List of Turkish football champions

List of Turkish football champions

Football team of Harbiye in (/wiki/1924TurkishFootballChampionship), the first national champions in Turkish football history

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 (/wiki/1924TurkishFootballChampionship) and continued until (/wiki/1951TurkishFootballChampionship). 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 (/wiki/1924TurkishFootballChampionship) 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 (/wiki/1937TurkishNationalDivision), the National Division (Turkish: Millî Küme) was the first national league competition and was held until (/wiki/1950TurkishNationalDivision).

A few years later, in (/wiki/1959TurkishNationalLeague), 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 25 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.

A process is currently underway for the TFF to recognise titles awarded before 1957, after several clubs officially applied to the association for recognition of titles awarded before 1959. In July 2023, the TFF decided to establish a championship commission to make a decision. However, the following year, the TFF was still unable to establish a commission. According to a Turkish historian, the actions of the TFF appear to be a delaying tactic to avoid making a decision.

History

Early history and former championships

Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet announcing the Turkish championship title of Fenerbahçe on its front page on 11 November 1933.

Football in Turkey stems back to the late 19th century, when Englishmen brought the game with them while living in Salonica (then part of the Turkish Empire). The first league competition was the Istanbul Football League, a regional league for Istanbul clubs which took place for the first time in the 1904–05 season. Shortly after the foundation of the Turkish Republic and the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), several other regional leagues were officially established (or gained official status as some were already founded earlier) in various major cities: Ankara (1922), Adana (1924), Bursa (1924), Eskişehir (1924), İzmir (1924), and Trabzon (1922).

The first competition to bring forth a national champion was the Turkish Football Championship (Turkish: Türkiye Futbol Şampiyonası), which began in (/wiki/1924TurkishFootballChampionship) and continued until (/wiki/1951TurkishFootballChampionship). The championship format was based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of the country's top regional leagues. In some of the early years, the championship could not be held due to insufficient funds.

Turkish newspaper Tanin announcing the Championship title of Fenerbahçe on its sports page on 21 May 1945.

Started in (/wiki/1937TurkishNationalDivision), the National Division (Turkish: Millî Küme) was a national league competition between the strongest clubs of Ankara, Istanbul, and İzmir, which hosted the strongest regional leagues in those decades. The league lasted until (/wiki/1950TurkishNationalDivision). From 1940 to 1950, both top-level championships existed at the same time, which resulted in there being two national champions within a year. Since the National Division was based on a league format, with home and away matches on a regular basis and a higher number of matches overall, it was more popular and competitive than the Turkish Championship and overshadowed it.

Introduction of professionalism and Süper Lig

In 1952 the TFF introduced professionalism in Turkish football. Shortly after, the top-level Istanbul League and the clubs playing there adopted professionalism, while the Ankara and İzmir clubs followed some years later in 1955. After that point the Turkish Football Championship was no longer open to professional clubs, hence the professional departments of the Istanbul clubs could no longer participate in the championship. As a result, the former Turkish Football Championship lost its first level status. Since there was no top-level national champion in the period from 1952 to 1955, the Turkish federation sent Galatasaray, winners of the 1955–56 Istanbul League, to the European Cup in the 1956–57 season.

Protests of some Ankara and İzmir clubs regarding this decision, as well as UEFA deciding to only accept national champions to the European Cup from that season on induced the TFF to establish the Federation Cup in 1956. The competition took place as a knock-out tournament to decide a national champion. The Federation Cup was held for two years until it was replaced by the Süper Lig (then known as Millî Lig) in 1959. Beşiktaş won both editions and earned the right to represent Turkey twice in the European Cup during the two-year span. However, since the Turkish Football Federation failed to register them for the draw in time, they were not able to participate in the 1957–58 season after all.

After some years of preparation and planning, the professional nationwide league called Millî Lig (National League) was finally introduced in (/wiki/1959TurkishNationalLeague). Eligible for the newly established nationwide league were the top clubs of the regional Ankara, Istanbul, and İzmir leagues. The inaugural season took place in the calendar year of 1959, instead of 1958–59, since the regional leagues leading to qualification took place in 1958. The clubs competing in the first season were Adalet, Beşiktaş, Galatasaray, Beykoz, Karagümrük, Fenerbahçe, İstanbulspor, Vefa (all from Istanbul), Ankaragücü, Ankara Demirspor, Gençlerbirliği, Hacettepe (all from Ankara), Altay, Göztepe, İzmirspor, and Karşıyaka (all from İzmir). The first champions were Fenerbahçe and the first "Gol Kralı" (top scorer) was Metin Oktay.

The 2. Lig (Second League) was created at the start of the 1963–64 season and the National League (Millî Lig) became known as the 1. Lig (First League). After the creation of a new second division in 2001, from then on known as 1. Lig, the formerly titled 1. Lig became the current Süper Lig.

Champions

List of Turkish football champions

According to historians' analysis of the 2002 Turkish Football Federation Arbitration Court decision, which stated that the Turkish League Championships began before 1959 and the championships before 1959 cannot be left uncounted.

The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of titles won in total since 1924.

Turkish Football Championship (1924–1951)

(not recognised by TFF)

Season	Winners	Runners-up	Leading goalscorer	Goals
1924	Harbiye (1)	Bahriye	not available
1925–26	Not held due to insufficient funds.
1927	Muhafızgücü (1)	Altınordu	not available
1928–31	Not held due to the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and insufficient funds.
1932	İstanbulspor (1)	Altınordu	not available
1933	Fenerbahçe (1)	İzmirspor	Zeki Rıza (Fenerbahçe)	10
1934	Beşiktaş (1)	Altay	not available
1935	Fenerbahçe (2)	Altınordu	not available
1936–39	Not held due to the introduction of the National Division.
1940	Eskişehir Demirspor (1)	Fenerbahçe	not available
1941	Gençlerbirliği (1)	Beşiktaş	not available
1942	Harp Okulu (2)	Göztepe	not available
1943	Not held
1944	Fenerbahçe (3)	Harp Okulu	not available
1945	Harp Okulu (3)	İzmit Harp Filosu	not available
1946	Gençlerbirliği (2)	Beşiktaş	not available
1947	Ankara Demirspor (1)	Fenerbahçe	not available
1948	Not held due to the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
1949	Ankaragücü (1)	Galatasaray	not available
1950	Göztepe (1)	Gençlerbirliği	not available
1951	Beşiktaş (5)	Altay	not available

National Division (1937–1950)

(not recognised by TFF)

Season	Winners	Runners-up	Third place	Leading goalscorer	Goals
1937	Fenerbahçe (4)	Galatasaray	Beşiktaş	Said Altınordu (Üçok)	13
1938	Güneş (1)	Beşiktaş	Galatasaray	Şeref Görkey (Beşiktaş)	13
1939	Galatasaray (1)	Ankara Demirspor	AS-FA Gücü	Cemil Erlertürk (Galatasaray) Hakkı Yeten (Beşiktaş)	13
1940	Fenerbahçe (5)	Galatasaray	Muhafızgücü	Melih Kotanca (Fenerbahçe)	23
1941	Beşiktaş (2)	Galatasaray	Fenerbahçe	Hakkı Yeten (Beşiktaş)	18
1942	Not held as a result of the weather conditions and the delayed conclusion of the Istanbul League.
1943	Fenerbahçe (6)	Galatasaray	Beşiktaş	Şeref Görkey (Beşiktaş)	13
1944	Beşiktaş (3)	Fenerbahçe	Göztepe	Kemal Gülçelik (Beşiktaş) Hakkı Yeten (Beşiktaş)	15
1945	Fenerbahçe (7)	Beşiktaş	Galatasaray	Melih Kotanca (Fenerbahçe)	17
1946	Fenerbahçe (8)	Beşiktaş	Kayagücü	Melih Kotanca (Fenerbahçe)	12
1947	Beşiktaş (4)	Fenerbahçe	Galatasaray	İsmet Artun (Vefa) Şükrü Gülesin (Beşiktaş)	12
1948	Not held due to the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
1949	Not held due to the Mediterranean Cup.
1950	Fenerbahçe (9)	Galatasaray	Beşiktaş	Lefter Küçükandonyadis (Fenerbahçe)	14

Federation Cup (1956–1958)

(the cup competition recognised by TFF as league championship since 2002)

Season	Winners	Runners-up	Third place	Leading goalscorer	Goals
1956–57	Beşiktaş (6)	Galatasaray	Altay	Nazmi Bilge (Beşiktaş)	8
1957–58	Beşiktaş (7)	Galatasaray	—	Lefter Küçükandonyadis (Fenerbahçe) Metin Oktay (Galatasaray)	10

Süper Lig (1959–present)

Season	Winners	Runners-up	Third place	Leading goalscorer	Goals
1959	Fenerbahçe (10)	Galatasaray	—	Metin Oktay (Galatasaray)	11
1959–60	Beşiktaş (8)	Fenerbahçe	Galatasaray	Metin Oktay (Galatasaray)	33
1960–61	Fenerbahçe (11)	Galatasaray	Beşiktaş	Metin Oktay (Galatasaray)	36
1961–62	Galatasaray (2)	Fenerbahçe	Beşiktaş	Fikri Elma (Ankara Demirspor)	21
1962–63	Galatasaray (3)	Beşiktaş	Fenerbahçe	Metin Oktay (Galatasaray)	38
1963–64	Fenerbahçe (12)	Beşiktaş	Galatasaray	Güven Önüt (Beşiktaş)	19
1964–65	Fenerbahçe (13)	Beşiktaş	Galatasaray	Metin Oktay (Galatasaray)	17
1965–66	Beşiktaş (9)	Galatasaray	Gençlerbirliği	Ertan Adatepe (Ankaragücü)	20
1966–67	Beşiktaş (10)	Fenerbahçe	Galatasaray	Ertan Adatepe (Ankaragücü)	18
1967–68	Fenerbahçe (14)	Beşiktaş	Galatasaray	Fevzi Zemzem (Göztepe)	19
1968–69	Galatasaray (4)	Eskişehirspor	Beşiktaş	Metin Oktay (Galatasaray)	17
1969–70	Fenerbahçe (15)	Eskişehirspor	Altay	Fethi Heper (Eskişehirspor)	13
1970–71	Galatasaray (5)	Fenerbahçe	Göztepe	Ogün Altıparmak (Fenerbahçe)	16
1971–72	Galatasaray (6)	Eskişehirspor	Fenerbahçe	Fethi Heper (Eskişehirspor)	20
1972–73	Galatasaray (7)	Fenerbahçe	Eskişehirspor	Osman Arpacıoğlu (Fenerbahçe)	16
1973–74	Fenerbahçe (16)	Beşiktaş	Boluspor	Cemil Turan (Fenerbahçe)	14
1974–75	Fenerbahçe (17)	Galatasaray	Eskişehirspor	Ömer Kaner (Eskişehirspor)	14
1975–76	Trabzonspor (1)	Fenerbahçe	Galatasaray	Cemil Turan (Fenerbahçe) Ali Osman Renklibay (Ankaragücü)	17
1976–77	Trabzonspor (2)	Fenerbahçe	Altay	Necmi Perekli (Trabzonspor)	18
1977–78	Fenerbahçe (18)	Trabzonspor	Galatasaray	Cemil Turan (Fenerbahçe)	17
1978–79	Trabzonspor (3)	Galatasaray	Fenerbahçe	Özer Umdu (Adanaspor)	15
1979–80	Trabzonspor (4)	Fenerbahçe	Zonguldakspor	Mustafa Denizli (Altay) Bahtiyar Yorulmaz (Bursaspor)	12
1980–81	Trabzonspor (5)	Adanaspor	Galatasaray	Bora Öztürk (Adanaspor)	15
1981–82	Beşiktaş (11)	Trabzonspor	Fenerbahçe	Selçuk Yula (Fenerbahçe)	16
1982–83	Fenerbahçe (19)	Trabzonspor	Galatasaray	Selçuk Yula (Fenerbahçe)	19
1983–84	Trabzonspor (6)	Fenerbahçe	Galatasaray	Tarik Hodžić (Galatasaray)	16
1984–85	Fenerbahçe (20)	Beşiktaş	Trabzonspor	Aykut Yiğit (Sakaryaspor)	20
1985–86	Beşiktaş (12)	Galatasaray	Samsunspor	Tanju Çolak (Samsunspor)	33
1986–87	Galatasaray (8)	Beşiktaş	Samsunspor	Tanju Çolak (Samsunspor)	25
1987–88	Galatasaray (9)	Beşiktaş	Malatyaspor	Tanju Çolak (Galatasaray)	39
1988–89	Fenerbahçe (21)	Beşiktaş	Galatasaray	Aykut Kocaman (Fenerbahçe)	29
1989–90	Beşiktaş (13)	Fenerbahçe	Trabzonspor	Feyyaz Uçar (Beşiktaş)	28
1990–91	Beşiktaş (14)	Galatasaray	Trabzonspor	Tanju Çolak (Galatasaray)	31
1991–92	Beşiktaş (15)	Fenerbahçe	Galatasaray	Aykut Kocaman (Fenerbahçe)	25
1992–93	Galatasaray (10)	Beşiktaş	Trabzonspor	Tanju Çolak (Fenerbahçe)	27
1993–94	Galatasaray (11)	Fenerbahçe	Trabzonspor	Bülent Uygun (Fenerbahçe)	22
1994–95	Beşiktaş (16)	Trabzonspor	Galatasaray	Aykut Kocaman (Fenerbahçe)	27
1995–96	Fenerbahçe (22)	Trabzonspor	Beşiktaş	Shota Arveladze (Trabzonspor)	25
1996–97	Galatasaray (12)	Beşiktaş	Fenerbahçe	Hakan Şükür (Galatasaray)	38
1997–98	Galatasaray (13)	Fenerbahçe	Trabzonspor	Hakan Şükür (Galatasaray)	33
1998–99	Galatasaray (14)	Beşiktaş	Fenerbahçe	Hakan Şükür (Galatasaray)	19
1999–2000	Galatasaray (15)	Beşiktaş	Gaziantepspor	Serkan Aykut (Samsunspor)	30
2000–01	Fenerbahçe (23)	Galatasaray	Gaziantepspor	Okan Yılmaz (Bursaspor)	23
2001–02	Galatasaray (16)	Fenerbahçe	Beşiktaş	Arif Erdem (Galatasaray) İlhan Mansız (Beşiktaş)	21
2002–03	Beşiktaş (17)	Galatasaray	Gençlerbirliği	Okan Yılmaz (Bursaspor)	24
2003–04	Fenerbahçe (24)	Trabzonspor	Beşiktaş	Zafer Biryol (Konyaspor)	25
2004–05	Fenerbahçe (25)	Trabzonspor	Galatasaray	Fatih Tekke (Trabzonspor)	31
2005–06	Galatasaray (17)	Fenerbahçe	Beşiktaş	Gökhan Ünal (Kayserispor)	25
2006–07	Fenerbahçe (26)	Beşiktaş	Galatasaray	Alex (Fenerbahçe)	19
2007–08	Galatasaray (18)	Fenerbahçe	Beşiktaş	Semih Şentürk (Fenerbahçe)	17
2008–09	Beşiktaş (18)	Sivasspor	Trabzonspor	Milan Baroš (Galatasaray)	20
2009–10	Bursaspor (1)	Fenerbahçe	Galatasaray	Ariza Makukula (Kayserispor)	21
2010–11	Fenerbahçe (27)	Trabzonspor	Bursaspor	Alex (Fenerbahçe)	28
2011–12	Galatasaray (19)	Fenerbahçe	Trabzonspor	Burak Yılmaz (Trabzonspor)	33
2012–13	Galatasaray (20)	Fenerbahçe	Beşiktaş	Burak Yılmaz (Galatasaray)	24
2013–14	Fenerbahçe (28)	Galatasaray	Beşiktaş	Aatif Chahechouhe (Sivasspor)	17
2014–15	Galatasaray (21)	Fenerbahçe	Beşiktaş	Fernandão (Bursaspor)	22
2015–16	Beşiktaş (19)	Fenerbahçe	Konyaspor	Mario Gómez (Beşiktaş)	26
2016–17	Beşiktaş (20)	İstanbul Başakşehir	Fenerbahçe	Vágner Love (Alanyaspor)	23
2017–18	Galatasaray (22)	Fenerbahçe	İstanbul Başakşehir	Bafétimbi Gomis (Galatasaray)	29
2018–19	Galatasaray (23)	İstanbul Başakşehir	Beşiktaş	Mbaye Diagne (Galatasaray)	30
2019–20	İstanbul Başakşehir (1)	Trabzonspor	Beşiktaş	Alexander Sørloth (Trabzonspor)	24
2020–21	Beşiktaş (21)	Galatasaray	Fenerbahçe	Aaron Boupendza (Hatayspor)	22
2021–22	Trabzonspor (7)	Fenerbahçe	Konyaspor	Umut Bozok (Kasımpaşa)	20
2022–23	Galatasaray (24)	Fenerbahçe	Beşiktaş	Enner Valencia (Fenerbahçe)	29
2023–24	Galatasaray (25)	Fenerbahçe	Trabzonspor	Mauro Icardi (Galatasaray)	25
2024–25	Galatasaray (26)	Fenerbahçe	Samsunspor	Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray)	26

Performances

List of Turkish football champions

Over the history of the Turkish football championships 15 different clubs have won the title. The most successful club are Fenerbahçe with 28 titles to their credit, most of those coming in Süper Lig competition. They are also the most successful pre-Süper Lig club with 9 titles overall in that era, 6 of them won in the National Division and 3 in the former Turkish Football Championship.

All-time performance (1924–present)

In the table below all national championship titles since 1924 are included, including the former Turkish Football Championship and National Division, which are denied and not recognized by the Turkish Football Federation, even though they were official championships organized by the TFF itself.

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Fenerbahçe	28	30	1933, 1935, 1937, 1940, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1950, 1959, 1960–61, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2010–11, 2013–14	1940, 1944, 1947, 1947, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1966–67, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1993–94, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25
Galatasaray	26	19	1939, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25	1937, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1949, 1950, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1959, 1960–61, 1965–66, 1974–75, 1978–79, 1985–86, 1990–91, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2013–14, 2020–21
Beşiktaş	21	19	1934, 1941, 1944, 1947, 1951, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1959–60, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1981–82, 1985–86, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1994–95, 2002–03, 2008–09, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2020–21	1938, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1946, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1973–74, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2006–07
Trabzonspor	7	9	1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1983–84, 2021–22	1977–78, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2010–11, 2019–20
Harp Okulu	3	1	1924, 1942, 1945	1944
Gençlerbirliği	2	1	1941, 1946	1950
İstanbul Başakşehir	1	2	2019–20	2016–17, 2018–19
Göztepe	1	1	1950	1942
Ankara Demirspor	1	1	1947	1939
Bursaspor	1	—	2009–10	—
MKE Ankaragücü	1	—	1949	—
Eskişehir Demirspor	1	—	1940	—
Güneş	1	—	1938	—
İstanbulspor	1	—	1932	—
Muhafızgücü	1	—	1927	—
Eskişehirspor	—	3	—	1969, 1970, 1972
Sivasspor	—	1	—	2009
Adanaspor	—	1	—	1981
Altay	—	1	—	1951
Altınordu	—	1	—	1935

• Bold – club plays in the current Süper Lig. • Italic – club dissolved or merged.

Performance since 1959

Only six clubs have been champions since the beginning of the Süper Lig in 1959: Galatasaray 25 times, Fenerbahçe 19 times, Beşiktaş 16 times (with an additional two titles counted for star purposes, see note below), Trabzonspor 7 times, and Bursaspor and Başakşehir once.

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Galatasaray	25	13	1962, 1963, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025	19571, 19581, 1959, 1961, 1966, 1975, 1979, 1986, 1991, 2001, 2003, 2014, 2021
Fenerbahçe	19	26	1959, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1983, 1985, 1989, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2014	1960, 1962, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1984, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Beşiktaş	16	14	1957, 1958, 1960, 1966, 1967, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2003, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2021	1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2007
Trabzonspor	7	9	1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 2022	1978, 1982, 1983, 1995, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2020
Başakşehir	1	2	2020	2017, 2019
Bursaspor	1	—	2010	—
Eskişehirspor	—	3	—	1969, 1970, 1972
Sivasspor	—	1	—	2009
Adanaspor	—	1	—	1981

Star rating system

List of Turkish football champions

The honor of Golden Stars was introduced to recognize sides that have won multiple championships or other honours by the display of gold stars on their team badges and jerseys. In Turkey clubs are permitted to place a golden star above their crest for every five national championships won. For the 2025–26 season Galatasaray are permitted five golden stars, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş are permitted three golden stars, and Trabzonspor are permitted one golden star to be placed above their crest on their jerseys.