The 2007–08 Süper Lig season, (also known as the
Turkcell
Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (''lit. Turkcell Communication Services'') (, ) is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 39,3 million subscribers as of September 2021. In 2015, the company's number o ...
Süper Lig
The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...
for sponsorship reasons), was the 50th anniversary of top-flight professional
football in Turkey. It was won by
Galatasaray
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...
, who won their 17th championship.
Since Turkey had climbed from 15th to 14th position in the UEFA association coefficient rankings at the end of the 2006–07 season, and
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
-bound
Zenit Saint Petersburg
Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...
won the
2007–08 UEFA Cup
The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. The final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England on 14 May 2008 between Rangers of Scotland and Zenit Saint ...
, the domestic cup winner,
Kayserispor
Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits.
The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fi ...
, which had qualified for the second qualifying round of the
2008–09 UEFA Cup
The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup association football, football tournament. The 2009 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe S.K., Fenerbahçe, i ...
, was promoted to the first round, filling the unused title holder spot.
The league began on 10 August 2007 with the
İstanbul B.B.–
Fenerbahçe match at
Atatürk Olympic Stadium
The Atatürk Olympic Stadium ( tr, Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu, ) is a stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Located in the western district of İkitelli, it is the largest-capacity stadium in the country. The stadium is named after Mustafa Kemal Atat ...
.
The three relegated clubs would be replaced by three promoted clubs from the
Bank Asya 1. Lig
The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...
. Gençlerbirliği OFTAŞ and İstanbul B.B. both earned automatic promotion, while
Altay,
Diyarbakırspor
Diyarbakırspor is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Diyarbakır. Formed in 1968, they are nicknamed ''Diyar'' ("land"). Their colours are red and green, and they play their home matches at Diyarbakır Stadium.
Diyarb ...
,
Kasımpaşa and
Malatyaspor
Malatya Spor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club based in Malatya, mainly concentrated on football. Previously their colors were yellow and black (prior to 1984). They played in First League for 11 seasons. They are the first team located in Eas ...
played in the play-off tournament with Kasımpaşa coming out victorious, becoming the third and last club to be promoted to the Süper Lig for 2007–08.
Events
Matchday 1
The league started with a surprise result, with
İstanbul B.B. defeating giants Fenerbahçe 2–0. Another important event of the first week was the record of
Hakan Şükür
Hakan Şükür (; born 1 September 1971) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed the "Bull of the Bosphorus" and ''Kral'' (king), he spent the majority of his professional career with Galatasaray, being a ...
. By scoring two goals, he managed to reach to the record of the most goals scored domestically. The Trabzonspor–Sivasspor match was suspended due to "player and fan trouble", just minutes before the referee would end it. The Federation ultimately awarded a default 3–0 victory to Sivasspor. This caused a harsh opposition from the Trabzonspor side.
Matchday 7
The first derby of the season was the main event of this week but the decision of
Karl Heinz Feldkamp became the center of the discussion rather than the match between Galatasaray and Beşiktaş because he decided to exclude two important players of his team, Şükür and Lincoln, from the match squad. The reason was their disciplinary problems. This week is also worth mentioning because none of the matches ended with a draw.
Matchday 10
Fenerbahçe, after collecting five points in three
Champions League matches, faced the newcomer of the league, Kasımpaşa. Fenerbahçe hardly won the game which they were expected to dominate. On the other field of the competition, Galatasaray secured the victory in the last minutes and the surprise leader of the 9th Week, Sivasspor, was defeated by the desperate Konyaspor. One of the key events of the week was the transfer of
Ersun Yanal
Kazım Ersun Yanal (, born 17 December 1961) is a Turkish football coach who last managed Süper Lig club Antalyaspor. His style has always been attacking football doubled up with tactics unprecedented in Turkish Football, featuring a new scient ...
, former national team manager, to Trabzonspor.
Ziya Doğan
Ziyaettin Dogan (born 1 January 1961 in Gümüşhane, Turkey) is a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish football manager.
Career
Ziya Doğan has played at Beşiktaş (1979–1987), Ankaragücü (1987–1990), Kocaelispor (1990–1992) and Zeytinburnus ...
left his seat after the shocking defeat at the hands of Beşiktaş in the 9th week where Trabzonspor lost its early advantage of 2–0 and ended up losing the game 2–3.
Matchday 24
Beşiktaş hosted Galatasaray on their 319th randez-vous. Both teams had critical absences such as injured
Bobo
Bobo may refer to:
Animals and plants
* Bobo (gorilla) a popular gorilla at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle from 1953 to 1968
* Bobo, Vietnamese name for Job's tears, a plant of south-east Asia
Entertainment, arts and media
* ''Bobo'' (mag ...
and suspended
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
. Beşiktaş won the game with final score of 1–0.
Mert Nobre have scored to Galatasaray for the 6th time in his career as he already scored 3 whilst his Fenerbahçe spelling. Nobre could only score once in the first half of the season, then he accelerated his form and earned 6 goals until 24th week. Thereby, Beşiktaş captured the top of table after 137 weeks of the league. Almost entire Beşiktaş squad and board including chairman
Yıldırım Demirören
Yıldırım Demirören (born 6 October 1964) is a Turkish businessman, former chair of the Istanbul-based Turkish multisports club Beşiktaş, and former president of the Turkish Football Federation.
He owns part of ''Demirören Şirketler Gr ...
and coach
Ertuğrul Sağlam
Ertuğrul Sağlam (born 19 November 1969) is a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish football manager and former player.
Playing career
As a player, he scored 11 goals in 30 appearances for Turkey, and was selected for the Euro 1996 squad. He began his ...
had achieved the top position of the league for the very first time in their personal careers; squad exceptions were
Serdar Özkan
Serdar Özkan (born 1 January 1987) is a Turkish professional footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American foot ...
,
Gökhan Zan
Gökhan Zan (born 7 September 1981 in Antakya) is a retired Turkish footballer.
Club career
Zan started his career with Hatayspor and then moved on to Çanakkale Dardanelspor before joining Beşiktaş in 2003. He needed time to make his mark wi ...
, and captain
İbrahim Üzülmez.
Matchday 28
The most important match up of the weekend was between Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe. ''Sarı Kanaryalar'' had already captured the leadership previous week, Beşiktaş was on target to overtake them again as the home side winner on last 6 weeks.
Fenerbahçe started the match well with the header of
Alex after
Colin Kazım-Richards' cross from the right side. Kazım will have been to score against
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
on next match in
Champions League. Beşiktaş equalized the scoresheet with
Serdar Özkan
Serdar Özkan (born 1 January 1987) is a Turkish professional footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American foot ...
's goal; however, Alex closed the curtain with his second goal as he became the man of the match.
This was a big impact on Beşiktaş due to the victory of
Sivasspor
Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...
as they even lost the second place which they would lose the chance to join
Champions League next season. During the match, Yıldırım Demirören's mother got feel faint, it was diagnosed that she had a sudden hypertension. Demirören had to leave the match in early minutes. Alex was protested by Beşiktaş supporters after manipulated the situations during the corner kicks.
The referee had added 4 and 8 minutes of stoppage time, sum of 12.
Galatasaray was fined by TFF and played against Gaziantepspor with no audience. This was the 6th match without the supporters this season due to be disciplined; nevertheless ''Cimbom'' was able to win 5 times that far. They had a 0–0 draw with Gaziantep.
Matchday 29
Turkish Professional Discipline Board fined Beşiktaş for two matches, one to play in a neutral stadium and one with no audience due to manifestations consisting oaths on TFF and the referees in the match against Fenerbahçe previous weekend.
The most unexpected news was the resignation of
Karl-Heinz Feldkamp
Karl-Heinz Feldkamp (born 2 June 1934) is a German retired football manager and player.
Feldkamp started coaching in 1968. In Germany, he coached Borussia Dortmund, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, and Eintracht Frankfurt, among others. He previously coac ...
from Galatasaray. Club officials declared that the reason was the opinion gap between Feldkamp and club board.
On the later emerging news on the papers, it was claimed that the very last reason was Feldkamp's tactical changes on the team and selection before the match against
Gençlerbirliği which did not consist
Hakan Şükür
Hakan Şükür (; born 1 September 1971) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed the "Bull of the Bosphorus" and ''Kral'' (king), he spent the majority of his professional career with Galatasaray, being a ...
,
Hasan Şaş and
Okan Buruk.
Sivasspor hosted Beşiktaş as Fenerbahçe did for Kayserispor in the very crucial encounters of the weekend. Galatasaray was the guest of Gençlerbirliği. All three matches finished with narrow scores, therefore Fenerbahçe kept going as the leader.
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
was the scorer for ''Cimbom''.
İstanbul B.B. manager
Abdullah Avcı
Abdullah Mucib Avcı (; born 31 July 1963) is a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish manager and a former professional footballer. He is the manager of Trabzonspor. He has also managed the Turkish national team.
Career Playing career
Avcı played for Vef ...
was linked with Galatasaray after his successful performance throughout the season.
Former Beşiktaş player
Pascal Nouma
Pascal Olivier Nouma (born 6 January 1972) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or striker.
Career
Nouma started his career in the Paris Saint-Germain youth team before moving around other teams in France. He pl ...
was in Turkey to follow the Beşiktaş' match as he claimed that his former team to reach the title at the end of the season.
Matchday 31
Kasımpaşa were relegated to
Bank Asya 1. Lig
The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...
, after their away match loss against
Bursaspor
Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern.
In t ...
with a 1–0 score.
Matchday 32
At the biggest game of the season, Galatasaray defeated Fenerbahçe 1–0 at the
Ali Sami Yen Stadium
Ali Sami Yen Stadium ( tr, Ali Sami Yen Stadyumu) was the home of the football club Galatasaray S.K. in Istanbul, Turkey, from 1964 to 2010. It is named after the founder of the club, Ali Sami Yen. The stadium had a capacity of 23,477 (all-seater) ...
and went three points clear at the top of the table. Çaykur Rizespor were relegated to
Bank Asya 1. Lig
The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...
, after their away match loss against
Kayserispor
Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits.
The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fi ...
with a 3–0 score.
Matchday 33
Manisaspor Vestel Manisaspor were relegated to
Bank Asya 1. Lig
The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...
following a home loss against relegated
Kasımpaşa with a 2–1 score. Galatasaray defeated Sivasspor 5–3 at an away match and took a big step to the title. Fenerbahçe defeated Gençlerbirliği 3–2 at home and guaranteed
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
qualification.
Matchday 34
Galatasaray won their 17th championship after defeating Gençlerbirliği OFTAŞ 2–0. Fenerbahçe finished in second position after losing 2–0 to Trabzonspor. Beşiktaş finished in third position, securing a
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
spot, after winning 5–1 against relegated Vestel Manisaspor. Sivasspor won 2–0 against Gençlerbirliği, but could only qualify for
UEFA Intertoto Cup after finishing in fourth, behind Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş, because of a poor head-to-head record against those two teams.
League table
Results
Coaches
Below is the list of coaches who left their teams after the start of the season.
Statistics
Top goalscorers
* ''Last updated on'' 10 May 2008
[Süper Lig Panorama]
/ref>
Top assists
* ''Last updated on'' 21 December 2008
Hat-tricks
Kit and shirt sponsors
Stadiums
*Kasımpaşa temporarily played their first 12 home matches at Atatürk Olympic Stadium
The Atatürk Olympic Stadium ( tr, Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu, ) is a stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Located in the western district of İkitelli, it is the largest-capacity stadium in the country. The stadium is named after Mustafa Kemal Atat ...
, due to ongoing renovations at their home stadium. Her stadium's capacity was extended from 9,576 to 13, 5000 during the renovations.
*Galatasaray temporarily played their first home match at Atatürk Olympic Stadium
The Atatürk Olympic Stadium ( tr, Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu, ) is a stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Located in the western district of İkitelli, it is the largest-capacity stadium in the country. The stadium is named after Mustafa Kemal Atat ...
, due to ongoing renovations at their home stadium.
Teams promoted/relegated
The teams promoted from the TFF First League
The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...
for the 2006–07 season:
* Gençlerbirliği OFTAŞ (1st)
* İstanbul B.B. (2nd)
* Kasımpaşa S.K. (Play-off winner)
The teams relegated to the TFF First League
The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...
for the 2006–07 season:
*Sakaryaspor
Sakaryaspor Kulübü Derneği is a Turkish professional football club, formed in 1965 after the merger of ''Adapazarı Gençlerbirliği'', ''Adapazarı İdman Yurdu'', ''Güneşspor'' and ''Ada Gençlik''. The club is better known as Sakaryaspor ...
(18th)
*Kayseri Erciyesspor
Kayseri Erciyesspor was a Turkish sports club based in Kayseri.
History
In 1965, Orhan Şefik Apak, then president of the Turkish Football Federation, asked cities in Turkey to combine their amateur football clubs into one singular club that wo ...
(17th)
*Antalyaspor
Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and ...
(16th)
2007–08 fixtures
2008 Turkcell Super League Fixture List
weekly Turkish Turkcell Super League Reviews and news by Ahmet Turgut
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:2007-08 Super Lig
Süper Lig seasons
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
1