Galatasaray S.K. in international football

Galatasaray S.K. is a Turkish professional football club, found in 1905 by Ali Sami Yen, based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. The club is Turkey's most successful football team in UEFA competitions.

Gala has first participated in a European competition in 1956, entering the European Cup, and have competed in forty eight seasons of European competitions since then. The club has achieved their most successful period in late 80s, the millennium year (2000) and beyond. They have won once both the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup title. Making them the first and only Turkish club to have won a European competition trophy. The successful millennium year resulted also in a qualification to the FIFA Club World Cup, but the second edition of the tournament had been cancelled owing to a combination of factors such as the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner in same year. Despite having reached several times the quarter-finals and also once the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League campaign, the club has not won the trophy so far.

Begin of the European era
Gündüz Kılıç started managing Galatasaray back in 1952, and it was under him that the team first competed in European competition in 1956–57, qualifying for the European Cup by winning the regional Istanbul Football League the previous season. The first game was a preliminary round game against Romanian side Dinamo București which ended up in a 3–4 loss on aggregate.

The 1969–70 European Cup season was a remarkable one, because the club make it to the quarter finals. In that round the opponent Legia Warsaw won the clash 1–3 on aggregate.

Knocking the doors of Europe: 1988–89 European Cup


The first-ever European success was achieved during the 1988–89 season of the European Cup club competition, when the club was being coached by Mustafa Denizli. Galatasaray started in the first round and reached the semi-finals where they got eliminated by Romanian club Steaua București and future Gala legend Gheorghe Hagi. Throughout the competition Galatasaray has played against Rapid Wien, Neuchâtel Xamax, Monaco and Steaua București. The second round game against Neuchâtel Xamax was an incredible one; Galatasaray lost the away game by 3-0 and the return game was being played in front of 35,000 fans at the Ali Sami Yen stadium and Galatasaray won the game by 5–0 and promoted to the quarter-finals on 5–3 aggregate.

The weather conditions were the real opponents: 1991–92 season
Galatasaray had built a strong squad that season and reached the quarter-finals after eliminating Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt and Baník Ostrava. In the quarter-finals, the opponents were German side Werder Bremen and Galatasaray took the lead 0–1 in the first game, but eventually lost the game (1–2). Unfortunately, the second leg at Ali Sami Yen was played in bad weather conditions due to snowfall during the match. Both sides failed to score and Werder Bremen won 2–1 on aggregate. That year, the German side won the trophy and according to many analysts, Galatasaray would have won the cup if they could have knocked out Werder Bremen in Istanbul.

1999–2000 UEFA Cup


The 1999–2000 UEFA Cup competition was won by Galatasaray after they defeated Arsenal in the final. The victory marked the first time a Turkish side had won a European club football trophy, prompting wild celebrations on the streets of Istanbul.

Galatasaray entered the competition after finishing in third position in Group H after the first group stage of the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League, resulting in their transfer to the UEFA Cup, ahead of fourth-placed Milan. Their final group stage victory, against Milan, began a series of victories against Bologna, Borussia Dortmund, Mallorca and Leeds United en route to the final, held at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen.

The final was scoreless through both the first 90 minutes and after extra time. After 94th minute Gala played remaining part of the extra time with 10 players; Gheorghe Hagi received a straight red card, after game footage showed the player holding and striking Tony Adams in the back; the Arsenal captain was awarded a yellow card for hitting Hagi during the altercation. In the ensuing penalty shoot-out, Patrick Vieira and Davor Šuker missed for Arsenal, while Galatasaray's Ergün Penbe, Hakan Şükür, Ümit Davala all converted past goalkeeper David Seaman. Gheorghe Popescu then scored the winning kick to win the UEFA Cup for Galatasaray.

Galatasaray had won an impressive treble that season, also winning the Süper Lig and the Turkish Cup.

2000 UEFA Super Cup
The 2000 UEFA Super Cup was a football match played on 25 August 2000 in the Stade Louis II in Monaco between Real Madrid of Spain and Galatasaray of Turkey. Real Madrid qualified by beating Valencia in the 2000 UEFA Champions League Final, while Galatasaray had made it to the Super Cup after beating Arsenal in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final. Galatasaray won the match 2–1, both goals scored by Brazilian international Mário Jardel, the latter a golden goal. The equalizer of Real Madrid was scored by a penalty goal by Spanish international Raúl Gonzalez.

By competition
Legend: Pld = Matches played. W= Wins. D = Draws. L = Losses. GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference. W% = Win percentage.

Matches


All results (home, away and neutral) list Galatasaray's goal tally first.

Colour key {{legend|#DFD|Wins|border=1px solid #AAA}} {{legend|#FFD|Draws|border=1px solid #AAA}} {{legend|#FDD|Losses|border=1px solid #AAA}} {{legend|Gold|Competition/Cup winners|border=1px solid #AAA}} {{legend|Silver|Competition/Cup runners-up|border=1px solid #AAA}}

Key
 * a.e.t. = After extra time
 * g.g. = Golden goal
 * p = Penalty shoot-out
 * N = Neutral venue
 * a = Away goals rule
 * c/t = Coin flipping
 * po = Playoffs

Five-year ranking
Source:

Honours

 * UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League
 * Winners (1): 1999–2000


 * UEFA Super Cup
 * Winners (1): 2000