Süper Lig

Football in Turkey stems back to the late 19th century, when Englishmen brought the game with them while living in Salonica (then part of the Ottoman Empire).[4] The first league competition was the Istanbul Football League, which took place in the 1904–05 season. The league went through several variations until the creation of the Millî Lig (Süper Lig) in 1959. Between the creation of the Istanbul League and Millî Lig, several other regional leagues took place: Adana (1924), Ankara (1922), Eskişehir (1924), İzmir (1924), Bursa (1924), and Trabzon (1922), to name a few. The first competition to bring forth a national champion was the former Turkish Football Championship, which began in 1924 and continued until 1951.[5] The championship format was based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of each of the country's top regional leagues.[6] The National Division (Turkish: Millî Küme) was the first national league competition in Turkey. Started in 1937, the National Division consisted of the strongest clubs from the Ankara, Istanbul, and İzmir leagues. The championship lasted until 1950.[7][8]

Fenerbahçe–Galatasaray match in the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium

The Federation Cup was established in 1956 to decide a national champion. This champion would go on to participate in the European Cup. The competition was held for two seasons until it was replaced by the Millî Lig. Beşiktaş won both editions and qualified for the European Cup during the two-year span. However, since the TFF failed to register their name for the draw in time, Beşiktaş could not participate in the 1957–58 season after all.[9][10]

The top clubs of Ankara, Istanbul, and İzmir competed in the 1959 Turkish National League. The first season took place in the calendar year of 1959, instead of 1958-59, since the qualifying stages took place in 1958. The 16 clubs who competed in the first season were: Adalet (Istanbul), Altay (İzmir), Ankaragücü (Ankara), Ankara Demirspor (Ankara), Beşiktaş (Istanbul), Beykoz (Istanbul), Karagümrük (Istanbul), Fenerbahçe (Istanbul), Galatasaray (Istanbul), Gençlerbirliği (Ankara), Göztepe (İzmir), Hacettepe Gençlik (Ankara), İstanbulspor, İzmirspor, Karşıyaka (İzmir), and Vefa (Istanbul). The first champions were Fenerbahçe and the first "Gol Kralı" (top scorer) was Metin Oktay. No clubs were promoted or relegated at the end of the first season.[11]

The 2. Lig (Second League) was created at the start of the 1963–64 season and the Millî Lig became known as the 1.Lig (First League). Before the foundation of a second division, the bottom three clubs competed with regional league winners in a competition called the Baraj Games. The top three teams of the group were promoted to the Süper Lig. After the foundation of a new second division in 2001, known as the 1. Lig, the formerly titled 1. Lig was rebranded as Süper Lig.[12] The Süper Lig is home of the Fenerbahçe–Galatasaray derby, the most watched football game in Turkey. It is considered to be one of the best and most intense in the world, being ranked among the greatest football rivalries of all-time by various international sources.[13][14][15]

Current design of the Süper Lig Trophy, in use since 2015.

There has been 18 clubs in the Süper Lig until 2020. 20 Clubs are competing in the Süper Lig starting from 2020. During the course of the season (from August to May) each club plays the others twice (a double round robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then head-to-head record, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned champion. If points are equal, the head-to-head record and then goal difference determine the winner. The three lowest placed teams are relegated to the 1. Lig and the top two teams from the 1. Lig, together with the winner of play-offs involving the third to sixth placed 1. Lig clubs are promoted in their place.[20]

As of 6 May 2021

Ranking			Member association	Coefficient
2021	2020	Mvmt		2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	Total
12	9	-3	Ukraine	5.500	8.000	5.600	7.200	6.800	33.100
13	11	-2	Turkey	9.700	6.800	5.500	5.000	3.100	30.100
14	13	-2	Denmark	8.500	5.250	4.875	5.125	4.125	27.875

Istanbul Alanyaspor Hatayspor Antalyaspor Rizespor Adana Demirspor Gaziantep Giresunspor Göztepe Altay Kayserispor Konyaspor Sivasspor Trabzonspor Yeni Malatyaspor Istanbul teams Başakşehir Beşiktaş Fenerbahçe Galatasaray Karagümrük Kasımpaşa Location of teams in 2021–22 Süper Lig

Beşiktaş Karagümrük Fenerbahçe Galatasaray Başakşehir Kasımpaşa Istanbul Süper Lig football clubs

^a Founding member of the Süper Lig
^b Never been relegated from the Süper Lig

In total, fifteen different clubs have won the Turkish championship title, including titles won before the Süper Lig's inception, namely in the former Turkish Football Championship and Turkish National Division,[3] which are denied and not counted by the Turkish Football Federation, even though they were official championships by the TFF itself. Fenerbahçe is the team which has the most national championships, with 28 titles in total.

Only six clubs have been champions since the beginning of the Süper Lig era in 1959: Galatasaray 22 times, Fenerbahçe 19 times, Beşiktaş 16 times (see note below), Trabzonspor 7 times, and Bursaspor and İstanbul Başakşehir once each.

Club	Champ­ions[21]	Runners-up	Winning seasons	Runners-up seasons
Galatasaray	22	13	1961–62, 1962–63, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2017–18, 2018–19	1956–571, 1957–581, 1959, 1960–61, 1965–66, 1974–75, 1978–79, 1985–86, 1990–91, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2013–14, 2020–21
Fenerbahçe	19	22	1959, 1960–61, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2010–11, 2013–14	1959–60, 1961–62, 1966–67, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1993–94, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18
Beşiktaş	16	14	1956–571, 1957–581, 1959–60, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1981–82, 1985–86, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1994–95, 2002–03, 2008–09, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2020–21	1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1973–74, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2006–07
Trabzonspor	7	9	1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1983–84, 2021–22	1977–78, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2010–11, 2019–20
İstanbul Başakşehir	1	2	2019–20	2016–17, 2018–19
Bursaspor	1	—	2009–10
Eskişehirspor	—	3		1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72
Adanaspor	—	1		1980–81
Sivasspor	—	1		2008–09

¹ Beşiktaş formally requested that championships won in the 1956–57 and 1957–58 editions of the Turkish Federation Cup be counted as Turkish Professional First Division championships to the Turkish Football Federation. The Cup was established in 1956 to find a national champion to represent Turkey, after UEFA decided that only national champions could participate in the European Cup.[3] Beşiktaş had therefore earned the right to represent Turkey in the European Cup in the 1957–58 and 1958–59 seasons.[22] The ruling on this matter was announced in a press release on March 25, 2002 which indicated that the championships won by Beşiktaş in the Federation Cup would be counted as national league championships.

As of 2021, 73 clubs have participated. Note: The tallies below include up to the 2021–22 season. Teams denoted in bold are current participants.

• Bold denotes players still active in the league.
• All players are Turkish unless otherwise indicated.

^{‡ Galatasaray was one of the final eight teams of the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League group stage, however, UEFA does not consider this a quarter-final participation.}

• Turkish Football Championship
• Turkish National Division
• List of foreign Süper Lig players
• List of Süper Lig top scorers
• List of Turkish football champions
• Turkish Super League all-time table

• Media related to Süper Lig at Wikimedia Commons
• Süper Lig official website (in Turkish)
• Turkish Football Federation website (in Turkish)