Summary

The Turkish football champions are the annual winners of the highest association football competition in Turkey. Brought to the country by Englishmen, the sport had first taken root in Istanbul, where the Istanbul Football League was founded and became the first football league in Turkey. Other regional and local leagues followed in other major cities, such as Ankara (1922), Adana (1924), Eskişehir (1924), and İzmir (1924).

The first competition to bring forth a national champion was the Turkish Football Championship (Turkish: Türkiye Futbol Şampiyonası), which began in 1924 and continued until 1951. The championship format was based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of each of the country's top regional leagues. At the end of the 1924 edition, Harbiye were the first club to be crowned champions after completing their fixture unbeaten. They are also the only club who have ever changed their name after winning a championship title, changing their name to Harp Okulu after the first of their three titles. Started in 1937, the National Division (Turkish: Millî Küme) was the first national league competition and was held until 1950.

A few years later, in 1959, the professional nationwide league was introduced, currently known as the Süper Lig. The league is contested on a double round-robin basis and the championship is awarded to the team that is top of the league at the end of the season. The league originally contained 16 teams. Today the Süper Lig is contested by 18 teams. Of the founding clubs in the league, only Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, and Galatasaray have not been relegated to date. Galatasaray are the most successful Süper Lig club with 24 titles. Fenerbahçe are the most successful club including championships before the start of Süper Lig (1959), having won 28 titles in total so far. However, the Turkish Football Federation denies and does not recognise the titles won in the former Turkish Football Championship and National Division, even though they were official championships organised by the TFF itself.

Currently there is an ongoing case concerning the recognition of the titles before 1957 by the TFF, after several clubs have formally appealed to the federation for officially recognizing the titles in question.

▤ Read more →