İstanbulspor

İstanbulspor Kulübü is a Turkish 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 decades, it was the fourth most famous and well-developed professional football club in Istanbul, coming after Beşiktaş, Galatasaray, and Fenerbahçe. After being bought by the Uzan family in 1990, it has been repossessed by the government and resold to third parties.

Their greatest success is the Turkish championship title won in 1932.

History
İstanbulspor was founded by Kemal Halim Gürgen, also known by his native Albanian name of Qemal Omari   and Istanbul Boys High School students. It was founded on 4 January 1926, being one of the first sports clubs of the Turkish Republican period. In the 1931–32 season, İstanbulspor won both the Istanbul League and Turkish Football Championship.

Until 1990, the club was managed by the Istanbul High School foundation. During this period, İstanbulspor has been relegated from and promoted to the top division several times. Also, it relegated to the amateur level in 1979 and played at the amateur level for two seasons. In 1984, club was relegated to third league. In 1990, Uzan Holding, led by Turkish businessman Cem Uzan, bought the club and converted it into İstanbulspor A.Ş., İstanbulspor incorporation. After that, Istanbulspor was funded by Uzan family and promoted back to first league in 1995. Istanbulspor became one of the most successful Turkish football clubs again, as they reached fourth place in the 1997–98 season and played in the UEFA Cup. Uzan family withdrew its support from İstanbulspor in 2001. Because of this, İstanbulspor fell into financial crisis and came ninth in the 2002–03 season.

Eventually, in 2003, the Turkish government took over the financially collapsed club. However, Istanbulspor were relegated to the second league in 2004–05. In 2006, İstanbulspor were resold by the government to former Turkish player Saffet Sancaklı's ''Marmara Spor Faaliyetleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş.'' for $3,250,000. In 2007, Ömer Sarıalioğlu, a Turkish businessman, bought the club from Saffet Sancaklı. İstanbulspor tried to avoid relegation at the last two seasons. İstanbulspor escaped from relegation in the 2008–09 season after finishing sixth in the Third Group. However, İstanbulspor finished the second group of the 2nd League next season as second from last and were finally relegated to the Third League, which is the fourth level of the Turkish football system. They played in the promotion play-offs in the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons but failed to achieve success. İstanbulspor finally promoted to the Second League after defeating Zonguldak Kömürspor and Çorum Belediyespor successively in promotion play-offs in the 2014–15 season.

Colours and crest
The colours of İstanbulspor are yellow and black, which are the colours of Istanbul High School. Also, white is accepted as a third colour, but this is not official. Having represented Turkey in an international competition, İstanbulspor was granted the privilege to use the Turkish flag in its emblem, located on the top left corner. The emblem of Istanbul High School is in the middle.

League participations

 * Süper Lig (25): 1959–67, 1968–72, 1995–2005, 2022–24
 * TFF First League (18): 1967–68, 1972–75, 1981–84, 1992–95, 2005–08, 2017–2022, 2024-
 * TFF Second League (16): 1975–79, 1984–92, 2008–10, 2015–17
 * TFF Third League (5): 2010–15
 * Turkish Regional Amateur League (35): 1926–59, 1979–81

European history
UEFA Cup:

UEFA Intertoto Cup:

European competitions

 * UEFA Intertoto Cup
 * Semi-finals (1): 1997

Domestic competitions

 * Turkish Football Championship
 * Winners (1): 1932
 * TFF First League
 * Winners (1): 1967–68
 * Runners-up (1): 1994–95
 * TFF Second League
 * Winners (2): 1991–92, 2016–17
 * TFF Third League
 * Winners (1): 2014–15

Regional competitions

 * Istanbul Football League
 * Winners (1): 1931–32
 * Istanbul Shield
 * Winners (1): 1931–32
 * Istanbul 2. Football League
 * Winners (1): 1926–27

Others

 * Spor Toto Cup
 * Winners (1): 1970–71
 * TSYD Cup
 * Winners (2): 1996, 2000

Notable players
Europe Asia
 * Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * 🇧🇦 Aldin Čajić
 * 🇧🇦 Fahrudin Omerović
 * 🇧🇦 Elvir Bolić
 * 🇧🇦 Elvir Baljić
 * 🇧🇦 Hadis Zubanović
 * 🇧🇦 Enes Demirović
 * Bulgaria
 * 🇧🇬 Zdravko Zdravkov
 * Russia
 * 🇷🇺 Oleg Salenko
 * Turkey
 * 🇹🇷 Zeki Çelik
 * 🇹🇷 Volkan Babacan
 * 🇹🇷 Ümit Davala
 * 🇹🇷 Turhan Akra
 * 🇹🇷 Sergen Yalçın
 * 🇹🇷 Tanju Çolak
 * 🇹🇷 Aykut Kocaman
 * 🇹🇷 Oğuz Çetin
 * Iran
 * 🇮🇷 Allahyar Sayyadmanesh

List of presidents

 * 1925–1935 Kemal Halim Gürgen
 * 1935–1941 Fethi Tanalay
 * 1941–1946 Murat Çelikel
 * 1946–1968 Ali Sohtorik
 * 1968–1970 Talha Dinçel
 * 1970–1972 Nirun Şahingiray
 * 1972–1973 Hayri Aydıner
 * 1973–1977 Hüseyin Taşdelenler
 * 1977–1978 Ural Aydıner
 * 1978–1980 Orhan Togar
 * 1980–1981 Dursun Öztürk
 * 1981–1984 Fethi Erhan
 * 1984–1987 Muhsin Sarıcı
 * 1987–1988 Mehmet Yıldırım
 * 1988–1992 Aziz Alturfan
 * 1992–1998 Cem Uzan
 * 1998–2002 Tayfun Gündoğar
 * 2002–2004 Adnan Sezgin
 * 2004–2006 Mehmet Akif Yaşin
 * 2006–2008 Saffet Sancaklı
 * 2008–2015 Ömer Sarıalioğlu
 * 2015– Ecmel Faik Sarıalioğlu