First Division. 19 teams started the season, 18 finished it. 3 points for a win and no exciting race for the title – two teams dominated the championship, but even they were wide apart. This was the season Turkey really started new era – football was getting better and money were not scarce, for the first time a world-famous player was imported. Of course, players were imported for a long time and some of them were even well-known, but never before a world-class star came to Turkey. Tony Schumacher was the first, signaling new level of ambition in Turkey. True, Schumacher was getting old and his scandalous book created great troubles for him in (West) Germany, practically ruining his late career, but still he was world star. Yet, this event was obscured by a tragedy: Samsunspor lost the whole of their team and coaches in bus accident. Consequently, they did not play in the second half of the season and finished last – 18 games were awarded against them, so the final record is merely statistical, for the team was not doing badly before the terrible accident.
The team Samsunspor lost. They finished last with 19 points – the record they had at the end of the first half of the season – but the Federation recognized the tragedy and Samsunspor was not relegated.
Turkish football was improving and becoming ambitious, but improvement was not wide-spread and there was still big gap between teams and especially between First and Second Division – this season showed it again: all newcomers, promoted from Second Division, ended at the bottom and were relegated back to where they came from. The Federation apparently recognized the existent gap and reduced the top league for the next team by 1 teams and further reduction followed after that.
Kahramanmarasspor AS finished 18th with 23 points. Of course, it was great for their fans to see a season of top level football, but the newcomers were very weak. They won just 4 games (and one was awarded victory against Samsunspor, not won on the field).
Another newcomer – Caykur Rizespor – finished 17th with 35 points and went straight back to Second Division. Standing from left: Orhan, Önder, İsa, K.Turgut, Jurgen Pahl.
First row: Erol, Recep, Bilal, Metin, Harun.
Even the East German defector and long time Eintracht (Frankfurt) goalkeeper Jurgen Pahl was unable to save them.
Eskisehirspor, the third newcomer this season, finished 16th with 41 points and was also relegated right after promotion. True, they lost the battle for survival only on goal-difference, but still lost it.
Altay managed to survive – 15th with 41 points, beating Eskisehirspor on better goal-difference.
Adana Demirspor also managed to escape relegation – 14th with 42 points.
Their rivals Adanaspor finished a place above them, also with 42 points, but beating their rivals on better goal-difference.
Malatyaspor – 12th with 43 points. Only 12th, but the new arrival this season was Carlos (Carlos Roberto Gallo) from Corinthians (Sao Paulo), the goalkeeper of Brazil at the 1986 World Cup (this was his 3rd World Cup, but the only one he actually played). Carlos was still a national team player and will be until 1990. One of the better known around the world players starting to arrive in Turkey – and most of them were goalkeepers so far.
Karsiyaka – 11th with 43 points. The best of Izmir clubs, which was great in terms of city rivalries, but as a whole clubs of Izmir were struggling for a long time.
Sakaryaspor – 10th with 44 points.
Bursaspor – 9th with 44 points. Now, this is the A team – a long time top league member.
Konyaspor – 8th with 46 points.
Boluspor – the best of the weaker teams: 7th with 52 points.
MKE Ankaragucu – 6th with 60 points. Perhaps the gap of 8 points between them and Boluspor signifies the sharp division of quality still existing in Turkish football: there was a group of strong teams and the rest were mediocre. The league was not yet truly competitive and better reduce it.
Trabzonspor – 5th with 64 points. Not a title contender this season, but consistently strong.
Saryer – everything in its own terms: Saryer was always way behind the giants of Istanbul and rather a modest club. Competing for the title was not up to them ever, but currently they had great period and were proud to rub shoulders with the best. This season they battled with Galatasaray for the bronze medals and although they lost, it was still wonderful season: 4th with 68 points!
Clearly a bad season for Galatasaray – with 3 well-known Yugoslavians (Simovic, Prekazi, and Kovacevic) and the Turkish great goal-scorer Tanju Colak, they managed to get only 3rd place and that after fierce battle againts modest Saryer. 69 points – 1 more than Saryer’s, but… 14 less than Besiktas’.
Judging by the squad, Besiktas appear much weaker than Galatasaray. Well… as an example: Zoran Simovic was Yugoslavian national team regular and considered among the top all-time goalkeepers of the country by some – Rade Zalad was relatively little known goalkeeper even in Yugoslavia. Even Les Ferdinand was not known yet – he was loaned by Queens Park Rangers for the season, apparently not needed at home. But Besiktas was way stronger than struggling Galatasaray and left it in the dust. In the same time, Besiktas was not a title contender… 2nd with 83 points.
Fenerbahce reigned supreme: 29 wins, 6 ties, and only one lost match! 103-27: goal-difference of +76! And that when Galatasaray was having the great scorer of the country! 93 points – 10 more than Besiktas and not even thinking of bitter rivals Galatasaray. Fantastic season!
Harald ‘Tony’ Schumacher joined Fenerbahce this season and immediately captained them – Fenerbahce was proud to import a true world-star in Turkey and the German no doubt influenced the team with his ferocious ambition, hunger for success, and skill, but hardly the goalkeeper was the sole reason for this great season – after all, he was a goalkeeper… But he brought stability in the back and confidence to his teammates, who would dare to go ahead once sure that their own net was safe. Still, the team was somewhat weaker than Galatasaray as far as names go. And that makes their achievement worthier and more significant.
Fantastic season like that deserves one more photo of the team – here they are the memorable heroes of 1988-89. And keep in mind that pitches were still quite challenging in Turkey – even warrior like Schumacher used trousers instead of shorts. And he was not alone. Great victory and 12th title for Fenerbahce.