Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü (pronounced ), commonly known as Gençlerbirliği, is a Turkish

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in

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 ...

. Formed in 1923, Gençlerbirliği are nicknamed ''Ankara Rüzgârı'' (The Wind of Ankara) or simply ''Gençler'' (The Youth). The club colours are black and red. The football team currently plays its home matches at Eryaman Stadium, following the closure of the Ankara 19 Mayıs. Domestically, the club have won the

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� ...

twice, in 1987 and 2001. They have also won 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 ...

twice and the regional

Ankara Football League The Ankara Football League ( tr, Ankara Futbol Ligi) was founded as a regional football league for Ankara based clubs in 1922. In the period from 1924 to 1935, the winners of the Ankara League qualified for the former Turkish Football Championship ...

a record nine times. In Europe, Gençlerbirliği's greatest success came in 2004. The club reached the fourth round of the

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 ...

before losing to eventual champions

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

History

Gençlerbirliği were founded in a slightly different way compared to many other football clubs, having been established by students from a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, ''Ankara Erkek Lisesi'' (Sultani Mektebi). The students in question (Ramiz Eren, Mennan İz, Mazhar Atacanlı, Sait, Kenan, Nuri, Namık Katoğlu, Namık Ambarcıoğlu, Rıdvan Kırmacı, Hafi Araç, Ruhi, Sarı Ziya and Hakkı) had failed to be selected for their own school team, and asked one of their student friends, Asim, to talk with his father about setting up a football team for them to show how well they could play. On 14 March 1923, Asim's father, the member of parliament from

Muş Province Muş Province ( tr, Muş ili, Armenian: Մուշի մարզ, ku, Parêzgeha Mûşê) is a province in eastern Turkey. It is 8,196 km2 in area and has a population of 406,886 according to a 2010 estimate, down from 453,654 in 2000. The provi ...

, established the team for his son and his friends. Since all the members of the team were students he chose the name 'Youth Union' (Turkish: Gençlerbirliği). They elected Sarı Ziya's father Faik Bey as their first chairman. Subsequently, these young students wanted to play against the school team which had not selected them. Gençlerbirliği won the game, played at "Hamit tarlası", 3–0. According to these young rebellious players this victory forged the identity of their new team. They won the regional

a record nine times between 1923 and 1959, when the league had first level status before the introduction of a nationwide league. Their greatest success domestically were the victories in the former

, when they became Turkish champions in 1941 and 1946. Gençler entered the Turkish National League in 1959 and played 12 seasons until relegation in the 1969–70 season. They played in the second level until relegation to third level in the 1978–79 season. The club came back to second level after the merger of the third level with second level, at the end of the 1979–80 season. They finished second from last in Group A of the Second League, and had to relegate to the regional league. But, since the number of teams in the second division was increased, Gençlerbirliği were readmitted. The club won Group D in the 1982–83 season and finally returned to the top-flight after 13 years. They relegated again in 1987–88 season. Finally, Gençlerbirliği returned to the top-flight in the 1988–89 season, in their first return attempt. Gençlerbirliği's most successful seasons in the Süper Lig are 1965–66 and 2002–03, when they reached the third place. At the end of the 2017–18 season Gençler only reached the 17th place and as a result the club relegated to the second tier

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 ...

Colors

There are two rumors about how Gençlerbirliği got their team colors, black and red: * The young students went to a local haberdashers and the only available colors were black and red. They purchased these colors to sew their own kit

* The outskirts of

during spring time see plenty of

poppy A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, '' Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug o ...

flowers (''Gelincik'') blooming and Gençlerbirliği selected the red and black of this flower for their colors. Gençlerbirliği merchandise in their store is usually called Gelincik by their supporters.

Rivalry

Gençlerbirliği's arch-rival are the neighbouring club Ankaragücü and games between the clubs are considered as the "Derby of the Capital".

Youth academy and scouting

Gençlerbirliği have always been one of the teams in Turkey most notable for their talented young footballers that they procure through scouting both in Turkey and throughout Europe and Africa. For example, Geremi was scouted and raised by the club, transferred to Real Madrid and later

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 ...

. Another of Gençlerbirliği's young stars Isaac Promise received the 2005–06 Super League Individual Youth player of the Year award.Genclerbirligi team profile
turkish-football.com (English) accessed 27 January 2012 Gençlerbirliği's state-of-the-art youth academy is located in Beştepe,

with of training facilities (Beştepe İlhan Cavcav Tesisleri). Gençlerbirliği had been run by

İlhan Cavcav İlhan Cavcav (4 October 1935 – 22 January 2017) was the chairman of Turkish club Gençlerbirliği in Ankara, Turkey for almost 40 years until his death. He was known for his hard negotiation tactics with the big clubs in Turkey and scouting ab ...

from 1978 until his death in 2017. With Cavcav's help, Gençlerbirliği have become one of the more stable clubs in Turkey. This has been achieved mainly through the departure of the most talented players every season to the other clubs in Turkey. Departing players are usually replaced with much cheaper imports from Turkey, Europe or Africa.

Honours

Domestic competitions

: Winners (2): 1941, 1946 : ''Runners-up (1):''

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

: Winners (2): 1982-83, 1988-89 : ''Runners-up (1):'' 2018-19 *

: Winners (2): 1986–87, 2000–01 : ''Runners-up (3):'' 2002–03, 2003–04, 2007–08 *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known ...

: ''Runners-up (1):'' 1987 *

Prime Minister's Cup The Prime Minister's Cup ( tr, Başbakanlık Kupası) was a association football, football competition organised by the Turkish Football Federation in Turkey. It began in 1944 and continued until 1950 as a unique kind of super cup competition bet ...

: ''Runners-up (1):'' 1946

Regional competitions

: Winners (10) (record): 1929-30, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1934-35, 1939-40, 1940-41, 1945-46, 1949-50, 1950-51 : ''Runners-up (7):'' 1926, 1926–27, 1929, 1934, 1936–37, 1942–43, 1947–48 *Ankara Shield : Winners (3) : 1931, 1935, 1940-41

Others

TSYD Cup The TSYD Cup ( tr, Türk Spor Yazarları Derneği Kupası, Turkish Sports Writers Association Cup) was a friendly football competition in Turkey. The tournament started in 1963. It was played throughout six regions in Turkey: Adana, Ankara, Istanbu ...

: Winners (16): 1969, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2021

European participations

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Balkans Cup

UEFA Ranking history

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Most capped players

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - ! !Player !Caps !Period , - , 1 , align="left", Tevfik Kutlay , 353 , 1959–72 , - , 2 , align="left", Selçuk Çakmaklı , 336 , 1959–72 , - , 3 , align="left", Avni Okumuş , 317 , 1983–93 , - , 4 , align="left", Zeynel Soyuer , 291 , 1959–71 , - , 5 , align="left", Nihat Baştürk , 279 , 1994–2005 , - , 6 , align="left", Metin Diyadin , 265 , 1988–98 , - , 7 , align="left", Orhan Yüksel , 235 , 1959–66 , - , 8 , align="left",

Mehmet Şimşek Mehmet Şimşek (born 1 January 1967) is a Turkish politician and economist who served as a Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey from 24 November 2015 until the office's abolition on 9 July 2018. He previously served as the Minister of Finance from 2 ...

, 228 , 1993–2001 , - , 9 , align="left", İhsan Temen , 219 , 1959-66 , - , 10 , align="left", Okan Gedikali , 207 , 1982–91

Top goalscorers

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - ! !Player !Goals (Caps) !Period , - , 1 , style="text-align:left;", Andre Kona N'Gole , 72 (145) , 1993–2001 , - , 2 , style="text-align:left;", Avni Okumuş , 71 (317) , 1983–1993 , - , 3 , style="text-align:left;", Orhan Yüksel , 67 (235) , 1959–1966 , - , 4 , style="text-align:left;", Ümit Karan , 59 (150) , 1996–2001 , - , 5 , style="text-align:left;",

Souleymane Youla Souleymane Youla (born 29 November 1981) is a Guinean football player. He has Turkish citizenship with the name Süleyman Yula. Career Club Youla's professional career started in Belgium in 1999, when Lokeren signed him to replace the departed ...

, 57 (134) , 2001–2005 , - , 6 , style="text-align:left;", Bogdan Stancu , 55 (139) , 2013-2020 , - , 7 , style="text-align:left;", Abdullah Çevrim , 50 (154) , 1961–1966 , - , 8 , style="text-align:left;", Zeynel Soyuer , 47 (291) , 1959–1971 , - , 9 , style="text-align:left;", Tevfik Kutlay , 46 (353) , 1959–1972 , - , 10 , style="text-align:left;", Muammer Nurlu , 44 (152) , 1983–1989 , -

Former players

*''See :Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers''

Coaches

* Yüksel Doğanay (1960–70) * Oktay Arıca (1970–71) * Kazım Türesin (1971–72) * Yüksel Doğanay (1972–73) * Fehmi Baştüzel (1973–74) * Tevfik Kutlay (1975) * Avni Bulduk (1975) * Fehmi Baştüzel (1975–76) * Avni Bulduk (1976) * Oktay Arıca (1976–77) * Ruhi Yavuz (1977–78) * Fehmi Baştüzel (1978–81) * Mümtaz Tümer (1981) * Fehmi Baştüzel (1981) * Enver Ürekli (1981) * Ergun Berksoy (1981–95) * Teoman Yamanlar (1981–82) * Kadri Aytaç (1982–83) *

Tınaz Tırpan Tınaz Tırpan (born 28 April 1939 in Turkey) is a former coach of the Turkey national football team, Kayserispor and Fenerbahçe SK. Tırpan was appointed as Turkey coach in 1988, succeeding Mustafa Denizli. Under him, the Turks came very close ...

(30 June 1983 – 31 May 1985) * Erkan Kural (1985–86) *

Metin Türel Metin Türel (13 September 1937 – 17 November 2018) was a Turkish football coach. Türel coached many teams in Turkey, he also coached the Turkey national football team from 1977 to 1978. He started his professional career with Galatasaray SK a ...

(1986–87) * Hüsnü Macurni (1987) *

(30 June 1987 – 31 May 1988) * Kadri Aytaç (1988) * İbrahim Aydın (1988) * Teoman Yamanlar (1988) * Erkan Kural (1988–89) * Gündüz Tekin Onay (1989–90) *

(1990) * Jozef Jarabinský (1 July 1990 – 30 June 1991) * Aldoğan Argon (1991–92) * Battal Tokyay (1992) * Valeri Nepomniachi (1 July 1992 – 30 June 1993) * Gurban Berdyýew (1993–94) * Augusto Palacios (1994) * Zafer Göncüler (1994–95) *

(1995) * Georges Heylens (1995–96) *

(1996) * Sadi Tekelioğlu (1996–97) * Teoman Yamanlar (1997) *

Luka Peruzović Luka Peruzović (born 26 February 1952) is a Croatian football coach and former player, who managed Belgium's Standard Liège, Charleroi and Anderlecht and Qatar's Al Sadd. He also holds a Belgian citizenship. Club career As a player, Peruzovi� ...

(1 July 1997 – 21 Oct 1997) * Yılmaz Vural (19 Nov 1997 – 30 June 1998) * Karol Pecze (1998–00) * Samet Aybaba (6 Jan 2000 – 11 April 2001) * Hasan Gül (2001) * Walter Meeuws (1 July 2001 – 10 Nov 2001) *

Erdoğan Arıca Erdoğan Arıca (24 July 1954 – 10 April 2012) was a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish football manager and coach. As a footballer, he played defender. He was also the brother of the singer Soner Arıca and the nephew of Kadir İnanır. Career Arıc ...

(2001–30 June 2002) *

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 ...

(1 July 2002 – 30 June 2004) *

(2004) * Oğuz Çetin (1 Oct 2004 – 23 Dec 2004) *

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 ...

(1 Jan 2005 – 31 Aug 2005) *

Mesut Bakkal Mesut Bakkal (born 19 March 1964) is a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish professional football manager and former midfielder. He played for Denizlispor, and later was manager of Ankaragücü, Denizlispor, Gaziantepspor, Gençlerbirliği S.K., Karabük ...

(Sept 1, 2005 – 30 June 2007) *

Fuat Çapa Fuat Çapa (born 15 August 1968) is a Turkish football manager. Career Çapa coached in Belgium before moving on to Turkey. His career in Belgium spanned four years as he held positions with K.V. Turnhout, K. Patro Maasmechelen, K. Beringen-Heu ...

(1 July 2007 – 19 Sep 2007) * Reinhard Stumpf (31 Aug 2007 – 29 Oct 2007) *

Bülent Korkmaz Bülent Korkmaz (born 24 November 1968), colloquially known by his given nicknames "Büyük Kaptan" () and "Cengaver" (), is a Turkish former professional footballer and current manager of TFF First League club Çaykur Rizespor. Korkmaz was a ...

(29 Oct 2007 – 29 Jan 2008) *

(29 Jan 2008 – 3 Nov 2008) * Samet Aybaba (6 Nov 2008 – 31 May 2009) * Thomas Doll (1 July 2009 – 17 Oct 2010) * Ralf Zumdick (18 Oct 2010 – 26 Apr 2011) * Giray Bulak (26 May 2011 – 8 June 2011) *

(11 Jun 2011 – 20 May 2013) * Metin Diyadin (14 Jun 2013 – 20 Oct 2013) *

Mehmet Özdilek Mehmet "Şifo" Özdilek (born 1 April 1966, in Samsun) is a Turkish football manager and former player. He is nicknamed "Şifo" after Belgian star Enzo Scifo with whom he shared a similar playing style. Having spent most of his professional ca ...

(22 Oct 2013 – 26 May 2014) * Kemal Özdeş (28 May 2014 – 10 Jul 2014) * Mustafa Kaplan (10 Jul 2014 – 15 Sep 2014) * Osman Nuri Işılar (15 Sep 2014 – 23 Sep 2014) * İrfan Buz (23 Sep 2014 – 16 Feb 2015) *

(17 Feb 2015 – 25 May 2015) * Mustafa Kaplan (25 May 2015 – 9 Jun 2015) * Stuart Baxter (9 Jun 2015 – 24 Aug 2015) *

(1 Sep 2015 – 13 Dec 2015) * Yılmaz Vural (24 Dec 2015 – 29 Dec 2015) * İbrahim Üzülmez (31 Dec 2015 – 7 Nov 2016) * Ümit Özat (8 Nov 2016 – 30 Aug 2016) *

(30 Aug 2017 – 20 Nov 2017) * Ümit Özat (20 Nov 2017 – 15 May 2018) * Sezai Yıldırım (15 May 2018 – 23 May 2018) * Erkan Sözeri (23 May 2018 – 5 Mar 2019) * İbrahim Üzülmez (5 Mar 2019 – 30 May 2019) * Mustafa Kaplan (18 Jun 2019 – 29 Oct 2019) * Hamza Hamzaoğlu (31 Oct 2019 – 29 July 2020) * Mert Nobre (3 Aug 2020 – 10 Nov 2020) * Mustafa Kaplan (14 Nov 2020 – 1 Feb 2021) * Mehmet Altıparmak (1 Feb 2021 - 8 Mar 2021) * Özcan Bizati (12 Mar 2021 - 31 May 2021) * Metin Diyadin (30 Jul 2021 - 12 Sep 2022) * Taşkın Aksoy (27 Sep 2022 - 1 Nov 2022) * Mustafa Dalcı (15 Nov 2022 - )

Presidents

{, , width="10", , valign="top", {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" , - !rowspan="1", Name !rowspan="1", Years , - , align=left, Münif Kemal Ak , align=left, 1923–36 , - , align=left, Saffet Gürol , align=left, 1936–43 , - , align=left, Namık Ambarlıoğlu , align=left, 1943–44 , - , align=left, Fevzi Magat , align=left, 1944–46 , - , align=left, Namık Katoğlu , align=left, 1947–48 , - , align=left, Yusuf Bahri , align=left, 1948–49 , - , align=left, Orhan Şeref Apak , align=left, 1949–50 , - , align=left, Reşat Taşer , align=left, 1950–52 , - , width="30", , valign="top", {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" , - !rowspan="1", Name !rowspan="1", Years , - , align=left, Nuri Togay , align=left, 1952–55 , - , align=left, Mümtaz Tarhan , align=left, 1955–57 , - , align=left, Ahmet Salih Korur , align=left, 1957–58 , - , align=left, Orhan Şeref Apak , align=left, 1958–61 , - , align=left, Turhan Ogan , align=left, 1961–63 , - , align=left, İbrahim Sıtkı Hatipoğlu , align=left, 1964–65 , - , align=left, Muslihittin Yılmaz Mete , align=left, 1965–66 , - , align=left,

İsmet Sezgin İsmet Sezgin (6 January 1928 – 7 December 2016) was a Turkish politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and Minister of National Defense from 1997 to 1999, as the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly in 1995, as the Mini ...

, align=left, 1966–67 , - , width="30", , valign="top", {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" , - !rowspan="1", Name !rowspan="1", Years , - , align=left, Hadi Özbay , align=left, 1967–68 , - , align=left, Necip Türegen , align=left, 1968–69 , - , align=left, Mehmet Ali Tuzcuoğlu , align=left, 1969–70 , - , align=left, Adil Evrensel , align=left, 1970–72 , - , align=left, Sezai Diblan , align=left, 1972–74 , - , align=left, Hasan Şengel , align=left, 1976–77 , - , align=left,

, align=left, 1977–2017 , - , align=left, Murat Cavcav , align=left, 2017–2021 , - , align=left, Niyazi Akdaş , align=left, 2021–

References

External links

Official websiteGençlerbirliği on TFF.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genclerbirligi S.K. Association football clubs established in 1923 Football clubs in Turkey 1923 establishments in Turkey Yenimahalle, Ankara Süper Lig clubs Sports teams in Ankara