E. Ankaragücü 41 seasons: Altay S.K. 40 seasons: Bursaspor 37 seasons: Gençlerbirliği S.K. 35 seasons: Trabzonspor 29 seasons: Samsunspor 25 seasons: Göztepe 23 seasons: İstanbul S.A.Ş., Eskişehirspor, Gaziantepspor 21 seasons: Adanaspor 20 seasons: Boluspor, Kocaelispor

18 seasons: Denizlispor 17 seasons: Adana Demirspor 16 seasons: Karşıyaka S.K. 14 seasons: Vefa S.K., Zonguldakspor, Antalya S.K. 13 seasons: Ankara Demirspor, Sarıyer G.K., Çaykur Rizespor 12 seasons: Kayserispor,Türk Telekom G.S.K. 11 seasons: Kayseri Erciyesspor, Malatyaspor, Mersin İdman Yurdu, Sakaryaspor, Konyaspor 10 seasons: Altınordu S.K., Diyarbakırspor, İzmirspor G.S.K., Etimesgut Şeker S.A.Ş. 9 seasons: Feriköy G.K., Orduspor 8 seasons: Beykoz 1908, Keçiörengücü

6 seasons: Giresunspor, Fatih Karagümrük S.K., Kasımpaşa S.K. 5 seasons: Belediye Vanspor, Zeytinburnuspor,Ankara S.A.Ş. 4 seasons: Sivasspor 3 seasons: Aydınspor, Bakırköyspor, Dardanel S.A.Ş., Erzurumspor, Kardemir Karabükspor, Manisaspor 2 seasons: Alibeyköy, Akçaabat Sebatspor, Beyoğluspor, Elazığspor, Yeşildirek, Yimpaş Yozgatspor, Hacettepe S.K., İstanbul B.B. 1 season: Balıkesirspor, Kahramanmaraşspor, M.K.E. Kırıkkale, Petrolofisi, Siirt S.K.

Note: Kayseri Erciyesspor played as Kayserispor between 1973-1975, 1979-1980, 1985-1986, 1992-1996 and 1997-1998. They were renamed to Kayseri Erciyesspor and played again in Super League since 2005. Also, Kayseri Erciyesspor were renamed to Kayserispor and have played in the Super League since 2004.

Keçiörengücü played as Hacettepe when they were in the Super League and Hacettepe S.K. were Gençlerbirliği Oftaş until 2008-2009 season.

Türk Telekom G.S.K. were PTT when they were playing Super League football in sixties and seventies.

Siirt S.K. were Siirt Jetpa S.K. and Manisaspor were Vestel Manisaspor due to the sponsorship reasons

Belediye Vanspor were Vanspor.

[edit] Popular Players

Many players who enjoy global popularity started their professional careers or came to Turkey in order to continue their careers. Some of them are as follows (in alphabetical order for nationality):

Matias Delgado Ariel Ortega Harry Kewell Alex Roberto Carlos Carlos Éder Edu Dracena Fabiano Eller Fabio Luciano Felipe Flávio Conceição Lincoln Marcelinho Serginho Ricardinho Claudio Taffarel Antônio Carlos Zago Jean-Marie Pfaff Shabani Nonda Geremi Njitap Rigobert Song Óscar Córdoba Faryd Aly Mondragón Milan Rapaić Milan Baros Marek Heinz Dalian Atkinson Kevin Campbell Les Ferdinand Daniel Güiza

Nicolas Anelka Franck Ribery Shota Arveladze Harald Schumacher Stephen Appiah Ibrahim Yattara Haim Revivo Federico Giunti Morgan de Sanctis Frank de Boer Pierre van Hooijdonk Kiki Musampa John Carew Ronny Johnsen Daniel Amokachi Jay Jay Okocha Uche Okechukwu Mirosław Szymkowiak Fernando Meira Abel Xavier Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe Popescu Radomir Antic Mateja Kezman Zoran Mirkovic Kenneth Andersson Tobias Linderoth Sergei Rebrov Diego Lugano

Alpay Özalan Arda Turan Bülent Korkmaz Can Bartu Emre Belözoğlu Ersen Martin Ertuğrul Sağlam Fatih Tekke Feyyaz Uçar Gökdeniz Karadeniz Hakan Şükür Hami Mandıralı İlhan Mansız Mehmet Aurelio Metin Oktay Metin Tekin Necmi Perekli Nihat Kahveci Rıza Çalımbay Rüştü Reçber Sergen Yalçın Şenol Güneş Şükrü Gülesin Tugay Kerimoğlu Tuncay Şanlı Tümer Metin Ümit Davala Ümit Özat

[edit] Records

Season

• The longest season: 1962-1963 (42 matches)^[5]

Teams

• Most time champions: Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray with 17 seasons
• Most consecutive championships: Galatasaray with 4 seasons in a row (1996 - 2000).
• Largest win: 1989-1990 Beşiktaş - Adana Demirspor (10-0)
• The highest scoring match: 1991-1992 Fenerbahçe - Gaziantepspor (8-4)
• Best performing team: 1988-1989 Fenerbahçe (29 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss in 36 matches)
• Longest unbeaten run: Beşiktaş (48 matches)
• Longest winning streak: 1959-1960 Beşiktaş (13 matches)
• Teams unbeaten in a season: 1985-1986 Galatasaray, 1991-1992 Beşiktaş
• Unbeaten Champions: 1991-1992 Beşiktaş
• Team with the most wins in a season: 1959-1960 Beşiktaş, 1988-1989 Fenerbahçe (29 wins)
• Highest scoring team: 1962-1963 Galatasaray (105 goals)
• Most games won in row at home: Galatasaray (25 games)
• Champion team with highest point: 1988-1989 Fenerbahçe (93 pts - 29 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss in 36 matches)

Players

• All time top scorer: Hakan Sukur (249 goals)
• Most league titles won: Bülent Korkmaz and Hakan Şükür (8 seasons)
• Top scorer for the most years: Metin Oktay (6 times)
• Top scorer in one season: 1987-1988 Tanju Çolak (39 goals)
• Most goals in one match: Tanju Çolak (6 goals)

[edit] Top scorers

'All-time top scorers in the Süper League'
'(Süper League goals only)'

Rank	Player	Goals
1	Hakan Şükür	249
2	Tanju Çolak	240
3	Hami Mandıralı	219
4	Metin Oktay	217
5	Aykut Kocaman	200
6	Feyyaz Uçar	191
7	Serkan Aykut	188
8	Fevzi Zemzem	144
9	Ertuğrul Sağlam	132
10	Cenk İşler	131
11	Mehmet Özdilek	130
As of 10 May 2008 (Bold and italic denotes players still in Turkcell Süper League).

Coaches with multiple Süper Lig Titles Won (in order of date of first title win)

• Coaches with four league titles won:
  • Ahmet Suat Özyazıcı (1975/1976, 1976/1977, 1979/1980 and 1983/1984 with Trabzonspor)
  • Fatih Terim (1996/1997, 1997/1998, 1998/1999 and 1999/2000 with Galatasaray)
• Coaches with three league titles won:
  • Gordon Milne (1989/1990, 1990/1991 and 1991/1992 with Beşiktaş)
  • Christoph Daum (1994/1995 with Beşiktaş, 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 with Fenerbahçe)
• Coaches with two league titles won:
  • Ignace Molnar (1959 and 1967/68 with Fenerbahçe)
  • Gündüz Kılıç (1961/1962 and 1962/1963 with Galatasaray)
  • Ljubisa Spajic (1965/66 and 1966/67 with Beşiktaş)
  • Tomislav Kaleperovic (1968/1969 with Galatasaray and 1977/1978 with Fenerbahçe)
  • Brian Birch (1971/1972 and 1972/1973 with Galatasaray)
  • Valdir Pereira (1973/1974 and 1974/1975 with Fenerbahçe)
  • Özkan Sümer (1978/1979 and 1980/1981 with Trabzonspor)
  • Todor Veselinovic (1984/1985 and 1988/1989 with Fenerbahçe)
  • Mustafa Denizli (1987/1988 with Galatasaray and 2000/2001 with Fenerbahçe)
  • Mircea Lucescu (2001/2002 with Galatasaray and 2002/2003 with Beşiktaş)

[edit] UEFA ranking

National League Ranking for 2007-08 Euro Season (Previous year rank in italics, UEFA coefficient in parentheses)

•  9    (8) Eredivisie (38.213)
• 10 (10) Scottish Premier League (33.375)
• 11 (14) Süper Lig (31.725)
• 12 (11) Ukrainian Premier League (30.100)
• 13 (12) Belgian First Division (26.700)

• Full List ^[6]

[edit] See also

• List of sports attendance figures — the Super League in a worldwide context

[edit] References