The Ankara Football League ( tr, Ankara Futbol Ligi) was founded as a regional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
league for
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
based clubs in 1922. In the period from 1924 to 1935, the winners of the Ankara League qualified for the former
Turkish Football Championship
The Turkish Football Championship ( tr, Türkiye Futbol Şampiyonası) was a top-level football competition in Turkey. It was the first nationwide championship in Turkish football history. The championship was organised by the Turkish Football Fed ...
. In 1937 the first
national league
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
in Turkish football was introduced. The top two placed teams of the Ankara League qualified for the National Division, which took place after the conclusion of the regional leagues each season. After the introduction of professionalism the name of the league became Ankara Professional Football League in the 1955–56 season.
Following the introduction of the
professional nationwide league in 1959, the league lost its first level status.
Gençlerbirliği hold the record with ten championship titles.
Participated teams
The following teams participated in the league regularly for at least a few years:
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Gençlerbirliği
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Ankara Demirspor
Ankara Demirspor is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Ankara. They compete in the TFF Second League. They were one of the Süper Lig, Super League's founding members in 1959. By winning the former Turkish Footbal ...
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Ankaragücü (formerly Anadolu Turan San'atkârangücü and İmalât-ı Harbiye)
*
Muhafızgücü
Muhafızgücü SK were a Turkish sports club based in Ankara, Turkey. The club was founded in Ankara after order by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on July 18, 1920. The club was founded under the name ''Muhafız Alayı'' by Mülazım İsmail Hakkı Bey a ...
*
Harp Okulu (formerly Harbiye İdman Yurdu)
* Ankara İdman Yurdu
* Çankaya
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Hacettepe
* Kırıkkalegücü
* Kırıkkale Birlikspor
* Maskespor
* Uçaksavar
* Güneşspor
* Ankara Galatasaray
* Havagücü
* Hilâl
* Yolspor
* Maltepe
* Güvençspor
Champions
Source:
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1 Due to a conflict among civilian and military clubs, there were two leagues played in the 1954–55 season, one for civilian and one for military clubs. Hacettepe and Karagücü won their respective groups. The official Ankara champions would have been decided in a championship play-off. However, the civilian side refused to play the championship final and there was no official champion declared.
Performance by club
External links
Ankara League final tables
References
Sources
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{{Football in Turkey
Defunct football leagues in Turkey
Sport in Ankara
1922 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
Sports leagues established in 1922
1959 disestablishments in Turkey