Sincan Belediyesi Ankaraspor Kulübü, commonly known as Ankaraspor (), is a Turkish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in the country's capital

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. Founded in 1978, the club competes in the

TFF Second League The TFF 2. Lig (), currently referred to as Nesine 2. Lig for sponsorship reasons, 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 continu ...

. The club was known as Osmanlıspor from 2014 to 2020.

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 racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

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 (appro ...

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor 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 thr ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, 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 Encyc ...

oil wrestling Oil wrestling (), also called Turkish oil wrestling, is the national sport of Turkey. Oil wrestling includes oil and traditional dress, and its rules are comparable to karakucak. In Assyria, ancient Egypt, and Babylonia, oil wrestling was perf ...

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

. 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. No league operations for the season from 2010 to 2011 Ankaraspor (A2)B Team for season year for one year until 2010/2011 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 (; or ''Osman Gazi''; died 1323/4) was the eponymous founder of the Ottoman Empire (first known as a bey, beylik or emirate). While initially a small Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman principality during Osman's lifetime, h ...

, founder of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. 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'', also called Persian leopard, Anatolian leopard, and Caucasian leopard in different parts of its range, is a leopard subspecies that was first described in 1856 based on a zoological specimen found in western Anato ...

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

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

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

UEFA Ranking history:

Players

Squad

Out on loan

References

External links

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