Istanbul Derbisi: Preview

In Turkey, the match between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray is also called the Intercontinental Derby. The teams both come from the city of Istanbul, with Fenerbahçe coming from the Asian part and Galatasaray having its home base in the European part. The derby is seen as one of the biggest matches in Turkey, due to the success that both teams have already achieved at home and abroad.

Istanbul Derbisi

The clubs faced each other for the first time on January 17, 1909. This friendly match ended in a 2-0 victory for Galatasaray. The stadium where Fenerbahçe now play is on the same location as the field where this match was played. The first official match between the two, which was part of the Istanbul Football League, was played on January 9, 1910. Galatasaray won this match 0-3. Fenerbahçe’s first victory was on January 4, 1914. The club from the Asian part of Istanbul won 4-2. We can really speak of rivalry since the match of February 23, 1934. On that day, violence broke out between the two teams, as a result of which the match had to be canceled. There are also several other incidents between the two teams that have only intensified the rivalry.

This week’s match on Sunday is also a match for first place in the Turkish Süper Lig. The two teams are at the top of the rankings, at least 10 points ahead of the team in third place. As a result, they were both in the running for a place in the Champions League, which Galatasaray did achieve, but Fenerbahçe had to make do with a place in the Europa Conference League.

Another team with which these two teams play a derby is Besiktas. This club also comes from Istanbul and completes the Big Three in Turkey. But the matches between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe are usually seen as the most important. In the last match between the two teams, on June 6, 2023, Galatasaray won 3-0.

Fenerbahçe

The Yellow Canaries have been around since 1907 and play their matches in the Sükrü Saracoglu Stadium. With 19 national titles since 1924, it is one of the most successful teams in Turkey. ‘Fener’, as the club is also called, has never dropped out of the first division of Turkish football. Striking: in the 1922-1923 season, Fenerbahçe went through the Istanbul Football League without conceding a single goal.

Fenerbahçe plays in the Europa Conference League, became group winners and can advance to the next round. On Thursday, December 14, they recorded an important victory against Spartak Trnava, in which Dusan Tadic played an important role. The Serbian guided his team to victory with an assist and a goal. In the end it became 4-0, the score was deepened due to goals from Edin Dzeko. He is also doing very well: this season he has already scored 12 goals in 15 games.

Fenerbahçe is in the lead in the Süper Lig, with the same number of points as Galatasaray. They have only lost once and drawn once in their last five games. They are in first place with 40 points, but still have to play Kayserispor on Wednesday. That team is now in 3rd place.

Galatasaray

The club, founded in 1905, is the most successful team in the history of Turkish football. Since the introduction of professional football in 1959, Galatasaray has been the record holder with 23 championships. The Lions play at Rams Park, which has some special traditions. For example, since 1992, the last part of “I Will Survive” by the Hermes House Band has been played after every Galatasaray goal.

A number of well-known names play at Galatasaray, such as Hakim Ziyech and Dries Mertens. However, they could not prevent their club from being eliminated from the Champions League. On the final day they lost against Copenhagen, which managed to narrowly win 1-0. As a result, Copenhagen finished in second place, after Bayern Munich. Manchester United finished at the bottom of the table. Galatasaray can therefore spend the winter in Europe, because the Europa League is now their next target. Dries Mertens and co will first meet Sparta Prague.

In the Süper Lig, Galatasaray is playing very well, with only one defeat in the past five matches. After 15 games, of which they won 13, they are in second place with 40 points. It will play another match against Karagümrük, which is in 13th place, on Wednesday, December 20.

Wedden op Istanbul Derbisi

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