The Turkish Football Federation (; TFF) is the governing body of association football in Turkey. It was formed on 23 April 1923, and joined FIFA the same year and UEFA in 1962. It organizes the Turkey national football team, the

Turkish Football League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

and the Turkish Cup.

Governed competitions

Leagues

The Turkish football league system is divided into eight tiers, ranging from the top-tier

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

to local amateur divisions.

Cups

The Turkish Cup changed its name to the Federation Cup (Turkish: ''Federasyon Kupası'') in the 1980–81 season, then back to Turkish Cup in 1992–93.

Hosting bids

Turkey has had several unsuccessful bids to host the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

. Turkey submitted a joint bid with Greece for

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

, which failed. Their bid for

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

was also unsuccessful, with the competition going to Poland and Ukraine. The federation also submitted a bid to host UEFA Euro 2016, but on May 28, 2010, UEFA announced that

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

would be hosted by France. France beat bids of Turkey (7-6 in voting in second voting round) and Italy, which had the fewest votes in the first voting round. Turkey were also bidding for UEFA Euro 2024, competing against Germany. Germany were announced the hosts on September 27, 2018 at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Turkey had already hosted the

2005 UEFA Champions League Final The 2005 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, Europe's primary club football competition. The showpiece event was contested between Liverpool of England and Milan of Italy at the Atatürk Olym ...

and the

2009 UEFA Cup Final The 2009 UEFA Cup Final was the final match of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, the 38th season of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. It was also the last final to be held under the UEFA Cup name, as the competition was rebranded as ...

in Istanbul. At the youth-level, they hosted the

UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, after first hosting the event back in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Competition summary

As of May 2019

Presidents

Controversies

Denial of former national championships

The TFF organized a nationwide championship as early as 1924. That year the

Turkish Football Championship The Turkish Football Championship ( tr, Türkiye Futbol Şampiyonası) was a top-level association football, football competition in Turkey. It was the first nationwide championship in Turkish football history. The championship was organised by th ...

(Turkish: ''Türkiye Futbol Şampiyonası'') was held in order to bring forth a national football champion. The championship format was based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of each of the country's regional leagues. Some years later, in 1937, the first national league called Millî Küme was introduced. The league was held until 1950, one year before the Turkish Football Championship was also abolished. Even though both competitions were organized by the TFF and were official championships respectively, they are not acknowledged and counted by the very same federation which held them. Until today no official reason or motive was given for the unparalleled and irregular denial. All other football associations in Europe without exception consequently acknowledge their former national championships. The Turkish Federation is the only one with such a stance. As a result,

Ankara Demirspor Ankara Demirspor is a Turkish professional football club based in Ankara. They compete in the TFF Second League. They were one of the Super League's founding members in 1959. By winning the former Turkish Football Championship in 1947, they becam ...

became the first club to officially demand the federation to acknowledge their championship title won in 1947, but received no answer at all to date. Club president Nuğman Yavuz stated that he contacted the Turkish Federation twice, but the federation did not respond in any way. Similarly, Fenerbahçe also requested proper acknowledgement of these national championship titles, and faced the same unconstructive reaction. Having won a total of nine titles in both former championships, the club demands to have those official titles rightfully acknowledged. The lack of comprehension and awareness concerning the baseless denial of proper championship titles is growing in the general Turkish public and among Turkish sports people. For instance, Mehmet Demirkol, a renowned sports writer and commentator which is a Fenerbahçe fan, stated that

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

won their 20th championship title overall in the 2016–17 season, not their 15th. Numerous other sports writers, persons of authority, politicians, and officials also openly expressed their opinions on this issue and reinforced the view that the Turkish federation should unambiguously acknowledge and count the former championship titles.

References

;Video references

External links

*
Turkish soccer
at FIFA site

at UEFA site {{Authority control 1923 establishments in Turkey Sports organizations established in 1923 Football Football in Turkey Futsal in Turkey UEFA member associations