Galatasaray

Istanbul splits along the Bosphorus, and its football splits with it. On the European side, in a building that gave a school its name, a lyceum pupil called Ali Sami Yen gathered a handful of classmates and set up a club in 1905, formally registered under the association law of 1912. The name has never changed since.

The ground has, several times over. The current stadium, opened in January 2011 to replace the old Ali Sami Yen, carries the same complex name — Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex — under a rotating sponsor's tag: Türk Telekom Arena until 2021, Nef Stadyumu after that, and Rams Park since 2023. It holds 52,652.

Twenty-six league titles sit in the record books, the most recent stretching from 2023 through 2026, but the run that still gets talked about happened away from Turkey. In May 2000, Galatasaray beat Arsenal on penalties in Copenhagen to win the UEFA Cup.

Domestically, the rivalries carry their own names. Beşiktaş, on the same European bank, brings the Istanbul Derby instead. Between the two, there is little room in the city's football calendar for anything else to matter as much.