Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

is the most popular sport in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, followed by basketball, tracing its roots to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. The first matches were played in Ottoman

Salonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

in 1875. The sport was introduced by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

residents. The

Turkish football league system The Turkish football system is divided into the following leagues. Men Süper Lig Süper Lig is the highest level in the Turkish football league system and is operated by the TFF. Other professional divisions TFF 1. Lig, is the second ...

comprises five professional leagues, one of which is dedicated to female athletes.

History

League system

Süper Lig

The

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

(Super League) is the top division in Turkey since 1959. There are 18 clubs in the league (as of 2025–26 season). The league ushered in clubs from all over Turkey to compete with each other. Currently, clubs finishing in the top four places in the league enter qualifying rounds of European competitions, and the winners of the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

, if not one of the top four, are also given a spot. Each season, the four teams with the least points are relegated to the

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig (), currently referred to as Trendyol 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization ...

. A total of 75 clubs have competed in the Süper Lig, but only six clubs have been champions so far:

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

, Fenerbahçe,

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

Başakşehir Başakşehir is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 107 km2, and its population is 514,900 (2022). It is in the European part of Istanbul. The district is home to İsta ...

and

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği, commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkey, Turkish professional sports club based in the city of Bursa. Founded in 1963, the club is best known for its football team, which has a rich history in Football in Turkey, Turk ...

. Galatasaray has won the most Süper Lig trophies with 25 trophies (the club has also won more Turkish Cups and Turkish Super Cups than any other team). The most popular

clubs on X as of 6 May 2025:

Reserve leagues

Clubs in the Turkish football league system do not have reserve teams with the exception of Genclerbirligi and Altinordu. Hacettepe SK is the reserve side of Genclerbirligi, and Nigde Anadolu FK is of Altinordu. Other clubs have U21 and U18 teams which compete outside the main league system.

Amateur football

Below the four professional leagues in Turkish football are amateur leagues. Amateur football clubs include: * Seniors’ First Amateur League: 2145 clubs * Seniors’ Second Amateur League: 1743 clubs * Seniors’ Third Amateur League: 1 club * Women's League: 9 clubs * Juniors’ First Amateur League: 27 clubs * Juniors’ Second Amateur League: 100 clubs * Juniorsclubs **

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

: 10 clubs **

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

: 16 clubs **

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

: 18 clubs **

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

: 12 clubs **

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

: 7 clubs **

Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

: 13 clubs **

Samsun Samsun is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. The urban area recorded a population of 738,692 in 2022. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of ...

: 10 clubs Amateur clubs are put into leagues included in the Amateur League system and are eligible for promotion to the

Turkish Third League The TFF 3. Lig (), currently referred to as Nesine 3. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in the 2001–02 season as a continuation of then third level division Turkish Third Foot ...

Largest football stadiums in Turkey

Cup competitions

The two major cup competitions are the

and

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup, known as Turkcell Super Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a super cup tournament in Turkish football. Founded in 1966 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2025 by four teams: the winners ...

. The Turkish Cup includes clubs from every division. The Super Cup is an annual match held between the winners of the Süper Lig and Turkish Cup. Now-defunct Turkish cup competitions include the

Prime Minister's Cup Prime Minister's Cup may refer to: *Prime Minister's Cup (Laos), a football competition in Laos *Prime Minister's Cup (Turkey), a defunct football competition in Turkey *Başbakanlık Kupası (Northern Cyprus), a tournament of the Cyprus Turkish Fo ...

Atatürk Cup The Atatürk Cup was a football competition in Turkey. The first edition was played between the winners of the Prime Minister's Cup and the Presidential Cup in 1998 to memorialize the 60th anniversary of Atatürk's death. Fenerbahçe defeated Be� ...

Istanbul Football Cup The Istanbul Football Cup () was a football competition for Istanbul clubs in Turkey. The cup replaced the Istanbul Shield in 1942 and lasted until 1947. The final match between Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe was cancelled in 1947 It was the ...

and

Spor Toto Cup The Spor Toto Cup was a league cup in Turkey. The competition ran from 1964 to 1971 and 2012. Champions Performance by club References Links Spor Toto Cup in soccerway {{Turkey-footy-competition-stub Defunct football cup compe ...

Qualification for European competitions

In addition, once in a European competition, it becomes possible to qualify for others: * All the losers of the Champions League third qualifying round go forward to the UEFA Europa League Play-off round * All the losers of the Champions League play-off round go forward to the UEFA Europa League group stage

European competition records

The following teams have made the last eight of European competitions:

UEFA Super Cup

(

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

– Champions)

European Cup / UEFA Champions League

( 1988–89 – Semi-finals) *

( 1962–63 – Quarter-finals) *

( 1969–70 – Quarter-finals) * Besiktaş ( 1986–87 – Quarter-finals) *

( 1993–94 – Group stage)^‡ *

( 2000–01 – Quarter-finals) * Fenerbahçe ( 2007–08 – Quarter-finals) *

(

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

– Quarter-finals) ^{‡ Galatasaray was one of the eight teams in the group stage of the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League

The 1993–94 UEFA Champions League, originally known as the 1993–94 European Cup, was the 39th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club Association football, football tournament, and the second season with the UEFA Champions Lea ...
, however, UEFA does not consider this a quarter-final participation.}

UEFA Cup / Europa League

( 1999–00 – Champions) * Fenerbahçe (

– Semi-finals) * Besiktaş ( 2002–03 – Quarter-finals) * Besiktaş ( 2016–17 – Quarter-finals)

UEFA Europa Conference League

* Fenerbahçe ( 2023-24 – Quarter-finals)

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

* Göztepe ( 1968–69 – Semi-finals)

Balkans Cup

* Fenerbahçe ( 1966–67 – Champions) * Sarıyerspor ( 1991–92 – Champions) *

Samsunspor Samsunspor Kulübü, officially known as Samsunspor Football Club Joint Stock Company, or as Reeder Samsunspor due to sponsorship agreements, is a Turkey, Turkish Football club (association football), professional football club that competes in t ...

( 1993–94 – Champions) *

Eskişehirspor Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish football club located in Eskişehir. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division of Turkish football for 16 years until they were relegated. After being out of the Süper Lig for 12 years the ...

(

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

– Runners-up)

UEFA Cup Winners Cup

* Fenerbahçe ( 1963–64 – Quarter-finals) * Göztepe ( 1969–70 – Quarter-finals) *

( 1974–75 – Quarter-finals) *

( 1991–92 – Quarter-finals)

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, and also called Bellona Kayserispor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the RHG Enertürk Enerji Stadium ...

(

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

– Joint Winners) *

(

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

– Runners-up) *

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Net Global Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department has competed in Süper Lig since t ...

(

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

– Runners-up) *

İstanbulspor İstanbulspor Kulübü is a Turkish association football, football and sports club founded by Istanbul High School students in 1926. In 2004–05, they were relegated from the Turkish Süper Lig (Super League) to the TFF First League. For many d ...

(

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

– Semi-finals) *

(

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

– Semi-finals) *

(

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

– Semi-finals) *

(

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

– Quarter-finals)

Turkey national team

The Turkey national team made its debut on October 26, 1923. The match ended in a 2–2 draw against the

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Turkey have qualified for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

twice:

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. Their longest duration of competing for the Cup was coming third in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Turkey also finished third in the

2003 Confederations Cup The 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the sixth FIFA Confederations Cup, held in France in June 2003. France retained the title they had won in 2001, but the tournament was overshadowed by the death of Cameroon player Marc-Vivi ...

, reached the semi-finals of

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 ...

and played in the quarter-finals of

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. Turkey will host the

UEFA Euro 2032 The 2032 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2032 or simply Euro 2032, will be the 19th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international association football, football championship organised by UEFA fo ...

alongside Italy.

Women's football

Records

Seasons

Notes

External links

TurkishFootballNews.com - your source for the latest in Turkish football

Turkish soccer live scores and news and blog by Ahmet Bob Turgut

All of results in Turkish Football
{{Football in Asia

History

League system

Süper Lig

Reserve leagues

Amateur football

Largest football stadiums in Turkey

Cup competitions

Qualification for European competitions

European competition records

UEFA Super Cup

European Cup / UEFA Champions League

UEFA Cup / Europa League

UEFA Europa Conference League

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Balkans Cup

UEFA Cup Winners Cup

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Turkey national team

Women's football

Records

Seasons

See also

Notes

External links