Month: September 2019

No change of status quo at all – if Fenerbahce and Besiktas competed for the title, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor competed for the Cup, the leading 4 clubs dominating all tournaments. And just as the championships was tough and dramatic battle, the Cup final was as well. The opponents were well matched, none giving up a inch. A lot was at stake – the trophy itself, naturally, but also the last Turkish European spot – there were only three, so one team inevitably was out, and also a chance for both ambitious teams to win a trophy, to save the season. Galatasaray won the first leg 2-1, but away, prevailing in the hostile Trabzon. The second leg was scoreless and the Cup was theirs.

Trabzonspor was left emptyhanded this season, which was not exactly great for this fine squad. Standing from left: Necati Özçağlayan, Şenol Güneş, Tuncay, Şenol Ustaömer, Hasan Vezir, Güngör Şahinkaya. First row: Turgay Semercioğlu, Kemal Serdar, Osman Denizci, Lemi Çelik, Hasan Şengün.

Yes, a good number of Turkish stars were playing for Trabzon, but times were changing – having foreign talent was becoming a must. May be that was the little difference giving the edge to Istanbul-based rivals. May be Trabzonspor had to change its approach – competing with the rich and mighty Istanbul clubs was not easy anyway.

A club like Galatasaray cannot be really toothless even when having so-so season. Winning the Cup was fine compensation for the weak season and the heads were proudly up again. It was not an easy victory, but a victory it was and at least for the fans the drama of the final is enjoyable. It was also satisfying finish for Abramczik, who was not to play for Galatasaray any more. On the other hand, it was getting tiring to see the same clubs winning every year. Well, just tell that to Galatasaray fans…

First Division. Naturally, it was here where the improvement of Turkish football was clearly seen. Professional stability of most clubs for sure and along with that bigger impact of foreign players. Turkey was repeating Greece of the 1970s – more clubs were getting foreign players and the recruits were of higher quality. Foreigners were imported for a long time and even by Second Division clubs – from the end of the 1950s – but it had been sporadic affair and in the past mostly old players came. Now it was steady practice and more clubs were involved – not all, to be sure, but more than before. And the players were younger and better. Mostly Yugoslavians, but increasingly German players as well. A big country somewhat demands bigger league, especially when the sport is popular and the clubs could get steady financing. Already the top league grew to 18 teams and was going to 19 the next year – reasons were perhaps mixed: on one hand large league could satisfy local ambitions and on the other hand clumsy Second Division needs some real award for the winners. Thus, three teams were going up after the end of the season from second level, but only 2 were relegated. In a nut shell, this championship had one outsider; all newcomers survived and remained for the next championship; 11 clubs were largely concerned with survival, Galatasaray was something like decline; there were two outstanding and domineering leaders, which made fascinating race for the title, won at the end not by points, but by goal-difference. High drama.

Boluspor was the hopeless outsider – last with 17 points, most of which came from ties, for the team won only 3 games.

Antalyaspor was rather unfortunate – they finished with 28 points, which placed them 17th and were the second relegated team. Not worse than more than half the league, but going down.

Denizlispor was lucky – 16th with 29 points. Lucky, because only 2 teams were relegated, instead of three, as it used to be.

Altay (Izmir), just coming back from Second Division exile, finished 15th with 30 points. So far – so good, they were perhaps not aiming for more than just clinging in the top league for the moment.

Malatyapor – 14th with 31 points. Like Altay, a newcomer and quite modest, so it was fine ending.

Bursaspor – 13th with 31 points. A weak season, surely.

Zonguldakspor – avoiding relegation was pretty much their traditional aim and the boys managed to succeed: 12th with 31 points.

Genclerbirligi – technically, the second important club of Ankara, but never strong enough. The lower half of the table was their normal location and no change this season either – 11th with 31 points. Avoiding relegation was all they were happy with.

Eskisehirspor performed best of the newcomers this year – 10th with 32 points. But it was still the same modest goal all newcomers had: to survive. Trying to come back from a low period and still rather weak.

Orduspor generally had one aim – to maintain a place in the top league. This they achieved and thanks to 33 points, finished quite well – 9th.

Sariyer (Istanbul) – 8th with 33 points. Final table counts… escaping relegation was on their minds during the season. At the end, though – solid mid-table position! Good season! Next would be better. Here is a taste of the new policies of Turkish clubs: two Yugoslavs in the squad – Hodzic, 1st standing from left, and Celebic, 3rd standing from left. Not first-rate players, but solid professionals.

Kocaelispor – 7th with 34 points. Similar to Sariyer – once out of trouble, everything was fine.

Sakaryaspor – 6th with 34 points. Strong season, one of their best so far. Temporary ascend or not, they had the right to boast: equal to Galatasaray!

What is great season for one is disaster for other – Galatasaray was 5th, ahead of modest Sakaryaspor only on goal-difference. A tragedy! And that with former national team players of West Germany and Yugoslavia and Turkish national team regulars! Standing from left: Rasit, Erdal, Guneyt, Ismail, Yusuf, Semih. Crouching: Simovic, Abramczik, Fatih, Adnan, Bulent Alkilic.

Ankaragucu – seemingly, going up and up, after their recent return from Second Division. May be joining the leading 4 clubs, making it five? Only future could tell, but they were 4th with 38 points. Good reason to believe in them at the moment.

Trabzonspor – running strong and that with seemingly different approach, than their rivals employed: they put faith on Turkish players. No foreigners here and it worked fine. 3rd with 42 points.

Besiktas – wonderful, yet, unhappy season. Aimed for the title, played outstanding season, and lost on goal-difference. They had only one rival and far above the rest of the league, including Galatasaray and Trabzonspor, but no luck at the end. 19 wins, 12 ties, 3 losses, 50 points. 49-19 made their goal-difference +30. Not bad? Not good enough… ahead of them was a team with +40. The Yugoslavs Kovacevic and Secerbegovic were lower level than the foreigners in Galatasaray, but blended better and contributed more.

Fenerbahce clinched their 11th title thanks to superior goal-difference. Strong, no doubt, but they faced formidable rival and the victory was dramatic. They had their own Yugoslavs to help – pretty much of the same level of those playing for Besiktas. Pesic and Repcic were somewhat second-tier Yugoslav stars, but perhaps a bit stronger professionals than Kovacevic and Secerbegovic. More dangerous strikers for sure. With them, Fenerbahce scored plenty of goals – 65, the most in the league, and good 16 more than Besiktas. The defense was also up to the task and the team lost only twice this season. This clinched the title.

One more look of the 1984-85 Turkish champions.

Turkey. Second Division. To a point, development of the sport could be seen better through second level rather than the first one: it is convulsive road. One demand is putting more professional clubs on the stage. The other is reduction, for desires and reality rarely match. So, the Turkish Second Division was no exception: there were many changes of the format and the number of the teams. At the moment the Second Division had three groups of 16 teams each, somewhat geographically organized. The winners were promoted, the last two teams – relegated. Simple, on the surface, but it was difficult task because of uneven economic development of country’s regions – traditionally, most clubs were situated on the Mediterranean coast and Istanbul. The far East lagged behind. The European part of the country, west of Istanbul, also lacked economic power. No matter what, a smallish club from Istanbul or Izmir was in much better shape than a club from, say, Van. But to have Second Division made of mostly Istanbul-based clubs was not serving development, so geography had to be wider. Wider geography, weaker clubs… plus the transportation difficulties. Constant struggle. In view of organizing Third Division, some regularity and order had to exist – another struggle. At least this season was orderly – no team folded because of financial difficulties. As for the rest… it depends: good thing football was passionately accepted around the country, but too many second level clubs were nothing to brag about.

Group A.

Adana Demirspor ended 9th with 29 points. Here is prime example of geographic relativity of the second level structure: Adana had 2 teams in the Second Division, but no derby, for they played in different groups.

There was no real competitive edge in this group – Rizespor dominated the championship, finishing 8 points ahead of 2nd placed Diyarbakirspor. They lost only 2 games and won 18 of the 30 championship games. Standing from left: C.Alptekin (coach), S.Yenigün, E.Kolçak, E.Tombul, H.Kürkçü, İ.Şenol Bayraktar, H.Fehmi Durmuş

First row: M.Hacıömeroğlu, M.Bak,T.Kural, M.Yıldız, H.İlik.

Rizespor was going up for another try in the top league and good for them. The picture also shows a typical problematic element of development: grass was mostly absent cover of most stadiums.

Group B. May be not stronger than Group A, but at least more competitive – 4 teams tried to come on top, 3 of them former First Division members, one quite famous, now having hard times.

Adanaspor played here and finished outside the leading group – 5th with 33 points.

At the bottom was a team hardly heard of – one of the many clubs making the numbers rather than anything else. Kutahyaspor finished 15th and was relegated. No lack of trying – with 1 point more, they would have been out of trouble – but going down at the end.

But the top of the table was more interesting and important.

Tarsus Idman Yurdu Erkutspor finished 4th with 37 points.

Goztepe (Izmir) – 3rd with 38 points. Down on their luck for quite some time, unfortunately.

Konyaspor – 2nd with 38 points. Unable to climb back to the top league this season.

Kayserispor prevailed at the end with 40 points. Well done and going back to First Division.

Group C. One team dominated the championship of the biggest group – it had 17 teams. However, apart from the winners, there were no recent top league members. Instead, here were some clubs with steady and solid Second Division presence – PTT and Vefa Simtel.

As for the others… well, Suleymaniye Sirkeci was seemingly playing on decent grass, but they finished 16th and moved down to Third Division.

Vefa Simtel were perhaps the archetype second level club – once upon a time they played in the top division, but second level was really their environment. Solid and stable for constant mid-table position. Also one of the few clubs in the country clearly associated with their sponsor – it was part of the club’s name. This year – 8th with 31 points.

Galata did well – by their own measures. 5th with 36 points. Not to be confused with Galatasaray – this is Istanbul-based club, but small one. One of the many clubs hidden in the shadows of the Big Three.

Karsiyaka finished 2nd with 42 points. Well done, but promotion was not in the books – they merely did better than others, without challenging the leader even for a moment. Interesting sponsor they had – one may think the Danish beer-producing giant would sponsor top-league club.

Samsunspor dominated the championship, winning it with 52 points. The best record in all three groups . As the other two winners, they were merely returning to top flight after relegation.

Well, that were the newly promoted, going to First Division – Samsunspor, Rizespor, and Kayserispor. All former top league members. After the regular season a mini-tournament was played between the champions – it had interesting prize: not only the winner will be the champion of the whole Second Division, but it will represent Turkey in the Balkan Coup. True, the tournament lost its luster, as every regional competition by mid-1980s, but it was wise decision by the Turkish Federation – lower level clubs had to have some international exposure, if improvement was to take place. Given the results of the season, Samsunspor would be seen as the likeliest winner, but Kayserispor won the final stage.