Arkas Spor

Arkas Spor is stepping back from the top flight on purpose. In October 2024 the İzmir club announced it would leave the Efeler Ligi after the 2024-25 season and drop into the 1. Lig from 2025-26, trading trophies for a project built around young Turkish players it hopes to feed into the national team.

That choice reads differently against what came before it. Arkas won the league four times, in 2006, 2007, 2013 and 2015, added two Turkish Cups, and in 2008-09 beat the Polish side Jastrzębski Węgiel 3-2 to lift the CEV Challenge Cup, still the club's one European title. A Turkish Super Cup followed in 2024, the last piece of silverware before the withdrawal.

The club itself changed shape more than once before settling. It grew out of Körfez Sports Club, competing under that name from 1999, was refounded as Saint Joseph Sports Club in 2001, became Arkas Saint Joseph in 2003, and took its current name, Arkas Sports Club, in 2005.

Home games are played at the İzmir Atatürk Volleyball Hall, built in 1971 for the Mediterranean Games and renovated in 2012, where local derbies against Altekma give the arena its loudest nights. Georg Grozer, the German international, joined the squad in 2023.

With the top division no longer the target, the season ahead is about the 1. Lig and about whether the development model Arkas has committed to actually produces the players it was designed to find.