Süper Lig

The Turkcell Super League (formerly National League, First Football League and First Super League respectively, Turkish: 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 Turkey's football federation.

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 Second League Category A at the end of each season and replaced by three others teams from Category A.

As of the 2005/06 season, the top two teams qualify for the Champions League, which the champions directly entering the group phase and the runners-up enter in the second of three qualifying rounds. 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 2009. Digiturk bought the rights in 2004 for 135.85 million New Turkish lira (US$99 million), making the Super League the most expensive league after England's Premiership.

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.

Super League clubs, 2006-07

The clubs to play in the 2006-2007 season are listed below, alongside their home towns.

Club	Home town	Founded in	In league since	Finishing position last season
Ankaragücü	Ankara	1910	1980-81	13th
B. B. Ankaraspor	Ankara	1978	2004-2005	14th
Antalyaspor	Antalya	1966	2006-2007	2nd in Second League Category A
Beşiktaş JK	Istanbul	1903	1959	3rd
Bursaspor	Bursa	1963	2006-2007	1st in Second League Category A
Çaykur Rizespor	Rize	1968	2003-2004	9th
Denizlispor	Denizli	1966	1999-2000	15th
Fenerbahçe SK	Istanbul	1907	1959	2nd
Galatasaray SK	Istanbul	1905	1959	1st
Gaziantepspor	Gaziantep	1969	1990-1991	11th
Gençlerbirliği	Ankara	1923	1989-90	6th
Kayserispor	Kayseri	1975	2004-2005	5th
Kayseri Erciyesspor	Kayseri	1966	2005-2006	10th
Konyaspor	Konya	1981	2003-2004	7th
Sakaryaspor	Sakarya	1965	2006-2007	Second League Category A playoff winner
Sivasspor	Sivas	1967	2005-2006	8th
Trabzonspor	Trabzon	1967	1974-1975	4th
Vestel Manisaspor	Manisa	1965	2005-2006	12th

The clubs below took part in the Second League Category A play-offs but failed to clinch the final promotion spot for the 2006-2007 season. The winning team was Sakaryaspor.

Club	Home town	Founded in	Last season in Super League	Finishing position in Category A
Altay	Izmir	1914	2002-2003	3rd
Istanbulspor	Istanbul	1926	2004-2005	5th
Orduspor	Ordu	1967	1985-86	6th

The clubs below were relegated to the Second League Category A at the end of the 2005-2006 season.

Club	Home town	Founded in	In league since	Finishing position last season
Diyarbakırspor	Diyarbakır	1968	2001-2002	18th
Malatyaspor	Malatya	1966	2001-2002	16th
Samsunspor	Samsun	1965	1993-1994	17th

Champions and top scorers by season

Only four clubs, the so-called “Big Four” have been champions since the beginning of the Premier Super League: Fenerbahce SK (16), Galatasaray SK (16 times), Beşiktaş JK (12) and Trabzonspor (6). The first three, all Istanbul-based clubs, are known as the “Big Three”.

• Fenerbahce: 1958-59, 1960-61, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1967-68, 1969-70, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1977-78, 1982-83, 1984-85, 1988-89, 1995-96, 2000-01, 2003-04, 2004-05.
• Galatasaray: 1961-62, 1962-63, 1968-69, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2005-06.
• Besiktas: 1956-57, 1957-58, 1959-60, 1965-66, 1966-67, 1981-82, 1985-86, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1994-95, 2002-03.
• Trabzonspor: 1975-76, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1983-84.
• Note: The Besiktas total includes the Turkish Federation League, which was played for 2 seasons (1957 and 1958). Besiktas won this league both years.

Season	Champion	Coach	Top scorer	His club	Goals
2005-2006	Galatasaray SK	Eric Gerets	Gökhan Ünal	Kayserispor	25
2004-2005	Fenerbahçe SK	Christoph Daum	Fatih Tekke	Trabzonspor	31
2003-2004	Fenerbahçe SK	Christoph Daum	Zafer Biryol	Konyaspor	25
2002-2003	Beşiktaş JK	Mircea Lucescu	Okan Yılmaz	Bursaspor	24
2001-2002	Galatasaray SK	Mircea Lucescu	İlhan Mansız	Beşiktaş JK	23
			Arif Erdem	Galatasaray SK
2000-2001	Fenerbahçe SK	Mustafa Denizli	Okan Yılmaz	Bursaspor	23
1999-2000	Galatasaray SK	Fatih Terim	Serkan Aykut	Samsunspor	30
1998-1999	Galatasaray SK	Fatih Terim	Hakan Şükür	Galatasaray SK	19
1997-1998	Galatasaray SK	Fatih Terim	Hakan Şükür	Galatasaray SK	32
1996-1997	Galatasaray SK	Fatih Terim	Hakan Şükür	Galatasaray SK	38
1995-1996	Fenerbahçe SK	Carlos Alberto Parreira	Shota Arveladze	Trabzonspor	25
1994-1995	Beşiktaş JK	Christoph Daum	Aykut Kocaman	Fenerbahçe SK	27
1993-1994	Galatasaray SK	Rainer Hollmann	Bülent Uygun	Fenerbahçe SK	22
1992-1993	Galatasaray SK	Karl-Heinz Feldkamp	Tanju Çolak	Fenerbahçe SK	27
1991-1992	Beşiktaş JK	Gordon Milne	Aykut Kocaman	Fenerbahçe SK	25
1990-1991	Beşiktaş JK	Gordon Milne	Tanju Çolak	Galatasaray SK	31
1989-1990	Beşiktaş JK	Gordon Milne	Feyyaz Uçar	Beşiktaş JK	28
1988-1989	Fenerbahçe SK	Todor Veselinovic	Aykut Kocaman	Fenerbahçe SK	29
1987-1988	Galatasaray SK	Mustafa Denizli-Jupp Derwall	Tanju Çolak	Galatasaray SK	39
1986-1987	Galatasaray SK	Jupp Derwall	Tanju Çolak	Samsunspor	25
1985-1986	Beşiktaş JK	Branko Stankovic	Tanju Çolak	Samsunspor	33
1984-1985	Fenerbahçe SK	Todor Veselinovic	Aykut Yiğit	Sakaryaspor	20
1983-1984	Trabzonspor	A. Suat Özyazici	Tarık Hocic	Galatasaray SK	16
1982-1983	Fenerbahçe SK	Branko Stankovic	Selçuk Yula	Fenerbahçe SK	19
1981-1982	Beşiktaş JK	Dorde Milic	Selçuk Yula	Fenerbahçe SK	16
1980-1981	Trabzonspor	Özkan Sümer	Bora Öztürk	Adanaspor	15
1979-1980	Trabzonspor	A. Suat Özyazici	Mustafa Denizli	Altay SK	12
			Bahtiyar Yorulmaz	Bursaspor
1978-1979	Trabzonspor	Özkan Sümer	Özer Umdu	Adanaspor	15
1977-1978	Fenerbahçe SK	Toma Kaleperovic	Cemil Turan	Fenerbahçe SK	17
			Ali Osman Renkliboy	MKE Ankaragücü
1976-1977	Trabzonspor	A. Suat Özyazici	Necmi Perekli	Trabzonspor	18
1975-1976	Trabzonspor	A. Suat Özyazici	Cemil Turan	Fenerbahçe SK	14
1974-1975	Fenerbahçe SK	Valdir Pereira Didi	Ömer Kaner	Eskişehirspor	14
1973-1974	Fenerbahçe SK	Valdir Pereira Didi	Cemil Turan	Fenerbahçe SK	14
1972-1973	Galatasaray SK	Brian Birch	Osman Arpacıoğlu	Fenerbahçe SK	16
1971-1972	Galatasaray SK	Brian Birch	Fethi Heper	Eskişehirspor	20
1970-1971	Galatasaray SK	Coşkun Özarı-Brian Birch	Ogün Altıparmak	Fenerbahçe SK	16
1969-1970	Fenerbahçe SK	Trian Ionescu	Fethi Heper	Eskişehirspor	13
1968-1969	Galatasaray SK	Toma Kaleperovic	Metin Oktay	Galatasaray SK	17
1967-1968	Fenerbahçe SK	Ignace Molnar	Fevzi Zemzem	Göztepe SK	19
1966-1967	Beşiktaş JK	Ljubisa Spajic	Ertan Adatepe	MKE Ankaragücü	18
1965-1966	Beşiktaş JK	Ljubisa Spajic	Ertan Adatepe	MKE Ankaragücü	20
1964-1965	Fenerbahçe SK	Oscar Hold	Metin Oktay	Galatasaray SK	17
1963-1964	Fenerbahçe SK	Miroslav Kokotovic	Güven Önüt	Beşiktaş JK	19
1962-1963	Galatasaray SK	Gündüz Kiliç	Metin Oktay	Galatasaray SK	38
1961-1962	Galatasaray SK	Gündüz Kiliç	Fikri Elma	Ankara Demirspor	21
1960-1961	Fenerbahçe SK	Laszlo Szekelly	Metin Oktay	Galatasaray SK	36
1959-1960	Beşiktaş JK	Andreas Kutik	Metin Oktay	Galatasaray SK	33
1958-59	Fenerbahçe SK	Ignace Molnar	Metin Oktay	Galatasaray SK	11
1957-58	Beşiktaş JK	Leandro Remondini
1956-57	Beşiktaş JK	Jozsef Meszaros

2005-2006 Turkcell Super League Individual Awards

These awards were handed out by the members of the Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu (TFF).

• Player of the Year
  • Alex, Fenerbahçe

• Youth Player of the Year
  • Isaac Promise, Gençlerbirliği

• Manager of the Year
  • Ertuğrul Sağlam, Kayserispor

Turkcell Super League All-Star Team

GK Aly Faryd Mondragon, Galatasaray

DF Rigobert Song, Galatasaray

DF Mehmet Hakki Hocaoğlu, Sivasspor

DF Mustafa Doğan, Beşiktaş

MF Hasan Şaş, Galatasaray

MF Stephen Appiah, Fenerbahçe

MF Mehmet Çakır, Gençlerbirliği

MF Cenk Isler, Kayseri Erciyesspor

MF Alex, Fenerbahçe

FW Gökhan Ünal, Kayserispor

FW Fatih Tekke, Trabzonspor

Turkish Cup history

Cup name	Fenerbahce	Galatasaray	Besiktas	Trabzonspor
Turkish League Championships	16	16	10	6
Turkish Cup	4	14	6	7
Turkish Supercup	0	0	1	0
UEFA Cup	0	1	0	0
Super Cup	0	1	0	0
Champions League Cup	0	0	0	0
Istanbul Football League	16	14	13	0
Istanbul Shield	4	1	1	0
Istanbul Cup	1	2	2	0
Fleet Cup	4	0	1	0
Spor-Toto Cup	1	0	4	0
National Heap	6	1	3	0
Turkish Football Championship	3	0	2	0
TSYD Cup	12	12	12	0
Chancellor Cup	8	5	6	5
Turkish Federation Cup	0	0	2	0
President Cup	6	10	7	7
Ataturk Cup	2	0	1	0
Balkans Cup	1	0	0	0
Total	84	77	71	25

Records

Season

• The longest season: 1962-1963 (42 matches)

Teams

• The highest scoring match: 1991-1992 Fenerbahçe - Gaziantepspor (8-4)
• The biggest win: 1930-1931 Fenerbahçe - Anadolu (16-0)
• Best performing team: 1988-1989 Fenerbahçe (29 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss in 36 matches)
• Longest unbeaten run: Beşiktaş (48 matches)
• Teams unbeaten in a season: 1985-1986 Galatasaray, 1991-1992 Beşiktaş
• Team with the most wins in a season: 1959-1960 Beşiktaş, 1988-1989 Fenerbahçe (29 wins)
• Highest scoring team: 1988-1989 Fenerbahçe (103 goals in 36 matches)
• Team with the most top scorers: Galatasaray (13 top scorers)
• Most games won in row at home: Fenerbahçe (24 games)

Players

• Top scorer for the most years: Metin Oktay (6 times)
• All time top scorer: Tanju Çolak (240 goals)
• Top scorer with the most goals: 1987-1988 Tanju Çolak (39 goals)
• Player with the most championships: Bülent Korkmaz (8 seasons)
• Player with the most goals in a match: 1992-1993 Tanju Çolak (6 goals in the match Fenerbahçe SK – Karşıyaka (7-1))

Coaches

• Coach with the most championships: Ahmet Fuat Özyazıcı and Fatih Terim (4 seasons)

See also

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

External links

• Template:En icon Current Turkish Süper Lig standings
• Template:Tr icon Turkish Football Federation
• Template:Tr icon Turkish Soccer Databank
• Template:En icon 2005-2006 Turkcell Super League Final Season, Team, and Player Statistics in .PDF format - (www.worldcupadvice.com)
• Turkish Soccer
• Turkish Soccer Data