Kocaelispor

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Kocaelispor
Full nameKocaelispor Kulübü
Founded1966; 58 years ago (1966)
GroundKocaeli Stadium,
İzmit, Turkey
Capacity34,712
ChairmanRecep Durul (caretaker)
Head coachMustafa Gürsel
LeagueTFF First League
2022–23TFF Second League, Red, 1st of 20 (promoted)
WebsiteClub website
Kocaelispor former club building

Kocaelispor is a Turkish football club based in İzmit, Kocaeli. They were founded in 1966 and played in the top level between 1980–1988, 1992–2003 and the 2008–09 seasons. Their best finish was in 1992–93 season, where they finished fourth. They have won the Turkish Cup twice, in 1997 and 2002. On 8 January 2015, in front of 20,152 spectators, Kocaelispor set a record for the highest attendance at a Turkish Regional Amateur League encounter.[1]

History[edit]

Foundation[edit]

Prior to establishment of Kocaelispor, the Executive board representatives of Baçspor, a local football club, had demanded a new plat from İzmit Municipality to assure a place for training the sports in 1957. Osman Gencal, city mayor at the time, had been interested in finding a place for training due to his sportive background as a former sportsman and a member of Baçspor.[2] Therefore, the municipality had given a 28-acre (110,000 m2) wide plat to Baçspor, as the plat had been sold for a symbolic cost of 1 Lira.

Baçspor had sold the plat for 283,000 Liras and had a new place in Baç district of İzmit; and begun to a new construction. In 1964, Baçspor club board planned to found a new team at professional level and compete in 2nd Division.[2] However, federation regulation of that time was stating that it was required to compound at least 3 teams and have appropriate facilities. Then, in 1966, three teams which are Baçspor, İzmit Gençlik and Doğanspor had come together, combined and founded Kocaelispor. Three club boards had consensus on every subject and embraced the green and black as the club colours. Then, it had been held a club congress in common and the new club board had been elected. Kocaelispor had spent 175,000 Liras to gather their first squad ever to compete in 2nd Division in 1966.[2]

Kocaelispor was promoted to the 1st Division for the first time in 1980. They competed 8 seasons consecutively until their relegation in 1988. However, during this phase, the club has relegated once in 1986–87 season and come back after a Turkish Council of State verdict.[3]

1992–93 season: Legendary roster[edit]

After the relegation in 1988, they escaped from relegation to third level in 1990 and Bartınspor relegated. They were back in top-level football campaign of Turkey, 1st Division, in 1992. Following this comeback, Kocaelispor had obtained their best league position performance. The team had a sensational start for the season. Beating Kayserispor with a 7–2 final score in 1st match day, collecting 25 points in first 10 weeks, Kocaelispor ended the first half of the fixture as the league leader. However, team had consecutive defeats and finished the season as the 4th of the ladder of 1992–93 season. The team represented Turkey at UEFA Cup next season.

The manager of team was Güvenç Kurtar and the roster was including respectable players. Fahrudin Omerović was the substitute keeper of Yugoslavia squad. Stevica Kuzmanovski and Mirko Mirković (latterly gained Turkish citizenship with name Mert Meriç) are other Yugoslav players in defence position. Bülent Uygun had played at forward position alongside national striker Saffet Sancaklı. Both players then joined Istanbul clubs. Uygun achieved league top scorer honour while playing for Fenerbahçe and Sancaklı first joined Galatasaray but returned the club in 1995 and at the end of season, he joined Fenerbahçe. Bülent Baturman, Halil İbrahim Kara, Melih Erdem, Ergun Kula are some of other notable players at that squad.

Recent history[edit]

Kocaelispor had achieved another successful league position in 1995–96 season as the 5th best team on the table and competed at Intertoto Cup on following season.

Kocaelispor had the Turkish Cup title twice, in 1997 and 2002 against Trabzonspor and Beşiktaş, respectively. On following season of 2002–03, the team has been relegated again as finishing last. After total of 5 seasons competition at TFF First League, Kocaelispor had the championship in 2007–08 season and returned Süper Lig. However, this return lasted one season due to money shortage and relegated again to First League after lost 3–1 home match against Trabzonspor on May 9, 2009 at Round 31 as finishing 17th. Kocaelispor relegated to TFF Second League, third tier of Turkish football once after 2–1 losing away match against Kartalspor on April 4, 2010.

Kocaelispor were managed by 3 managers during 2007–2008 season: Fuat Yaman (from 1st–10th weeks), Kayhan Çubuklu (11th–31st) and Engin İpekoğlu (32nd–34th). They returned to Turkcell Super League as the title holders of last TFF First League season. However, this promotion was followed by successive two relegations and they played TFF Second League once in 2010–11 season. Kocaelispor relegated to fourth level in 2011–12 after finishing last in White Group of Second League. Finally they were relegated to Regional Amateur League after losing 1–0 away match against İstanbulspor 4 rounds before finishing the league on 6 April 2014.

Kocaelispor rivalled with Tekirdağspor, Çengelköyspor and Arnavutköy Belediyespor for promoting to Third League in 2014–15 season. They were leader for some weeks but finished as 4th in 11th group and Tekirdağspor returned professional level after 11 years.[4] Kocaelispor finished 12th Group as champions and faced with Sultangazispor, champions of 11th Group at promotion play-offs.[5] They defeated them as 2–0 with Sinan Pektemek and Hamza Mutlu's goals on 24 April 2016 in Eskişehir and returned professional level after 2 years.[6]

Supporters and rivalries[edit]

Kocaelispor boasts a large support base throughout Turkey, particularly in Marmara Region and Black Sea Region. The club's main fan base known as Hodri Meydan.[7] The main rival is Sakaryaspor.

Stadium[edit]

In 2017, İzmit Stadium became the new home ground for Kocaelispor replacing İzmit İsmetpaşa Stadium.

Former sponsors[edit]

League participations[edit]

Honours[edit]

Kocaelispor in Europe[edit]

As of 3 October 2002
Competition Pld W D L GF GA GD
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 4 2 1 1 4 2 +2
UEFA Cup 4 0 1 3 0 7 –7
UEFA Intertoto Cup 10 3 3 4 11 14 –3
Total 18 5 5 8 15 23 –8

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:

Season Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1997–98 1R Romania Naţional București 2–0 1–0 3–0
2R Russia Lokomotiv Moscow 0–0 1–2 1–2

UEFA Cup:

Season Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1993–94 1R Portugal Sporting CP 0–0 0–2 0–2
2002–03 1R Hungary Ferencváros 0–1 0–4 0–5

UEFA Intertoto Cup:

Season Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1996 GS Russia Uralmash — 0–2 4th
Bulgaria CSKA Sofia 1–3 —
France Strasbourg — 1–1
Malta Hibernians 5–3 —
1999 2R Latvia Ventspils 2–0 1–1 3–1
3R Germany MSV Duisburg 0–3 0–0 0–3
2000 1R Lithuania FK Atlantas 0–1 1–0 1–1, 4–5 (p)

UEFA Ranking history:

See also: UEFA coefficient
As of 2002
Season Rank Points Ref.
1994 168 Increase 0.500 [10]
1995 177 Decrease 0.500 [11]
1996 193 Decrease 0.500 [12]
1997 188 Increase 0.500 [13]
1998 104 Increase 1.750 [14]
1999 142 Decrease 15.175 [15]
2000 127 Increase 16.925 [16]
2001 117 Increase 19.987 [17]
2002 126 Decrease 19.362 [18]

Players[edit]

Current squad[edit]

As of 9 February 2024[19]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Turkey TUR Harun Tekin
3 DF Turkey TUR Onur Atasayar
4 DF Turkey TUR Emir Ortakaya (on loan from Fenerbahçe)
5 DF Turkey TUR Haşim Sarman
7 FW Germany GER Cem Ekinci
8 MF Netherlands NED Cihat Çelik
10 FW Portugal POR Daniel Candeias (3rd captain)
11 FW Sweden SWE Christian Kouakou
12 MF Georgia (country) GEO Giorgi Kharaishvili
14 FW Georgia (country) GEO Giorgi Beridze
19 DF Turkey TUR Atila Turan
21 FW Turkey TUR Bedirhan Yıldız
23 DF Turkey TUR Duhan Aksu
24 MF Guinea GUI Ibrahima Fofana (on loan from Hammarby)
No. Pos. Nation Player
32 DF Turkey TUR Mehmet Yılmaz
35 GK Turkey TUR Gökhan Değirmenci (captain)
38 FW Georgia (country) GEO Davit Skhirtladze (on loan from Dinamo Tbilisi)
41 MF Portugal POR João Amaral
44 MF Croatia CRO Josip Vuković
45 MF Turkey TUR Mesut Can Tunalı
47 FW Azerbaijan AZE Ramil Sheydayev
53 DF Turkey TUR Burak Öksüz
55 DF Turkey TUR Yusuf Abdioğlu (vice-captain)
67 GK Turkey TUR Mehmet Enes Sarı
70 FW Turkey TUR Barış Alıcı (on loan from Samsunspor)
77 DF Turkey TUR Oğuz Ceylan
— FW Turkey TUR Yusuf Efe Yaman
— FW Nigeria NGA Emmanuel Lawal

Other players under contract[edit]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Turkey TUR Olcan Gökdemir
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Turkey TUR Yağız Yolcu

Out on loan[edit]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK Turkey TUR Eren Bilen (at Darıca Gençlerbirliği until 30 June 2024)
— DF Turkey TUR Onur Öztonga (at Karacabey Belediyespor until 30 June 2024)
— MF Turkey TUR Yusuf Emre Gültekin (at Şanlıurfaspor until 30 June 2024)
— MF Turkey TUR Berat Kartal (at Belediye Kütahyaspor until 30 June 2024)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Azerbaijan AZE Serhat Tasdemir (at Zonguldak Kömürspor until 30 June 2024)
— FW Turkey TUR Yağız Gül (at Darıca Gençlerbirliği until 30 June 2024)
— FW Turkey TUR Fatih Bektaş (at Zonguldak Kömürspor until 30 June 2024)

Former players[edit]

Former managers[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Bölgesel Amatör Lig'de "seyirci" rekoru!" (in Turkish). Sözcü. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Kocaelispor Official Website Archived 2009-02-11 at the Wayback Machine (in Turkish)
  3. ^ Kocaelispor Supporters Group (in Turkish)
  4. ^ "Bölgesel Amatör Lig 11.Grup".
  5. ^ "Bölgesel Amatör Lig 12.Grup".
  6. ^ "Efsane Kocaelispor geri döndü!".
  7. ^ Başkan Serhan Gürkan'dan, muhalefete 'Hodri meydan Archived 2012-07-24 at archive.today (in Turkish)
  8. ^ "Hyundai ile Sponsorluk Anlaşması" (in Turkish). kocaelispor.org. 2008-09-25. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
  9. ^ "Hyundai Kocaelispor'a sponsor oldu!" (in Turkish). ajansspor.com. 2008-09-26. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
  10. ^ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 1994". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  11. ^ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 1995". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  12. ^ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 1996". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  13. ^ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 1997". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  14. ^ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 1998". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  15. ^ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 1999". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  16. ^ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 2000". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  17. ^ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 2001". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  18. ^ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 2002". Xs4all.nl. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  19. ^ "Kocaelispor squad". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 November 2022.

External links[edit]

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