Galatasaray celebrates its 119th anniversary

Galatasaray, one of Turkey's most successful sports clubs, is celebrating its 119th anniversary.

THE HISTORY OF GALATASARAY

The foundations of the yellow-red club were laid at Galatasaray High School (Mektebi Sultani), which dates back to 1481.

Founded in 1481 by Bayezid II to train statesmen, the school takes its name from the "Galata Palace" region where it was established. The school moved to its modern location on September 1, 1868, during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz. With the restructuring of the school, the first real sporting activities in the Ottoman Empire of that period began. Physical education classes were introduced to the school's curriculum by the gymnast Monsieur Curel.

After Curel, M. Moiroux, Signor Martinetti, and Stangali, who taught physical education at Galatasaray High School, introduced students to swimming, rowing, and apparatus gymnastics, in addition to gymnastics and athletics.

In the following period, Faik Üstünidman, Major Mazhar Kazancı, Abdurrahman, and the Ahmet Robenson brothers brought sports such as scouting, tennis, and hockey to the high school. Led by teacher Faik Üstünidman, Galatasaray High School students discovered football.

Football, which was played in Istanbul in the early 1900s, especially among foreigners and minorities, began to spread among the youth at Galatasaray High School.

The club's founder, first president, and member number 1, Ali Sami Yen, described the story of the founding of the Galatasaray Club in his "Fiftieth Year" book with the words: "On October 1, 1905, during the class of our late literature teacher Mehmet Ata Bey in the 5th grade of the school, a few friends and I put our heads together and decided to establish a football club at Galatasaray."

The club, which entered sports life with the motto of founder Ali Sami Yen, "Our goal is to play as a collective unit like the English, to have a color and a name, and to beat non-Turkish teams," initially considered names like Gloria (Victory) or Audace (Courage), but eventually agreed on Galatasaray.

Ali Sami Yen, student number 889 of the school, who served as president of the Galatasaray Sports Club from 1905 to 1919, listed the 13 founding members on pages 181 and 182 of the "Galatasaray Physical Education Club" Census-Statistics Book, which he kept in his own handwriting:

1- Ali Sami Yen

2- Asım Sonumut

3- Emin Bülend Serdaroğlu

4- Celal İbrahim

5- B. Nikolof

6- Milo Bakiş

7- Pol Bakiş

8- Bekir Sıtkı Bircan

9- Tahsin Nahit

10- Reşat Şirvanizade

11- Hüseyin Hüsnü

12- Refik Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu

13- Abidin Daver

OFFICIALIZED IN 1913

Although the Galatasaray Club was founded on October 1, 1905, it was officially registered on September 1, 1913.

Since there was no associations law in the Ottoman Empire in 1905, the Galatasaray Sports Club could not be legally registered. After the Law of Associations was enacted in 1912, the club gained a legal identity.

Since it was mandatory to submit the names and addresses of the founding members along with the club's statutes to the competent authorities, members who had resigned or returned to their countries after completing their education were removed from the initial list, and the founding list was reorganized on September 1, 1913.

The new order of the founding members was as follows:

1- Ali Sami Yen

2- Asım Sonumut

3- Emin Bülend Serdaroğlu

4- Celal İbrahim

5- Bekir Sıtkı Bircan

6- Reşat Şirvanizade

7- Refik Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu

8- Abidin Daver

FIRST MATCH

The Galatasaray Football Team played its first match on November 10, 1905, in Kadıköy.

Considering the teams that still exist today, the yellow-reds, who are the first Turkish football team, played their first match at Papazın Çayırı, where the current Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium is located.

Galatasaray, consisting of young high school students, defeated the Kadıköy Faure School, a Greek team, 2-0 in their first match.

COLORS AND LOGO

The first colors of the Galatasaray Sports Club were determined as red and white, symbolizing "Turkism."

Although yellow and black were used for a period after these colors were banned by the administration of the time, it did not last, and the club eventually adopted its current colors.

The club's founder, Ali Sami Yen, described the choice of colors: "After wandering around many places, we finally went to Fat Yanko's shop in Bahçekapı and came across two elegant woolen fabrics. One was a dark, sweet red leaning towards cherry, and the other was a rich yellow with a hint of orange. The clerk combined the waves of the fabrics with a skillful hand movement. A brightness emerged similar to the color beauty created by the head and wing of a goldfinch. It was as if we were seeing the play of colors in the fire. We imagined the yellow-red flame shining on our team and envisioned it immediately leading us from victory to victory. And so it happened."

Despite this, one of the founders, Bekir Sıtkı, claimed that these colors were inspired by the yellow and red roses that Gül Baba gave to Bayezid II.

The club's logo was first published by Ahmet Ayetullah, a 1st-year student at Galatasaray High School, in the magazine "Kara Kedi" (Black Cat), which he published with Şinasi in 1923. In his drawing, Ayetullah used the Arabic letters 'Ghayn' and 'Sin', which correspond to G and S in the alphabet used before the alphabet reform.

This logo was accepted at the congress in 1923, in the 18th year of the club.

WON THE GAZI BUST

In the pre-professional era, Galatasaray, which became champion in league matches played under different names such as the Istanbul League, Friday League, and Sunday League, took the first and only cup organized in his name while Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was alive to its museum.

An organization was held in 1928 to provide income for the Aviation Society (Tayyare Cemiyeti), which was founded in 1925 by the order of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and later renamed the Turkish Aeronautical Association. Accordingly, a match would be played between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, and the winner would be awarded an Atatürk bust. The cup, called the Gazi Bust, bore the signature of sculptor Pietro Canonica, who was building the Taksim Republic Monument at the same time.

On August 10, 1928, the reserve teams of Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe were also to face each other on the same day at Taksim Stadium. Since the match between the main teams ended 3-3, the second match determined the winner of the cup. Galatasaray won the match played on August 31, 1928, again at Taksim Stadium, refereed by Beşiktaş's Şeref Bey, 4-0 with 3 goals from Necdet and one from Şadlı.

The yellow-reds experienced one of the most valuable championships in history by winning the only cup dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk while he was alive.

The Gazi Bust is still in the Galatasaray Museum and is used once a year during the commemoration ceremonies held on November 10.

38 PRESIDENTS SERVED

So far, 38 different presidents have served at the Galatasaray Club.

In the 118 years starting with Ali Sami Yen in 1905 and continuing to the current president Dursun Özbek, 38 different presidents have managed the yellow-red club in 104 terms.

The presidents of the yellow-red club by period are as follows:

Ali Sami Yen (1905-1918, 1925), Refik Cevdet Kalpakcıoğlu (1919-1922, 1934), Yusuf Ziya Öniş (1922-1924, 1950-1952), Ali Haydar Şekip (1925), Ahmet Robenson (1926), Adnan İbrahim Pirioğlu (1927), Necmettin Sadak (1928-1929), Abidin Daver (1929-1930), Ahmet Kara (1930-1931, 1933), Tahir Kevkep (1931-1932), Ali Haydar Barşal (1932-1933, 1933-1934), Fethi İsfendiyaroğlu (1933), Ethem Mememencioğlu (1934-1936), Saim Gogen (1936-1937), Safat Ziya Kantoğlu (1937-1939, 1944), Nizan Nuri (1939), Adnan Akıska (1939), Tevfik Ali Çınar (1940-1942), Osman Dardağan (1942-1943), Muslihittin Peykoğlu (1944-1946), Suphi Batur (1946-1950, 1965-1968), Ulvi Yenal (1953, 1962-1964), Refik Selimoğlu (1954-1956, 1960-1962), Sadık Giz (1957-1959), Salahattin Beyazıt (1969-1973, 1975-1979), Mustafa Pekin (1973-1975), Ali Uras (1979-1984, 1984-1986), Ali Tanrıyar (1986-1988, 1988-1990), Alp Yalman (1990-1992, 1992-1996), Faruk Süren (1996-2001), Mehmet Cansun (2001-2002), Özhan Canaydın (2002-2008), Adnan Polat (2008-2011), Ünal Aysal (2011-2014), Duygun Yarsuvat (2014-2015), Mustafa Cengiz (2018-2021), Burak Elmas (2021-2022), Dursun Özbek (2015-2018, 2022-Present)

LEADER IN FOOTBALL

Galatasaray stands out as Turkey's most successful team in football, its first branch.

The yellow-red team has reached the happy ending 24 times in the current Süper Lig, which was founded in 1959. Galatasaray is 5 championships ahead of its closest rival, Fenerbahçe.

Galatasaray has been the team that has won the Turkish Cup, which has been played since the 1962-1963 season, the most times. "Cimbom," which has played in 23 finals, has reached the happy ending in 18 of these finals.

The yellow-reds have won the Presidential Cup, which pits the Süper Lig champion against the Turkish Cup winner, 10 times, and the TFF Super Cup 7 times.

Galatasaray, which took the Prime Ministry Cup, which pitted league runners-up against cup finalists and was played until 1998, to its museum 5 times, lifted the TSYD Cup, a pre-season preparation tournament, 12 times.

BROUGHT THE FIRST AND ONLY EUROPEAN CUP TO TURKEY

Galatasaray has achieved the greatest success ever attained by a Turkish football team.

The yellow-reds, the most successful team in Turkey in European cups, won the UEFA Cup in the 1999-2000 season under the management of coach Fatih Terim.

Galatasaray achieved the success of lifting the UEFA Super Cup before the 2000-2001 season under the management of Mircea Lucescu.

The yellow-reds are at the top with a total of 78 cups, 22 championships ahead of their closest rival, Fenerbahçe.

SUCCESSES IN OTHER BRANCHES

The yellow-reds have achieved victory 5 times in the Turkish Basketball League, 3 times in the Turkish Cup, 2 times in the Presidential Cup, 11 times in the Turkish Championship, and 17 times in the Istanbul League in men's basketball. Galatasaray won its only cup in Europe in the ULEB EuroCup.

In women's basketball, they reached the championship 13 times in the Turkish Women's Basketball League, 11 times in the Turkish Cup, and 8 times in the Presidential Cup. The yellow-reds took the FIBA EuroLeague Women cup to their museum once and the FIBA Europe Cup twice.

The Galatasaray Men's Volleyball Team became champions 4 times in the Volleyball Displacement League of the period, which is now called the Efeler League. The yellow-reds reached the happy ending 12 times in the Turkish Championship, 16 times in the Istanbul League, and once in the Men's Champions Cup.

The yellow-red women's volleyball team has not yet seen a championship in the league now called the Sultanlar League. Galatasaray lifted the cup 8 times in the Istanbul Women's Volleyball Championship and 5 times in the Turkish Women's Volleyball Championship.

The Galatasaray Men's Water Polo Team has also been league champion 29 times in total.

In addition to football, basketball, volleyball, and water polo, Galatasaray also has branches in swimming, rowing, sailing, wheelchair basketball, athletics, judo, equestrianism, bridge, and e-sports.

ACTIVE MEMBER COUNT OVER 11 THOUSAND

In Galatasaray, where club membership is subject to quotas and certain criteria, the number of active members was recorded as 11,460 as of May 31, 2024.

There are 3,107 active members in Galatasaray who have completed 25 years and are entitled to enter the council of trustees (divan kurulu).

News Source: AA