Fenerbahçe Sport Club

Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü (English: Fenerbahçe Sport Club), commonly known as Fener is a professional sports club based in the district of Kadikoy in İstanbul, Turkey. The name of the sports club and its sea side beautiful district derives their names from a famous lighthouse located in Fenerbahce district of Kadikoy.('Fener' in Turkish means lighthouse, 'bahçe' means garden). Fenerbahçe is one of the most popular sports club in Turkey, its football section is the most popular for the fans. Fenerbahçe's football team currently plays in Turkcell Süper Lig. They are nicknamed The Yellow Canaries (Turkish: Sarı Kanaryalar) and play their home games at Fenerbahçe Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Kadikoy.
Fenerbahçe is a multi-sports club therefore it also professionally competes in basketball, volleyball, athletism, swimming, sailing, rowing, boxing and table tennis with many honours won in each branch. The club is also one of the major contributors for Turkish represantatives for the Olympic games.
Fenerbahçe was founded nearly a century ago in the province of Kadiköy in Istanbul. The founders were Mr. Nurizade Ziya Songülen, Mr. Ayetullah and Mr. Necip Okaner. This group of individuals founded the club secretly in order to keep a low profile and not get into any trouble with the strict Ottoman rule. So strict in fact that the Sultan, Abdulhamit the 2nd, forbid that the Turkish youth may not set up a club nor engage in the game of football played by the English families that was watched in envy.
Ziya Songülen was elected the first president of the club, Ayetullah Bey became the first General Secretary, and Necip Okaner was given the post of the General Captain. The lighthouse situated on the Fenerbahçe cape was a big influence on the design of the club's first emblem, which sported the yellow and white colors of daffodils around the lighthouse. The kits were also designed with yellow and white stripes. The emblem and colors of the club were changed in 1910 when Topuz Hikmet redesigned the badge and changed the colors to yellow and navy, still seen today. Fenerbahçe's activities were kept in secrecy until a legislation reform in 1908, when, under a new law, all football clubs had to register to exist legally. Fenerbahçe joined the Istanbul League in 1909, finishing fifth in their first year. The first line-up included Ziya Songülen, Ayetullah Bey, Necip Okaner, Galip Kulaksızoğlu, Hassan Sami Kocamemi, Asaf Beşpınar, Enver Yetiker, Şevkati Hulusi Bey, Fuat Hüsnü Kayacan, Hamit Hüsnü Kayacan, and Nasuhi Baydar.
Fenerbahçe played against the staff of the Royal Navy that occupied Istanbul during the Turkish War of Independence. Some British soldiers formed football teams that were named after the players' speciality, for example Essex Engineers, Irish Guards, Grenadiers, and Artillery. These teams played against each other and against local football teams in Istanbul. Fenerbahçe won many of these matches.
The Turkish Football Federation founded a national league in 1959, which continues today under the name of the Turkcell Super League. Fenerbahçe won the first tournament, beating Galatasaray S.K. 4-1 on aggregate. The next year, Fenerbahçe participated in the UEFA Champions League for the first time. They qualified through a 4-3 win over Csepel SC. They lost their first round game to OGC Nice 1-5 in a playoff game after drawing on aggregate. Fenerbahçe became the most successful Turkish club of the 1960s, winning five out of 10 leagues. They were also runners-up three times. In the 1967 Balkans Cup (a competition set up for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia that existed between the 1960-61 and 1993-94 seasons), Fenerbahçe won the cup after three matches against Greek club AEK Athens FC, making them the first Turkish club to win a non-domestic competition. This success would remain unparalleled by a Turkish club until Sarıyer G.K. and Samsunspor won the cup many years later in the 1990s.
The 1970s saw Fenerbahçe win four more league titles. The decade also saw the first non-Istanbul club and a club outside of Fenerbahçe,Beşiktaş J.K., and Galatasaray S.K. to win a league title. Trabzonspor went on to win four titles during the decade. Fenerbahçe won three titles in the 1980s, a period where each club in the "Big Four" won at least two titlesGalatasaray S.K. and Beşiktaş J.K. dominated the Turkish League during the 1990s, combining to win nine out of 10 times. Fenerbahçe's only Turkish League success during the 1990s came in the 1995-1996 season under Carlos Alberto Parreira.
Fenerbahçe won the league in 2001, denying Galatasaray a fifth consecutive title. They followed up the next season with a runners-up place behind Galatasaray with new coach Werner Lorant. The next season, however, did not go so well as Fenerbahçe finished in sixth place with Ariel Ortega in the squad. Despite this, that season is memorable to many Fenerbahçe fans due to a 6-0 victory against arch-rivals Galatasaray in Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium on 6 November 2002. After firing Werner Lorant, they hired another German coach, Christoph Daum. Daum had previously coached in Turkey, winning the league with Beşiktaş J.K. in 1994-95. Fenerbahçe brought in players including Pierre van Hooijdonk, Mehmet Aurélio, and Fabio Luciano as a rebuilding process. These new players lead Fenerbahçe to their fifteenth title and third star (one being awarded for every 5 league titles won by a club). The next year was followed up by a narrow championship over Trabzonspor, winning the then record of sixteen Turkish First Football League championships. Fenerbahçe lost the title in the last week of the 2005-06 season to Galatasaray. Fenerbahçe needed a win, but instead drew 1-1 with Denizlispor while Galatasaray won 3-0 over Kayserispor.
Soon after, Christoph Daum stepped down as manager, and was replaced by Zico on 4 July, 2006. Zico began his reign by signing two new defenders, highly-touted Uruguayan international Diego Lugano, and fellow Brazilian Edu Dracena. Zico also signed two strikers, Serbian international Mateja Kežman, and another Brazilian, Deivid. Fenerbahçe's 2006-07 domestic season started off with a 6-0 win over relegation candidates Kayseri Erciyesspor. In the 32nd week of the Turkcell Super League, Fenerbahçe drew Trabzonspor 2-2, while Beşiktaş J.K. lost to Bursaspor 0-3, putting the former out of contention for the title. Fenerbahçe won their seventeenth Turkish Super League title in 2007, the most in Turkey.
Fenerbahçe started off their 2007-08 season by signing Brazilian international Roberto Carlos.[24] The deal saw the defender come for free after his contract was not extended by Real Madrid. Young Turkish players like Gökhan Gönül, Yasin Çakmak, İlhan Parlak, Ali Bilgin, Turkish-English attacker Colin Kâzım-Richards, Turkish-Brazilian left back Wederson joined Fenerbahçe in the beginning of the season and Chile national football team captain Claudio Maldonado joined the team in January'08 transfer window.
On 11 January 2007 Fenerbahce S.K. was officially invited to G-14. G-14 is an association which consists of top clubs worldwide. Fenerbahçe S.K. is the only Turkish club that have been invited to this association. On March 2008, Fenerbahçe's record application was accepted by Guinness World Records Menagement Team, which envisages Fenerbahçe to have the most number of medal and trophy achievements on the planet with its 9 branches entirely, total of 1134 cups and medals. In the UEFA Champions League 2001–02 season Fenerbahçe completed group stages with zero points. The only other teams possessing this record are MFK Košice and Dinamo Kiev. However, under Zico’s command Fenerbahçe has qualified from UEFA Champions League 2007-08 groups stage for the first time of club's history and beat Sevilla FC to become a quarter-finalist in 2007-08 season. So far, Zico also is the most successful manager of team's history in the European arena