Dersimspor

Tunceli has one club, so no one to fight over the city with, and Dersimspor's story runs instead against the province's own history: the name itself, Dersim, was banned for decades before a group of young people and local businessmen brought it back in 2009 by founding the club, nineteen years after the old Tuncelispor had faded into the amateur leagues.

The rise that followed was fast. In 2014–15 Dersimspor took the Bölgesel Amatör Lig 3rd Group with 56 points, five clear of the chasing pack, then went straight on to win the Professionality Transition League and reach the Spor Toto 3. Lig — the first Tunceli side in that tier in 21 years. Two seasons there ended in relegation after a 16th-place finish in the 2016–17 2nd Group.

That same 3. Lig campaign produced a notable cup run. In the Turkish Cup, Dersimspor knocked out Süper Lig side Eskişehirspor 1–0, then travelled to the Türk Telekom Arena in October 2016 to face Galatasaray. They lost 5–1, with Lukas Podolski scoring a hat-trick.

Since then the club has settled back into the Bölgesel Amatör Lig, still known to its own supporters as Mavi Beyazlı, the Blue-White, for the turquoise and white it has worn from the start. Among those who took it there, Yannick Alex Kore stands out: the Ivorian forward finished as the division's top scorer in that 2014–15 promotion season with ten goals, the run that first put Dersim back on a football map it had been erased from.