Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The

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 ...

side play their home matches at the

Antalya Stadium The Antalya Stadium, officially branded as Corendon Airlines Park for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Antalya, Turkey. It is used mostly for football matches, hosting Turkish Süper Lig club Antalyaspor home matches. It has a c ...

. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and 1986 and finished as runners-up for the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () 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 Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

of 2000 and 2021.

History

Founded in 1966, Antalyaspor initially competed in the lower divisions of the

Turkish football league system The Turkish football system is divided into the following leagues. Men Süper Lig Süper Lig is the highest level in the Turkish football league system and is operated by the TFF. Other professional divisions TFF 1. Lig, is the second ...

before their first promotion to the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

in the 1982–83 season. Their first stint in top-flight football lasted two years before relegation in the 1984–85 season. After brief promotions and relegations, they returned to the

in the 1993–94 season, where they remained until the 2001–02 season. During this period, the club participated in the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

twice and the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

once, notably defeating

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

2–0 in the first leg before losing 6–0 in the second. Antalyaspor returned to the

after finishing second in the 2005–06 1.Lig. Despite relegation in the 2006–07 season, the club was promoted again the following season and achieved their best

finish in the 2009–10 season, ending in ninth place. In the 2014–15 season, Antalyaspor finished fifth and won promotion through the playoffs, defeating Adana Demirspor in the semifinals and

Samsunspor Samsunspor Kulübü, officially known as Samsunspor Football Club Joint Stock Company, or as Reeder Samsunspor due to sponsorship agreements, is a Turkey, Turkish Football club (association football), professional football club that competes in t ...

in the final. The 2015–16 season saw the club make headlines with the signing of Samuel Eto’o, who scored 20 goals, leading Antalyaspor to a ninth-place finish. They achieved their biggest

victory with a 7–0 win over

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

. The 2016–17 season marked their most successful campaign, finishing fifth under

Rıza Çalımbay Rıza Çalımbay (born 2 February 1963) is a Turkish UEFA Pro Licensed football manager and former player who is currently serving as the head coach of Sivasspor. Under his leadership, Sivasspor won the 2021–22 Turkish Cup, the first major tr ...

. Eto’o scored 18 goals, placing third in the league’s top scorer rankings. However, they were eliminated from the

in the third round. In the 2020–21 season, which featured 21 teams, the red-and-white team appointed

Ersun Yanal Kazım Ersun Yanal (, born 17 December 1961) is a Turkish football manager and former player. His style has always been attacking football doubled up with tactics unprecedented in Turkish football. He enjoys a very respectable place amongst Turki ...

as head coach midway through the season and finished 16th in the league. Their greatest achievement that season was reaching the final of the

for the second time in the club’s history. However, they were defeated 2–0 by

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. On 5 January 2022 Antalyaspor also qualified for the 2021 Turkish Super Cup against

, which was held in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, the capital of

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. The match ended 1–1 after regular and extra time, but Antalyaspor lost 4–2 on penalties, failing to secure their first-ever Super Cup title. Under player-coach

Nuri Şahin Nuri Şahin (born 5 September 1988) is a German and Turkish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was most recently head coach of Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. He began his playing career at Dortmun ...

in the 2021–22 season, Antalyaspor achieved their highest points total, 59 points, finishing seventh and setting a league record for an unbeaten streak of 16 matches. They were eliminated in the 2021–22 Turkish Cup quarterfinals by

. In the 2023–24 season, Sergen Yalçın replaced Şahin as head coach, guiding Antalyaspor to a 10th place finish with 49 points. They exited the 2023–24 Turkish Cup in the Round of 16, losing to

. The team also rebranded to Bitexen Antalyaspor after a sponsorship deal with Bitexen.

Colors and Emblem

Colors

The meaning of the club’s colors is explained in the Antalyaspor Club Statute as follows: "The white color represents cleanliness and sincerity. Together with red, it embodies our national colors. It also signifies the love among the people of

." One of the founding teams of Antalyaspor, İlk Işıkspor, was composed of executives from upper-income levels. The İlk Işıkspor group, which also held significant influence in Antalyaspor’s management, insisted on using green and red colors before the meeting to determine the club’s colors. The club’s first president, Atilla Konuk, was in favor of red and white colors. Atilla Konuk preferred red and white because they were also the colors of the Turkey national team and believed these colors would create sympathy for the team during away matches, as they matched the colors of the military. However, he needed to find a way to convince the board of directors of his idea. Konuk noticed that red and white were the most commonly used colors among sports clubs in

at the time. During the meeting, President Konuk argued that instead of adopting the colors of İlk Işıkspor, which appealed to a wealthy elite, the club should choose colors representing all of

. He demonstrated that most clubs in

used red and white, proposing these as the team’s colors. The board of directors supported this proposal, and Antalyaspor’s colors were officially decided as red and white.

Emblem

The club’s emblem consists of a red frame and lines on a white circular background. The letter A in the emblem represents the word "Antalya", while the letter S stands for "sport". In the center of the letters A and S is a red-lined depiction of the Yivli Minaret, one of the city’s symbols. The three white bands on the Yivli Minaret represent the three teams—İlk Işıkspor, Ferrokromspor, and Yenikapı Suspor—that formed Antalyaspor. Below the Yivli Minaret illustration is the year 1966, which marks the establishment of Antalyaspor. The creator of Antalyaspor’s emblem is also its first president, Atilla Konuk, who decided the club’s colors. During the management board discussions about the emblem, suggestions included featuring symbolic structures of the city like

Aspendos Aspendos or Aspendus ( Pamphylian: ΕΣΤϜΕΔΥΣ; Attic: Ἄσπενδος) was an ancient Greco-Roman city in Antalya province of Turkey. The site is located 40 km east of the modern city of Antalya. It was situated on the Eurymedon Ri ...

or Hadrian’s Gate. President Atilla Konuk intervened, stating that the emblem should include a structure left by the Turks, not from Ancient Greece. The first idea that came to mind was the Yivli Minaret, a Seljuk-era structure located in the center of Antalya. Atilla Konuk’s design for an emblem featuring the Yivli Minaret in the center was accepted by the board of directors. Although the emblem has undergone several design changes over the years, its essential elements have remained the same.

Football Stadium

Antalya's first stadium was Antalya Atatürk Stadium which fell into disrepair from 2009 onwards. That forced the team to relocate to Akdeniz University Stadium which holds 7,083 spectators. In 2013 Antalyaspor began construction of

. This stadium, which opened in the summer of 2015, seating 29,307 spectators, is nicknamed ''100. Yıl'' (Centenary), after the major boulevard of the same name, ''100. Yıl Bulvarı", which is located directly south of the stadium.

Honours

* 1. Lig **Winners: 1981–82, 1985–86 **Runners-up: 2005–06, 2007–08 *

**Runners-up: 1999–2000, 2020–21 * Turkish Super Cup **Runners-up:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

League affiliation

: 1982–85, 1986–87, 1994–02, 2006–07, 2008–14, 2015– *

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig (), currently referred to as Trendyol 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 ...

: 1966–82, 1985–86, 1987–94, 2002–06, 2007–08, 2014–15

Statistics

Domestic seasons

European history

UEFA Ranking history:

Players

Current squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

Coaching history

Swimming

National swimmers are: * Sevim Eylül Süpürgeci * Emir Batur Ayyıldız (born 2007)

Water polo

* Turgut Kabaca (born 1972)

References

Citations

External links

*
Antalyaspor
on TFF.org {{Turkish clubs in European football Football clubs in Turkey Association football clubs established in 1966 1966 establishments in Turkey Süper Lig clubs Sports clubs and teams in Antalya