Ankaraspor Kulübü (), formerly known as Osmanlıspor (), is a Turkish professional

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 ...

club based in the country's capital

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 ...

. Founded in 1978, the club competes in the

TFF Second League TFF 2. Lig (Turkish Football Federation Second League), is the third level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in the 2001–02 season with the name of ''Turkish Second League Category B'' as a continuation of the then second lev ...

History

Ankaraspor was founded as "Ankara Belediye Spor Kulübü" (Ankara Municipality Sport Club) in 1978. The club has undergone several name changes throughout its history. In 1984, they were renamed "Ankara Büyükşehir Belediye Spor Kulübü" (adding "Metropolitan" to the name). The name was simply switched to "Büyükşehir Belediye Ankaraspor Kulübü" in 1998. "Büyükşehir Belediye Ankaraspor Kulübü" has many sub-divisions branching from its main football division. These include

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

oil wrestling Oil wrestling ( tr, Yağlı güreş), also called grease wrestling, is a traditional Turkish sport, where participants, called ''pehlivan'' (wrestlers) or ''baspehlivan'' (master wrestlers), wrestle while covered in oil. Competitions are held in ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. Finally, in 2005, the football club changed its name to "Ankaraspor A.Ş." and only focused on football, while "Büyükşehir Belediye Ankaraspor Kulübü" continued its activity on branches other than football. On 15 September 2009, Ankaraspor was demoted from the Turkish Super League by The Professional Football Disciplinary Committee (PFDK) over its unsportsmanlike relationship with Ankaragücü, which was deemed contrary to sporting competitiveness. All Ankaraspor games in the 2009–10 season were cancelled and awarded 3–0 to Ankaraspor's opponents by default. Ankaraspor was expelled from the Turkish leagues by TFF on 4 August 2010 due to being sued by TFF for objecting to forced relegation in 2009–10. In the 2013–14 season, they were readmitted to TFF First League. In the 2014–15 season, they were champions of the division, resulting in their promotion to the Süper Lig. On 29 June 2014, the club adopted the name "Osmanlıspor", which refers to

Osman I Osman I or Osman Ghazi ( ota, عثمان غازى, translit= ʿOsmān Ġāzī; tr, I. Osman or ''Osman Gazi''; died 1323/4), sometimes transliterated archaically as Othman, was the founder of the Ottoman Empire (first known as the Ottoman Bey ...

, founder of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. On 8 September 2020, Osmanlıspor was renamed Ankaraspor, their former name.

Club badge and colours

Ankaraspor's home colours are blue and white. The previous badge consisted of a blue and white colored shield, which bore the name and the foundation year of the club. The shield featured a view of an

Anatolian leopard ''Panthera pardus tulliana'' is a leopard subspecies native to the Iranian Plateau and surrounding areas encompassing Turkey, the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan. Since 2016, i ...

with some hexagon panels of a football in its head and chest. This animal, which lived in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

and especially near

for a period of time, symbolized the power and dignity of the club.

Stadium

Ankaraspor play their home matches at Yenikent Stadium which was opened in 1974 and renovated in 2008.

European participations

Players

Squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

References

External links

Official websiteAnkaraspor on TFF.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ankaraspor Association football clubs established in 1978 Football clubs in Ankara 1978 establishments in Turkey Süper Lig clubs