History of Galatasaray S.K.

The history of Galatasaray covers over 100 years of the sports from the club based in Istanbul, Turkey. Established in 1905, the club became one of the most successful clubs in the history of Turkish football.Galatasaray The Lions of the BosporusReal Madrid-Galatasaray

First steps and foundation After being influenced by the French Lycée model, the Galatasaray High School became much more of a modern school in September 1868. French was the main language for instructing, and many teachers were European. The students included members of all religious and ethnic communities from the Ottoman Empire. The school introduced sports (mainly gymnastics) as a new school subject and Monsieur Curel was the first gymnastics teacher. In 1899, a "football" first came to Galatasaray High School, but the pupils just kicked the ball at the Grand Cour of the school. In autumn 1902 Ali Sami Yen visited his uncle Suphi in Moda and on his way to him he saw Englishmen playing football at Moda field. He told his friends of this new sport, and on October 14, 1905 (which corresponds to "1 Teşrinievvel 1321"Galatasaray researcher Melih Şabanoğlu according to the Islamic Rumi calendar; hence the common error of giving the date as "1 October 1905" by ignoring the 13 days of difference between the Rumi calendar and Gregorian calendar before the Ottoman calendar adjustment reforms of 1917–1918), during the History and Literature lesson of teacher Mehmet Ata Bey, they founded the club in the back rows of the classroom Literature 5B.

In addition to Ali Sami Yen (Club member No. 1), who was the driving force behind the club's foundation, Asim Tevfik Sonumut (2), Emin Bülent Serdaroğlu (3), Celal Ibrahim (4), Boris Nikolov (5), Milo Bakić (6), Pavle Bakić (7), Bekir Sitki Bircan (8), Tahsin Nihat (9), Reşat Şirvanizade (10), Hüseyin Hüsnü (11), Refik Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu (12) and Abidin Daver (13) were also involved in the decision to organize such a club. Their first match was against Kadıköy Faure School and they won this match 2–0. There were discussions about the club's name, in which some suggested Gloria (victory) and others Audace (courage), but it was decided that its name would be Galatasaray.

According to researcher Cem Atabeyoğlu, Galatasaray took its name from one of its first matches. In that match, Galatasaray won 2–0 over Rûm club and the spectators called them "Galata Sarayı efendileri" (in English: Gentlemen of Galata Palace), and, after this event, they adopted that name and started to call their club "Galata Sarayı". In 1905, during the era of the Ottoman Empire, there were no laws for associations so the club could not be registered officially, but, after the 1912 Law of Association, the club registered legally.

This was how the first Turkish football club was founded. Among with the founder Ali Sami Yen, the co-founders were the ones who were keen to do this sport, such as Asim Tevfik Sonumut, Reşat Şirvani, Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu, Abidin Daver and Kamil.

At first, the colours of Galatasaray were red and white. These are the colours in the modern Turkish flag. The Turkish Republic, however, was not founded at that time. Therefore, this decision caused the repressive administration of the day to feel uncomfortable and the administration subsequently pressured the footballers. For this reason, on December 26, 1906 the colors were changed to yellow and black. The eight-piece halved design kit was ordered from the Sports Outfitter William Shillcock based in Birmingham, United Kingdom. After a heavy 0–5 loss to Baltalimanı in a friendly match the new colours yellow and black were counted as inauspicious.

On December 6, 1908 new colors were chosen as red and yellow. Ali Sami Yen stated, "After we have been in and out of several shops, we saw two different elegant-looking wool materials in Fatty Yanko's store at Bahçekapısı (between Eminönü and Sirkeci in Istanbul, now called Bahçekapı). One of them was quite dark red, resembling the cherry color, and the other a rich yellow with a touch of orange. When the sales clerk made the two fabrics fly together with a twist of his hand they became so bright that it reminded us the beauty of a goldfinch. We thought we were looking at the colors flickering in burning fire. We were picturing the yellow-red flames shining on our team and dreaming that it would take us to victories. Indeed it did."

Pre-professional period

Ali Sami Yen Era Ali Sami Yen is the founder of the club, and the first president of club that served until the 1920s. Since the Turkish republic founded in 1923, Ali Sami Yen did a great job, both founding and developing the first Turkish football club and protecting it against the strict rules of the former state of command in Istanbul, the Ottoman Empire.

Between 1905 and 1906 Galatasaray just played friendly matches. Since there were not any Turkish teams, Galatasaray joined the Istanbul Football League that was consisting of English and Greek teams in the season of 1906–1907. In its first season, in the Istanbul Football League Galatasaray finished fourth. Above the Greek team Elpis FC and behind champions Cadi Keuy FRC, Moda FC and . The next season the club finished third in the Istanbul Football League. With their first championship title, which was won in 1908–1909, they heralded the beginning of Turkish football history.

The First Dynasty (1908–1916)

In 1908, Galatasaray signed Horace Armitage, who had already won the league twice with Cadi Keuy, as a player and as manager and the first dynasty of Galatasaray and Turkish football begun. The club won three consecutive Istanbul Football League championships in 1909, 1910 and 1911.

Although Armitage left the club in 1911, the club went on to win the league in 1915 and 1916.

Ali Sami Yen, the founder of Galatasaray Sports Club, was also the first League President of "Turkiye Futbol Birligi (1911).

The Second Dynasty (1921–1931)

In 1920, player and captain Necip Şahin became manager of the team, but he still played for the club. After five years without winning a title, the club eventually won the league title in 1922. In the same year, Necip Şahin quit as manager and Adil Giray took over as player-manager. He could not win a title until 1924 and Ali Sami Yen decided to sign Billy Hunter who was at that time the coach of the Turkey national team.

They won the Istanbul League three consecutive times (in 1925, 1926, 1927). The 1928 championship was aborted due to the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Hunter quit as manager in 1928 and Galatasaray legend Nihat Bekdik became player-manager and led the club to the 1929 title, as well as finishing second in 1930. Because of the Olympic Games, the club missed the chance to win the league in five consecutive years. The star player of the 1920s was Nihat Bekdik. He played for Galatasaray for twenty years, and was captain for twelve years (1924–1936).

In 1931, the club won the Istanbul Football League for the eleventh time; it was the club's sixth title in ten years/nine seasons.

Bad years (1932–1948) After a dispute about amateurism-professionalism between Galatasaray members in 1933, the group which favored a more professional club left Galatasaray and founded the Güneş. Thanks to financial and political power, the new club was able to sign the best players of Galatasaray, and the fall of Galatasaray began. Between 1932 and 1949, the club could not win the Istanbul League. In 1933, Galatasray won the Istanbul Shield and, in 1939, the Milli Küme. It was not just the football team that was in a crisis, however; the whole club was in a chaotic situation. Between 1930–1941, there had been fifteen presidents and ten managers.

Star player Nihat Bekdik quit in 1936, though a new star joined in 1934, Gündüz Kılıç. Thanks to both players, the club were runners up of the Istanbul Football League in 1934–1935 and 1935–1936. With Kiliç, the club won the Istanbul Cup in 1942 and 1943 and were runners up of the Istanbul Football League in 1941–1942.

Back again (1949–1958) In 1948, the club signed Pat Molloy and, after eighteen years, Galatasaray won the Istanbul Football League in the 1948–1949 season. In 1952, the Istanbul Football League became a professional league (Istanbul Professional League). In the same year, Galatasaray legend Gündüz Kılıç quit at the age of just 33 and became the club manager for the 1952–1953 season. He returned in 1954 and stayed till 1957. During his second coaching period, between 1954 and 1957, the club won the Istanbul Football League in 1954–1955 and 1955-1956.

The European Champion Clubs' Cup started in 1955–1956, but the first nationwide Turkish League started in 1959. Due to the Istanbul Football League being the strongest league in Turkey, Galatasaray participated at the 1956–1957 European Champion Clubs' Cup season. Galatasaray lost to Dinamo București 3–1 in Bucharest, but managed to win in Istanbul 2–1. Although the club was eliminated from the competition, it was a historical participation. Galatasaray became the first Turkish club to play in a UEFA competition, the first Turkish club to score in a UEFA competition and the first Turkish club to win a match in a UEFA competition. In 1957, after Kiliç quit, George Dick became manager of Galatasaray and the club won their fifteenth and last Istanbul Football League title in 1958.

In 1955, the club signed the 19-year-old Izmir Football League top scorer of 1954–1955 Metin Oktay, and a new era started.

Professional period

Into the National League: 1959 Türkiye Profesyonel 1. Ligi (today it is organized with the name Süper Lig) was formed in 1959, just after the foundation of UEFA in 1954. This is the top-flight professional league in Turkish nationwide football, and the most popular sporting competition in the country. The 1959 Milli Lig (National League) was the first season of professional football in Turkey. The league was made up of sixteen clubs split into two groups: the Kırmızı Grup (Red Group) and Beyaz Grup (White Group), the colours of the Turkish flag. The first season took place in the calendar year of 1959, instead of 1958–59, because the qualifying stages took place in 1958. The final consisted of two legs and took place between the winners of each group. Galatasaray won the Kırmızı Grup and Fenerbahçe won the Beyaz Grup. Galatasaray won the first match 1–0. Metin Oktay scored the goal and the ball ripped the net, but Fenerbahçe won the second 4–0, winning 4–1 on aggregate. Metin Oktay finished top scorer with eleven goals. Although Metin Oktay became Gol Kralı in 1960 and 1961, the club could not win the league, finishing third in 1960 and second in 1961.

The Third Dynasty (1962–1966) For the third time, Gündüz Kılıç became the manager of Galatasaray in 1960. Galatasaray won the league in 1961–1962 and 1962-1963. In the 1962–1963 season, the club scored 105 goals, which is still a Süper Lig record, with Metin Oktay the topscorer for the fourth time. In the same season, the TFF started the Turkish Cup and Galatasaray won both final legs 2–1 against Fenerbahçe and became the first club to win the double. Galatasaray could not win the Süper Lig for the next five seasons, but managed to win the Turkish Cup four times in a row, which is still a Süper Lig record. Altay in 1964, Fenerbahçe in 1965 and Beşiktaş in 1966 all lost the Turkish Cup final to Galatasaray. In 1966, the TFF started the Turkish Super Cup. Galatasaray won the first Turkish Super Cup beating Süper Lig champion Beşiktaş 2–0 in Ankara.

After seven consecutive seasons and a total of eleven seasons, Galatasaray manager Gündüz Kılıç quit. His managerial record at the club included winning two Istanbul Football League championships, two Süper Lig championship titles, four Turkish Cup and one Turkish Super Cup.

The Fourth Dynasty (1969–1973)