Sakaryaspor Kulübü Derneği 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, formed in 1965 after the merger of ''Adapazarı Gençlerbirliği'', ''Adapazarı İdman Yurdu'', ''Güneşspor'' and ''Ada Gençlik''. The club is better known as Sakaryaspor. The football club is nicknamed the "Football Factory" by Turkish football scene because of the many national footballers born and raised in the city.

Sakarya Province Sakarya ( tr, ) is a province in Turkey, located on the coast of Black Sea. The Sakarya River creates a webbing of estuaries in the province, which is in the Marmara Region. The adjacent provinces are Kocaeli to the west, Bilecik to the south ...

has also five national top scorers (

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 ...

Aykut Kocaman Aykut Kocaman (, born 5 April 1965) is a former Turkish footballer, who played as a striker. He is the former manager of İstanbul Başakşehir. Before he made his debut 1980 with the amateur club Kabataş Altınmızrak in Istanbul, Kocaman pe ...

Bülent Uygun Bülent Uygun (born 1 August 1971) is a Turkish football manager and former player. He played as an attacking midfielder after starting his career as a striker, and was the captain of Fenerbahçe. His nickname is ''The Soldier''. Playing career ...

, Aykut Yiğit,

Ogün Altıparmak Ogün Altıparmak (born November 10, 1938 in Adapazarı, Sakarya) is a former Turkish national football player who played for Fenerbahçe S.K. He started his career in 1955 at Karşıyaka S.K. and then transferred to Fenerbahçe SK in 1963 wi ...

) of all time and three of them did carry the Sakaryaspor shirt. Sakaryaspor became

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 ...

champions in 1980–81 and 1986–87. They accomplished this feat again at the end of the 2005–06 season. Sakaryaspor subsequently won a place in the play–off matches. After eliminating

İstanbulspor İstanbulspor is a Turkish football and sports club founded by Istanbul High School students in 1926. In 2004–05 they were relegated from the Turkish Süper Lig (Super League) to TFF 1. Lig. For many decades it was the fourth most famous and ...

in the first play–off match, Sakaryaspor went on to defeat Altay 4–1 in the finals and were promoted to the

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 ...

. They were relegated from the

the following season. Currently the team is playing 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 ...

, which is the third level of

Turkish football Football is the most popular sport in Turkey, followed by basketball, tracing its roots to the Ottoman Empire. The first matches were played in Ottoman Salonica in 1875. The sport was introduced by English residents. The Turkish football league ...

. In 1988 the team won the Turkish Cup, with some of the Turkish football legends like Oğuz Çetin,

, Engin İpekoğlu and

in the squad.

Supporters

Sakaryaspor fans call themselves "Tatangalar", which was founded in 1990 and means "Bisons". The name Tatanga (Tatanka) comes from the movie

Dances with Wolves ''Dances with Wolves'' is a 1990 American epic western film starring, directed, and produced by Kevin Costner in his feature directorial debut. It is a film adaptation of the 1988 novel '' Dances with Wolves'' by Michael Blake that tells the ...

. The word Tatanga (plural Tatangalar) became the nickname of the club over time.

League participations

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities an ...

: 1981–86, 1987–90, 1998–99, 2004–05, 2006–07 *

: 1965–81, 1986–87, 1990–98, 1999–04, 2005–06, 2007–09, 2011–12 *

: 2009–11, 2012–13, 2017– *

TFF Third League TFF 3. Lig (Turkish Football Federation Third League) is the fourth level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in 2001–02 season as a continuation of then third level division Turkish Third Football League.Turkish Third Footba ...

: 2013–17

Achievements

* Second League Category A: **Winners (2): 2004, 2006 * Second League: **Winners (2): 1998, 2011 * Third League: **Winners (1): 2017 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupas� ...

: **Winners (1): 1988

European participations

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

Current squad

External links

Official websiteSakaryaspor on TFF.org
{{Turkish clubs in European football Association football clubs established in 1965 Sport in Adapazarı Football clubs in Turkey 1965 establishments in Turkey Süper Lig clubs