The people's team

Football is the most popular sport in Turkey. Regular matches are held across the country in various categories, including professional, amateur, regional, and women's/men's leagues. While Istanbul clubs have fans nationwide, almost every city has its own team and its own supporters. Almost everyone living in Turkey follows or feels an affinity for a football team.

It is clear that football is now a sector, a subject of major commercial activity often referred to as “industrial football.” The 2024 broadcasting rights for the top tier of men's football, known as the Süper Lig, were sold for 182 million US dollars. When daily and seasonal match ticket sales, merchandising revenues, advertising income, player transfer fees, and sponsorship deals are added, football is a sector that offers significant revenue opportunities for clubs.

As with any commercial enterprise, it is not just about revenue; there is also an expenditure side. It is a massive organization with player transfer fees, player salaries, technical staff wages, and other operating expenses. When we take into account facilities, stadiums, youth academies, transportation, and accommodation costs, we can see how important it is for these clubs to be managed well.

The majority of our clubs have the status of associations. Although commercial and sporting activities are generally carried out through affiliated companies, these companies are owned by the respective association. Management, audit, and other boards are elected by the members of the general assembly. Membership conditions are subject to various requirements in addition to those sought by the legislation on associations.

I believe there are both positive and negative aspects to our clubs having association status. As mentioned in the title of this article, the fact that they are managed by boards elected by the will of the general assembly members means, in a sense, member/public ownership. General assembly members choose from among the candidates who explain their goals and preferences for resource allocation and ask for votes.

There is a relative equality that I believe remains on paper. Every member who meets the conditions set out in the law and the bylaws has the right to aspire to manage. Similarly, there are audit boards also elected by the members. From the outside, there is a democratic order with the possibility of elections, audits, and calling the general assembly to a meeting when necessary.

There are also the realities of our clubs, whose structures I have tried to summarize as briefly as possible above. Long-established clubs, especially those referred to as the “big ones” of Istanbul, have tens of thousands of members. However, when it comes to management, the club administrations consist of a narrow circle. In reality, it is just a few hundred people. The reason is clear; to manage these clubs, you need significant financial power, political connections, and support. Of course, there are those who do not have the two conditions I mentioned but take on the task with their experience, knowledge, and skills, but the real management power comes from money and political influence.

The book titled “Top Tarikatı” (The Cult of the Ball) by the esteemed Bilgin Gökberk, published by Kırmızı Kedi Yayınevi, is extremely interesting regarding the relationship between football and politics. Bilgin Gökberk has written about how football and politics are intertwined in a very beautiful language.

When operating as an association, administrations can be acquitted of their activities administratively and financially as a result of the general assemblies' approval. Even if you manage the club very poorly and cause a huge financial loss in a short time, once you are acquitted, there is no problem or responsible party left.

Apart from associations, there are also clubs that have owners. Their numbers are few. However, they have a striking common feature. They transfer good players without paying very high prices, especially in player transfers, and achieve success proportional to the money they spend. They can continue their operations consistently without making a loss. In short, they achieve the positive results of being managed according to commercial business principles.

The picture we need to think about is this; on one side, there are the “people's” teams, managed by a narrow circle, whose administrations are acquitted and leave even if they cause huge losses to the club, and are often re-elected later. These are clubs where, even if there are millions of fans and tens of thousands of members, ownership and management actually revolve around certain names.

On the other side, there are owned teams where the success achieved is proportional to the money spent. Of course, the expectation of success, the number of fans, and the pressure are less compared to the other “big ones,” but at the stage we have reached, football is an industry. Where money is involved, issues other than profit and loss do not mean much.

All our clubs, especially those founded before the Republic, are very valuable. They are institutions that belong to this country and are loved passionately by our people. Of course, I do not want them to be institutions that can be owned by whoever pays the money as a commercial asset. However, it would be appropriate for the management of these clubs to be carried out by professional, competent people who know sports and sports management, without being dependent on the money and political power of individuals.

We can call it a third way; they should be as much of the people as an association, and as profitable, transparent, and professional as a large company.