North London Derby

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Fenerbahçe was founded as a football club in 1907 in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, by Ziya Songülen, Ayetullah Bey, and Necip Okaner. The group founded the club secretly to avoid trouble with the strict Ottoman rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who forbade Turkish youth from setting up clubs or playing football. Ziya Songülen was elected the first President, Ayetullah Bey became the first General Secretary, and Enver Necip Okaner was given the post of General Captain. The club's name comes from a neighbourhood in Istanbul, meaning 'lighthouse garden' in Turkish, referring to a historic lighthouse at Fenerbahçe Cape. The first crest sported yellow white colours of daffodils and oak leaves around the lighthouse, and the first kits were yellow and white stripes. In 1910, Hikmet Topuzer redesigned the badge and Ziya Songülen changed the colours to yellow and navy. Fenerbahçe's activities were kept in secrecy until a legislation reform in 1908, when all football clubs had to register to exist legally. Fenerbahçe joined the Istanbul League in 1909, finishing fifth in their first year. During the Turkish War of Independence, Fenerbahçe played against teams formed by British soldiers occupying Istanbul, such as Essex Engineers, Irish Guards, Grenadiers, and Artillery, winning many of these matches. In 1923, Fenerbahçe won the General Harrington Cup by defeating the British occupation forces team 2-1 in the final at Taksim Stadium. As a result of the Kuşdili Fire in 1932, the club lost all its material artifacts and documents, including trophies, membership records, and match books. Consequently, May 3, the day Atatürk visited the club's clubhouse for the first time in 1918, was adopted as its founding day.

In Their Own Story

In 1910, the club's rowing and sailing departments were founded. In 1913, the basketball branch was founded, along with its athletics and swimming departments, the former being the first basketball team established within a sports club in the Ottoman Empire. In 1928, both men's and women's volleyball departments were founded along with the table tennis team. The men's football department has won a total of 54 domestic trophies, including a record 28 Turkish championship titles (19 Turkish Super League, six National Division, and three Turkish Football Championship titles), making the club the most successful in the country. The club is also leading the all-time table of the Turkish Super League. In international club football, Fenerbahçe won the Balkans Cup in 1968, the first international trophy won by a Turkish football team. The men's basketball team became European champions in the 2016–17 season and runners-up in 2015–16 and 2017–18, playing in five consecutive EuroLeague Final Fours (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) and another in 2023. In 2023, the women's basketball team won the EuroLeague by defeating ÇBK Mersin Yenişehir 99–60 in the all-Turkish final, making Fenerbahçe the first and only sports club in history to be crowned European champions in both men's and women's basketball. In the same year, Fenerbahçe became the first and only Turkish club to win the FIBA Europe SuperCup, defeating France's LDLC ASVEL Féminin with a point differential of 57, a record in the SuperCup's history. In volleyball, Fenerbahçe became the first Turkish club ever to be crowned World champions in an Olympic team sport by winning the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship undefeated in 2010. They also won the CEV Champions League in the 2011–12 season and the CEV Cup in 2014. The men's volleyball team won the CEV Challenge Cup in the 2013–14 season, the same day the women's team won the CEV Cup, making Fenerbahçe the only sports club in Turkey and one of few in Europe with European titles in both men's and women's volleyball. The table tennis women's team won the ETTU Cup two times in a row (2011–12 and 2012–13), a Turkish record, and won the Champions League title in 2015 undefeated, achieving the only Triple Crown ever for a Turkish table tennis team.

Reader's Guide

The club crest was designed by Hikmet Topuzer in 1910 and made as lapel pins by Tevfik Haccar Taşçı in London. The crest consists of five colours: white (purity and open-heartedness), red (love and attachment to the club, symbolising the Turkish flag), yellow (others' envy and jealousy about Fenerbahçe), navy (nobility), and an oak leaf (force and power of being a member of Fenerbahçe, with green showing the success of Fenerbahçe is imperative). Hikmet Topuzer described the emblem: after the club's colours changed from yellow and white to yellow and navy, he brought together the colours of the national flag (red and white), drew a heart shape over the red, gave it yellow and navy, added an acorn leaf representing resistance, power and strength, and wrote the club name and foundation date on the white section. The design was favored by his friends and made through the guidance of Tevfik Haccar. After the new alphabet was approved, the club name on the emblem was changed to 'Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü ★ 1907 ★'.

Did You Know?

• Fenerbahçe's record application was accepted by Guinness World Records in March 2008, claiming the highest number of medal and trophy achievements on the planet with over 1,100 cups and medals across multiple departments
• Fenerbahçe is among the few clubs in Europe to have won titles across multiple departments.
• The club's name literally means 'lighthouse garden' in Turkish, referring to a historic lighthouse at Fenerbahçe Cape.
• Fenerbahçe's men's basketball team won the EuroLeague in 2017, becoming the second Turkish club to achieve this after Anadolu Efes (2021, 2022), and also made history by defeating an NBA team.