Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas are the biggest football clubs in Turkey. They come from Istanbul, they have won the most trophies, a rich history, a large fan base... Their supporters cannot stand it, and they are all united by their hatred for Istanbul Basaksehir, a club that threatens to disrupt the football order in Turkey.
In the last few years, the story of the title contenders on the Bosphorus cannot go without Basaksehir. It was the same this season, and the team - before the break due to the coronavirus pandemic - shared first place with Trabzon.
It is a relatively young club, founded in 1990. It was on the verge of shutting down, and then the Turkish government, through the Ministry of Sports, stood behind the club. The management structure includes members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), and the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also has sympathy for the team.
The club was founded as Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyespor (Istanbul BB), on the initiative of the then mayor of Istanbul, Nuretin Sozen. For years he competed in the lower ranks. Finally, in 2007, placement in the Turkish Super League followed. Abdullah Avdzi, the selector of the Turkish national team for players up to 17 years of age, who won a gold medal at the European Championship in 2005, and a silver medal at the World Championship a year later, sat on the bench a year earlier.
He finished his first season in the company of the best Istanbul BB in 12th position. The peak was sixth place in 2010 and 2012. In 2011, he reached the final of the Cup, but Besiktas was better after the penalty shootout.
The matches were followed by an average of barely two thousand people. In order to attract fans, the management made an unreasonable move - the club moved to the "Atatruk Olympic Stadium" with a capacity of 76.000 spectators. Meanwhile, Avdzi left in 2011 and took over the Turkish national team, and Istanbul BB was relegated from the league in 2013. The public opinion was that the club should be shut down. And it almost didn't come to that. Again thanks to politics...
Ahead of the 2014 local elections in Istanbul, both mayoral candidates announced the closure of the club. The promise was not fulfilled. That year, Istanbul BB provided an express return to the elite, so its shutdown would leave an odd number of teams in the Super League, which the local association did not like. A compromise was reached in June 2014. The club was moved to the Basaksehir region, and Istanbul BB became - Istanbul Basaksehir. The ownership structure was changed - the club was no longer headed by the local government, but by the Ministry of Sports. In the same year, Recep Tayyip Erdogan becomes the president of Turkey...
The beginning of the modernization of Başakşehir district began during Erdogan's term as mayor of Istanbul in the mid-nineties. Erdogan then became prime minister, then president, but he did not forget the area 30 kilometers from the center of Istanbul.
Meanwhile, in the debut season under the new name, the club finished in fourth place and played in the Europa League qualifiers for the first time, but the European odyssey ended at the first hurdle.
The state apparatus did not spare money for reinforcements. Pierre Vebo, Emre Belozoglu, Volkan Babakan and Gael Clichy arrived in Istanbul, and the real "boom" followed in 2016 when Emmanuel Adebayor arrived. Thanks to his friendship with Erdogan, in 2018 the Basaksehir jersey was worn by Arda Turan, and the biggest star who played for the club was Robinho - in January of last year.
Despite the quality playing staff, the title has not yet been won. Three years in a row, the team finished in second place, and the closest to the title was last season, when they had two points less than Galatasaray.
In Europe, Istanbul Basaksehir was within reach of the Champions League in 2017. In the third round of qualification, they eliminated Club Brugge, but then in the playoffs, they ran into Sevilla, a stronger opponent at that time. He continued the competition in the Europa League.
He played in the second strongest European competition this season as well and reached the round of XNUMX, where he defeated Copenhagen by a minimal score in the first match. The second leg was not played due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Istanbul Basaksehir - an example of a club that survived thanks to the state.
They withdrew number 12, because Erdogan wore it in the exhibition match
The urbanization of the club after Erdogan came to power was followed by the construction of the modern "Fatih Terim" stadium, where Basaksehir has been playing its matches since the move.
At the opening ceremony, a show match was played, in which the Turkish president played a leading role. Namely, his presence was given great attention, and after the match, the number 12 jersey, which Erdogan wore in that match, was retired in his honor.
Since then, no Istanbul Basaksehir player has worn the number twelve - that number belongs to the club's greatest legend, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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