Istanbul Basaksehir: The most hated club in Turkey’s Capital, sparked in shady politics

Many outside the country of Turkey would assume that one of the three biggest clubs in Istanbul -  Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, or Besiktas would be the most hated club in the nation. These three clubs are so dominant that they make up 80% of all Turkish fans. While there is a mutual, passionate hatred between the big three clubs, they all have a common enemy.
This is, in fact, Istanbul's fourth team; Istanbul Basaksehir. 

Having regularly featured in Europe over the last decade, as well as being a major player at the top of the Turkish Super Lig,  European football fans will likely recognise the club. However, many outsiders have no clue about their origins, quirks or hatred in their home country, which is packed full of controversy and controversies. This article will unpack all of this.   

The club was originally founded in 1990 as İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor (IBB) after three local clubs were merged into one by the mayor of Istanbul at the time, Nurettin Sözen. 

This new club was spearheaded straight into the fourth tier of Turkish football, controversially replacing ISKI Derneği.

What was even more controversial, however, was the fact that the club was being funded by the local government. This means that the 10 million taxpaying residents of Istanbul were essentially funding this club not by choice but by obligation. With Istanbul already home to the big 3 clubs in Turkey, these fans almost certainly had even more hatred towards the new government-backed club. The club earned promotion to the third and second tiers throughout the 1990’s and early 2000’s but were yet to reach the top flight. Despite being unpopular, not being direct rivals of the big 3 and not receiving the national attention that a Super Lig club would, the controversial club was still somewhat under the radar from both a national and international point of view. 

This was all to change in 2007 when the club won promotion to the Super Lig thanks to the managerial appointment of Abdullah Avcı, who previously guided Turkey’s U17 side to the semi-final of the U17 World Cup. This now meant that IBB were direct rivals of their city counterparts, and these rival fans were funding this government pop-up club. 

To add salt to the wounds of their city rivals, IBB were granted access to use the Atatürk Stadium ahead of their first season in the topflight. Having opened in 2002, originally built for Turkey’s bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games (which was awarded to Beijing, China), the stadium was of state-of-the-art standard and the largest capacity stadium in Turkey with over 77,000 seats. With Galatasaray's stadium holding around 54,000, Fenerbahçe’s 48,000 and Beşiktaş's 43,500, it was a massive kick to the teeth of these respective fan bases. 

The stadium comically highlighted the size of IBB’s fanbase. The previous season's promotion-winning campaign saw average attendees of less than 1000. Promotion and the new stadium did little to change that, with attendances hitting around the 2000 mark (with many often being away fans). To put into perspective, average attendances throughout the league at this time were 12,500. The absolute emptiness of the giant ground not only emphasised the little support the young club had, but further added fuel to the fire of their hatred across the capital city and now nationwide. 

In 2013, the club was relegated from the Super Lig. This marked a brief period of serious uncertainty for the club as the 2014 Istanbul Mayor elections took place. Republican People's Party candidate Mustafa Sarigül promised to liquidate IBB if elected, agreeing with the many citizens of Istanbul that it is a waste of resources. Sarigül finished runner-up to Kadir Topas of the AKP party. The latter granted the wish of the many as he announced that he was going to cut funding for İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor.

What many deem as the lifesaver for the club, they bounced straight back up to the Super Lig in the 2013/14 season. With the club having a spot in the top flight for the upcoming season, the Turkish Football Federation were extremely reluctant to have a vacant spot in their top league. Additionally, 2014 saw the completion of the club's brand-new purpose-built stadium, costing an estimated 178 million Turkish Lira. (Roughly €60 million at the time, since the Turkish Lira was much stronger than it is now)  

This led to a compromise with the Ministry of Youth and Sport taking over the operations of the football club. Along with the new stadium, a full rebrand was seen as the club was renamed to what we know it as today. The new name, Istanbul Başakşehir, was chosen after the district where the new stadium would be built, a place that was transformed in the 1990s when President Erdoğan was the Mayor of Istanbul.  This new ownership model meant that Istanbul Başakşehir was no longer burning the pockets of Istanbul taxpayers, but rather on a national level. A move that made the club a lot more hated than it already was. 

The opening unveiling of the club's new stadium saw an exhibition game in which former Istanbul Mayor, Prime Minister and now President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, played and scored a hat-trick. The club outrageously announced after the game that the number 12 jersey (Erdogan’s jersey that day) would be officially retired from the club. The club have entangled itself with the president in more ways than one, with one example being that the new club president following the takeover in 2014 was Göksel Gümüşdağ, who is married to the niece of Erdoğan’s wife. There is something ironic about an unpopular president backing the country's most unpopular football club, with the players wearing his political party's colours.    

The new stadium is built in a district where Erdoğan made major developments while he was the mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998, and thus,  Erdoğan is fairly popular in that particular region. Many would describe the current president of Turkey as a strongman politician who is not very fond of criticism, having once described democracy “ like a streetcar, when you come to a stop, you get off.” The politician's biggest controversy, which sent sirens right across Europe, was a constitutional referendum held in April 2017. 

This referendum was to approve 18 amendments to the constitution, headed by the AKP (Erdogan's party) and the Nationalist Movement Party. “ As a result of its approval, the office of Prime Minister was abolished, and the existing parliamentary system of government was replaced with an executive presidency and a presidential system.” Other changes included increasing parliamentary seats from 550 to 600 and giving the president more control over appointments of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors. Additionally, the referendum was held under a state of emergency, following a failed military coup attempt in July 2016, the fourth attempt at that point since 1960. 

The referendum passed with a 51% - 49% with a few alleged controversies from the opposition. “The Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) allowed non-stamped ballots to be accepted as valid. Some critics of the reform decried this move to be illegal, claiming that as many as 1.5 million ballots were unstamped, and did not recognise the results.” Other alleged incidents, such as yes voters situated in Germany, having been caught attempting to vote more than once, as well as overseas ballot papers being in possession before they were supposed to. All of this led to even more hatred for Istanbul Başakşehir, considering the club's strong ties to Turkey’s President. 

One of the club's key first signings under the new ownership was in 2015 with the arrival of Turkish international Emre Belozoglu, a significant signing for a number of reasons. Firstly, on the pitch, he was an excellent addition, earning over 100 caps for Turkey over his career and previously playing for clubs such as Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Newcastle. The player has had repeated racist accusations against him throughout his career. The midfeilder was once convicted to a 2 and a half month suspended prison sentence after racially abusing Ivorian midfielder Didier Zokora during a match in 2012. The court suspended his sentence due to it being a first-time conviction of racial abuse. This is despite the fact that the player was accused of racism three times during his time in England with Newcastle, despite the English Football Federation failing to find proof. Belozoglu is publicly a supporter of the AKP, which is “seen to many as further evidence of the close ties between the club and Turkey’s President.”

In the midst of the multiple controversies of the club’s origins and strong political connections, Başakşehir have now put themselves in the bracket of the big clubs in Turkish football. Signing many notable players over the last decade, including Mesut Ozil, Gael Clichy, Robinho, Emmanuel Adebayor, Arda Turan and many others. The club won their first Super Lig title in the 2019-2020 season. They also famously beat Manchester United the next season in the Champions League 2-1 at home. Consistent top 5 finishes in the league and bringing some of football’s big names, Başakşehir are well and truly on the map as a Turkish football powerhouse. 

It is undeniable, though, that this has all been delivered through the backing of government funding, as well as through taxpayer money. While some comments are laughing digs and typical football banter at how the club is funded, other instances are undeniable. Many sponsorship deals from the club come from lucrative government contract companies, such as Medipol. It is unclear to the public the level of backing these companies have given to  Başakşehir, as their books are not publicly available. While there are plenty of questionable funded clubs and even examples of government-backed clubs throughout the world of football that come across as unethical to many (famous cases such as Manchester City and PSG come to the forefront). It is fair to suggest that the morality of Istanbul Başakşehir’s funding certainly feels unnecessary, at times fishy and wrong.