The dreams comes true: History of Ali Sami Yen Stadium

Football (soccer) was first played in Istanbul by some British players in a field known as “Papazın Çayırı” (Priest’s Field) in the area that is now occupied by the Fenerbahçe Stadium. With the opening of the Taksim Stadium in 1919, it was this new stadium that became the new football headquarters.

In the urban development of 1939, the military barracks in which the Taksim Stadium was located was demolished. The stadium was thus lost. In this period, Fenerbahçe bought the land encompassing Papazın Çayırı and built the Fenerbahçe Stadium, while the Beşiktaş Club moved into the Şeref Stadium, located in the area where today’s Çırağan Palace stands. It was Galatasaray that experienced the biggest problem with the use of a stadium in that period.

The first steps to overcome this problem were taken in the initial years of the 1930s. The first initiative to acquire a plot of land for Galatasaray was in 1933, when the then president of the club Ali Haydar Barşal showed an interest in a mulberry orchard in Mecidiyeköy.

In the period 1933-35, discussions held with the government resulted in the allocation of a plot of land outside of the city limits in Mecidiye Köyü (Mecidiye Village) for a stadium to be built for Galatasaray. Excavations for the construction began in 1936. The President of the Turkish Sports Organization at the time, Adnan Menderes, provided financial assistance for the project. The efforts were left in the excavation stage however.

In 1940, the matter of the stadium came up again under the presidency of Tevfik Ali Çınar. The same plot of land was leased to Galatasaray for a term of 30 years at a symbolical yearly rental fee of 1 lira.

Galatasaray thus acquired the right to the use of the land. In leasing the land, Galatasaray committed to building a modern stadium as well as a bicycle velodrome. The construction could not start, however, due to limited funds and the general atmosphere of the war years. In 1943, Osman Dardağan led an initiative to build a modest stadium that would answer the immediate need.

In the atmosphere of war, only a small open tribune was allowed in the stadium, which was set on a field of earth and inaugurated under the presidency of Muslihittin Peykoğlu in 1945. Its distance from the city center in those days, however, its inaccessibility by public transportation, and the rough winds that characterized the district were factors that contributed to a long period in which the stadium lay idle and football games never took place.

When the İnönü Stadium in the center of the city was opened in that period, Galatasaray abandoned the stadium building project in Mecidiyeköy, putting the project aside before fruition. In 1955, 30 more years were added to the right of utilization agreement, which at the time had 22 years to go, extending the terms until 2007.

When the Club failed to undertake the building of the Stadium, the project was taken on by the Physical Education General Directorate. The construction started in 1959. In 1961, during the presidency of Refik Selimoğlu, a new agreement was signed with the Physical Education General Directorate whereby the utilization rights of the newly completed stadium were explicitly given to Galatasaray.

The stadium was opened on an eventful December 20, 1964. In the midst of the extreme crowds present, panic broke out, resulting in the death of one spectator and the injury of 80 others.

In 1965, the stadium was illuminated for the first time. Despite this, however, not many night games were played.

At the beginning of the 1970s, the stadium was abandoned for another period during which the İnönü Stadium began to be used again.

In the 70s, the stadium was mostly used by Galatasaray for training sessions. In those years, it remained in a squalid state of neglect.

In 1981, grass was planted on the field and the stadium was opened again. The lighting system was renewed in 1993, after which night games began to be played once more.

In the same year, the system of combined tickets was initiated in Turkey at Ali Sami Yen. Also in the same year, the stadium was furnished with seats to replace the old benches. Standing room at the stadium was thus reduced from a 35,000 seating capacity to 22,000.

1997, The Galatasaray administration assigned a Canadian architectural firm the job of designing Turkey’s first multi-function, modern stadium to be built in place of Ali Sami Yen, which was planned to be torn down.

The new stadium project was launched in 1998 and it attracted wide interest. During the promotion of the modern loge system, the entire loge section was sold at a symbolical fee. The search began for funds to finance the construction of the new stadium. Because of the club’s difficult financial situation at the time, the needed funds could not be found. Over the period of 2001-2002, a revision was made in the project with an eye toward reducing the amount needed for financing but this time, although costs were brought down, the economic crisis of 2001 stood in the way of overcoming the financial issue. In the 2003 -2004 season, the old project came up again but was abandoned in favor of building a new and modern stadium. Again, financing needs could not be met. Because Mecidiyeköy was now a part of the city center, state authorities objected to the expansion of the stadium in this district. A new piece of land was suggested to Galatasaray as an alternative.

The search for financing for the new stadium that would be built on this new plot continued over the period 2004-2007.

After a general renovation that took place in the 2004-2005 season, the club returned to Ali Sami Yen.

Following the earthquake of 1999, the old Open Tribune was demolished and replaced in the 2005-2006 season for reasons of safety.

2007, Discussions with state authorities on the erection of a new Galatasaray stadium in Aslantepe yielded positive results. It was decided that the new stadium to be built within two years on the new plot would be transferred to Galatasaray in return for the club’s handing over the property on which Ali Sami Yen stood.

At the end of 2007, ten years after the initial announcement of the project in 1997, the groundbreaking for the new stadium was carried out (December 13, 2007) at a ceremony attended by state officials. The old project was put aside and a new project was contracted to Mete Arat in Germany.

2008, In Galatasaray’s last year at Ali Sami Yen, the Lower Closed Tribune was renovated in line with UEFA standards.

2009, The construction of the new stadium, the Türk Telekom Arena, gained speed when the contracting company was changed.

2010, It was announced that the official opening of the new stadium would take place on January 15, 2011 with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presiding.

2011, The magnificent inauguration of our new stadium occurred on January 15, 2011, the culmination of a dream that was envisioned in 1933 and took 77 years to come true.

Galatasaray: One Myth, Many Facts

How many sports clubs are there that actually have their roots in some mythical stories? Obviously, Galatasaray’s history does not go back to Ancient Greek times, but when you ask the question “How was Galatasaray founded?,” you always listen to the same old fascinating story: During a hunting excursion, II. Bayezid, an Ottoman Sultan from the 15th Century, becomes a guest of an old wise man, Gül Baba, who presents him with two roses, one red and one yellow. The sultan, impressed by this gesture, offers the wise man whatever he wishes. Gül Baba shows him a piece of land overlooking the Bosphorus, and asks him to build a school there.

However, history tells us a different story: Gül Baba was actually one of Suleiman the Magnificent’s teachers, and therefore he would not have been an old wise man during II. Bayezid’s rule. Accordingly, Galatasaray’s colors, the red and yellow, were chosen, not because of the roses, but due to the lack of other color fabrics, so a few young men had to opt for the red and yellow for their first uniforms, some four hundred years later after Gül Baba. Even if most of this is just myth, there are also several unquestionable facts about how Galatasaray was founded.

Galatasaray was founded in 1481 as one of the Sultani schools in order to educate future statesmen and diplomats of the Ottomans. In 1868, the school, with a strong European influence, started education in French and turned into a modern lycee. At the begining of the 20th century, many sports had started for the first time in the Empire at Galatasaray. Gymnastics, for example, was definetely becoming more popular among students.

A young Galatasaray student, Ali Sami Yen, watched his first football game, held among the British community who lived in Istanbul. When he shared his experience with his friends at Galatasaray, Turkish students began to play football for the first time.

His passion for the sport, led him to begin thinking about establishing a club in 1903. Ali Sami Yen leading the way, Galatasaray students, in the back rows of a literature class, founded a non-official football club. Two years later, in 1905 the club was officially founded and Galatasaray played its first match against the French Faure School on November 26th, 1905.

Galatasaray was also the pioneer in others sports, such as waterpolo, ice hockey, field hockey, boxing, etc. in Turkey. Obviously, traditional sports had their roots before the turn of the century in Turkey, but modern sports started to develop at Galatasaray when a sports teacher, Prof. Moiroux, arrived from France. His students followed in his footsteps and became the pioneers of modern sports in Turkish history.

With the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923,a brand new era started in Turkey’s history. However, little had changed for the Galatasaray School. Galatasaray produced prime ministers, ministers, diplomats, businessmen, scientists, with a solid background in literature, foreign languages, natural sciences and philosophy, as well as sportsmen for the club that competed in several sports.

Football, with the establishment of the Istanbul League and later the Turkish Professional League, was always in the spotlight, but Galatasaray continued to compete for the championship in all other sports as the club of the school.

Hundreds of cups and medals are showcased at the Galatasaray Museum within the school today, as a shining example of some hundred successful years in Turkish sports. Galatasaray Football Team’s will and passion to succeed in Europe started in the 1956-57 season, when Galatasaray competed in the European Champion Clubs Cup for the first time. In the 1988-89 season, Galatasaray played in the semifinals of the tournament. In the Cup Winners Cup, Galatasaray reached the quarter-finals in the 1991-92 season.

Galatasaray’s most successful spell was in the 1999-2000 season, when the team won the UEFA Cup, as the undefeated champion throughout the tournament, and won the Super Cup, beating The Champions’ League winners Real Madrid.

The Birth of the Galatasaray Logo

Galatasaray's first emblem was drawn by 333 [School Number] Şevki Ege. This was the figure of a spread-winged eagle with a football in its beak. The eagle was a model emblem that Galatasaray dwelled on in the beginning. But when the name did not attract too much interest, Şevki Ege’s composition was pushed aside. It was later that today’s Galatasaray emblem was born and adopted.

Suat Başar describes how the Galatasaray emblem was born: 
The year was 1923… We were in "cinquième" or High School Grade 1. Our friend 74 Ayetullah Emin and his classmate Şinasi Şahingiray used to publish a magazine called “Kara Kedi” (Black Cat) every week. Ninety percent of the magazine was written in Ayet’s very fine handwriting. As he copied over the magazine’s draft, Ayet would also decorate the pages, especially the first page, which doubled as a magazine cover. One day, we all saw that there were very simply drawn but elegant letters “Ghayn-Sin” on the cover. The red “Ghayn” had a gold inset that said “Sin.” This figure, drawn in geometrical and proportional lines was to be not only our club’s emblem, but the emblem of all Galatasaray fans. A proposal had to be made about the emblem, however, at the Club Congress. Who was going to do this? The friend we thought could do it was very shy and the day of the congress was approaching. The day finally came. In 1923, a host of people thronged together for the congress held in the school’s art classroom. What a jubilant, exciting gathering it was! Everyone was there. It was obvious that Galatasaray was getting ready for a new breakthrough, preparing for some reforms on the sports field and opening up a new era in the country. Proposals and decisions kept flying around, one after another. Our friend Şinasi had taken Ayet’s "Ghayn-Sin" drawing to present a proposal about it to the congress but he was so shy, he just sat waiting in the back row. Finally the late Dr. Namık Canko sat down next to Şinasi, asked to be heard and spoke out:

‘My friends, our young friend Şinasi Reşit has brought a figure for a club badge with him to the congress and I propose that this figure be accepted as our club’s new emblem.’ Canko took out the figure of “Ghayn-Sin” that had been drawn in large dimensions on a piece of drawing paper and filled in with our colors. The proposal was accepted amid applause. Ayet had not only drawn the old letters “Ghayn-Sin” on the page but had also created a “GS” in the same style. The originals of the emblem are in the magazine “Kara Kedi” which was published by Ayet assisted by Şinasi. "Ghayn-Sin" was printed for the first time on the stationery prepared for the Galatasaray student’s association in 1925. Again in 1925, the letters were embroidered on the high school cap and later on, attached to the high school jacket. There were some problems with the preparation of the badge but finally, when the time came, the figures were given to Besim Koşalay, who had a store adjacent to the gates of the old İpek movie theater and Nihat Bekdik, who had opened up a haberdasher’s shop in that area. Luck was not with them however, and these first sketches were lost. When the Administrative Council of the times finally printed the figures and had the badges made, Ayet’s original composition had become a little modified. Ayet Emin, the creator of the “GS”, was buried on September 29, 1931. Our big brother Dr. Namık too died in 1933. We pray for the health and longevity of our friend Şinasi Şahingiray. Whenever I see the “GS”, I remember all three and cherish the memory of our friends who passed away.

Story of the Colours

The first colors of the Galatasaray Sports Club were red and white. Inspired by the colors of the Turkish flag, these colors were regarded with suspicion by the oppressive and paranoid state administration and the football players were placed under surveillance. It was for this reason that the colors yellow and navy blue subsequently began to be discussed but this never became permanent and Galatasaray later took on the colors it bears today. Let us hear the story of these colors from Ali Sami Yen:

 “After looking into a lot of stores, we finally came to Şişman Yanko’s [Fat Yanko] shop at Bahçekapı and saw two very fine woolen fabrics there. One of them was a wild cherry type of dark red, and the other a full yellow with a touch of orange gold. With a sleight of hand, the salesperson fitted the folds of the material together so that they caught the brightness of the beautiful colors that looked like the head and wings of a goldfinch. It was like we could see the play of colors in a flame. We imagined the Yellow-and-Red flame shining above our team and how it would carry us from championship to championship. And indeed, that’s what happened." On the other hand, another founder Bekir Sıtkı claims that the colors were inspired by the yellow and red roses Gül Baba gave Sultan Beyazıt II.

How was Galatasaray formed

The first team photo of Galatasaray

The Galatasaray Sports Club inevitably earned its pioneering position in the annals of Turkish Sports History from the pioneering institution from which it was born—Galatasaray High School (The Sultan’s School). There is a lasting tie between the school and the club, this being an undisputable reality and a source of great pride.

Established in 1481 by Beyazıt II to train statesmen, the school took its name from the district in which it was located and began to be referred to as “Galata Sarayı” or Galata Palace. The school was modernized in September 1868 in the era of Sultan Abdulaziz. With the reconstruction of the school, the first sports activities began to be organized in Turkey and a program of physical education was initiated at the school, headed by gymnast Monsieur Curel. The steps taken in this way were revolutionary at the time. While developing his students’ interest and skills in sports, making use of modern training equipment, Curel also organized a Sports Festival for them at Kağıthane. The year was 1870. Achievers in the sports events at the Festival were awarded different prizes and medals and at the end of the competitions, the students were treated to a banquet of “pilav with lamb.” This constituted the beginnings of a custom that was to remain a tradition.

The sports trainers taking on Curel’s responsibility afterwards (M. Moiroux, Signor Martinetti, Stangali, and the others) trained the students in gymnastics and athletics, moving on into other branches as well (swimming, rowing, gymnastics using exercise equipment), another “first” for the school and the country. The fruits of these labors were soon to be seen and many sports teachers, among them the great Faik Üstünidman, whose name has been written in gold letters in the annals of Turkish Sports History, and then Major Mazhar Kazancı, the brothers Abdurrahman and Ahmet Robenson all joined Galatasaray High School, where they were instrumental in stimulating student interest in sports branches such as scouting, tennis and hockey. Üstünidman's contribution in particular served to acquaint students with football. The football played then, however, was no different than blind combat and rather resembled a free-for-all. But it was also a reality that as of that time, football had officially stepped over the threshold of the Galatasaray High School ceremonial gates, turning the sport into an indisputable epidemic.

Two Englishmen living in Istanbul in 1901, James Lafontaine and Horace Armitage, had formed the Kadıköy Football Club with Greek and British players but in 1903, a dispute emerged and the Englishmen in the team separated and created the Moda Club. In 1904, the clubs signed agreements with the teams Imogen, Elpis and Strugglers to establish the Istanbul Football Union and regular games started to be organized on the “Union Club-İttihat Spor” Field located on what is now the grounds on which the Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium stands. As can be seen, these teams were foreign or minority teams. The first football games were thus played by non-Turks and this both interested and bothered the students of Galatasaray High School. Their objective from then on became creating their own football club, learning all the rules “from cover to cover” in the rulebook of this game that they were dying so much to play, and thus matching the prowess of foreign players.

Beating Non-Turkish teams
The founder of the Galatasaray Sports Club describes the foundation story in his book “Ellinci Yıl” (The Fiftieth Year): "On the 1st of the month of Teşrin in 1905, we were sitting in the classroom of our fifth grade literature teacher, the late Mehmet Ata Bey, when a few friends and I decided to establish a football club at Galatasaray. The first entrepreneurs were friends of ours who had both good playing skills and good fighting spirits--young men like Asım Tevfik Sonumut, Reşat Şirvani, Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu, Abidin Daver, Kamil... Some of the stronger and more active Bulgarian and Serbian students at the school also joined our ranks. We appointed Asım Treasurer, Cevdet Vice-President and I was the President. We made Asım treasurer because he was good at collecting a kurush apiece from each one of us every week. I became President because I was good at greasing the ball and blowing it up. I used to treat the ball as if it were my child. That ball was actually all we had. On my way to school, I would pass through “Swine Street” and get some lard. I’ll grease the ball with the lard and blow it up; I had cut up my new shoes to put a patch on it. When they saw all this, my friends gave me a position that was really more than I deserved. In those days, the Presidency and the other offices were given to the ones who worked the hardest. Cevdet became Vice-President because he was the one who washed the uniforms.”

The founder of the Galatasaray Sports Club describes the foundation story in his book “Ellinci Yıl” (The Fiftieth Year): "On the 1st of the month of Teşrin in 1905, we were sitting in the classroom of our fifth grade literature teacher, the late Mehmet Ata Bey, when a few friends and I decided to establish a football club at Galatasaray. The first entrepreneurs were friends of ours who had both good playing skills and good fighting spirits--young men like Asım Tevfik Sonumut, Reşat Şirvani, Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu, Abidin Daver, Kamil... Some of the stronger and more active Bulgarian and Serbian students at the school also joined our ranks. We appointed Asım Treasurer, Cevdet Vice-President and I was the President. We made Asım treasurer because he was good at collecting a kurush apiece from each one of us every week. I became President because I was good at greasing the ball and blowing it up. I used to treat the ball as if it were my child. That ball was actually all we had. On my way to school, I would pass through “Swine Street” and get some lard. I’ll grease the ball with the lard and blow it up; I had cut up my new shoes to put a patch on it. When they saw all this, my friends gave me a position that was really more than I deserved. In those days, the Presidency and the other offices were given to the ones who worked the hardest. Cevdet became Vice-President because he was the one who washed the uniforms.”

 "Our objective was to play in a team like the British, have our own colors and name and beat non-Turkish teams.”

Although there were suggestions that the Club be named Gloria (Victory) or Audace (Bravery), the final decision was that it would be called Galatasaray. The researcher Cem Atabeyoğlu writes that the name “Galatasaray” was born when the team beat a Greek team 2-0 in its first game, upon which the spectators started referring to the players as the “Gentlemen of Galatasaray.” The founders adopted this name after this and decided that they would be called “Galatasaray.”

List of Founders
Ali Sami Yen, Student No. 889 at the school and President of the Galatasaray Sports Club from 1905 to 1919, listed the following 13 founding members of the club on pages 181 and 183 in the Galatasaray Physical Education Inventory-Statistics Ledger in his fine handwriting:

1-Ali Sami Yen
2-Asım Sonumut
3-Emin Bülend Serdaroğlu
4-Celal İbrahim
5-B. Nikolof
6-Milo Bakiş
7-Pol Bakiş
8-Bekir Sıtkı Bircan
9-Tahsin Nahit
10-Reşat Şirvanizade
11-Hüseyin Hüsnü
12-Refik Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu
13-Abidin Daver

Because the Ottoman Empire did not have a law on associations in 1905, the Galatasaray Sports Club did not find the opportunity to have itself legally certified at first. It was only after the Law on Associations was passed in 1912 that the club gained a legal identity. Since the authorities required the submission of the Club By-laws and the names and addresses of the founding members, some of the members who had retired or completed their training and returned to their countries were taken off the initial list and the founders’ list was revised on September 1, 1913. The new order of founding members on this list was as follows:

1-Ali Sami Yen
2-Asım Sonumut
3-Emin Bülend Serdaroğlu
4-Celal İbrahim
5-Bekir Sıtkı Bircan
6-Reşat Şirvanizade
7-Refik Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu
8-Abidin Daver.

taken on website

galatasaray.org