The Gürsel Aksel Sports and Healthy Life Center (), colloquially known as Gürsel Aksel Stadium is a

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 ...

stadium located in Üçkuyular, Göztepe, a neighbourhood in the Konak district of

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, Turkey. The stadium is the home ground of İzmir-based sports club Göztepe S.K. The stadium is commemorated after Gürsel Aksel who served entirely to club during his professional career, officially dubbed as "the great captain" by the club.

History

Göztepe S.K. announced their agreement with TOKI, governmental housing agency of Turkey, for construction of a stadium on 22 February 2017.

Groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

of stadium was 9 September 2017. Stadium is planned to be built total of 12 thousand m². Initial projected capacity of stadium was announced as 20,035. In July 2019, projected capacity was increased up to 25,035. In 2020, the construction cost of the stadium was reported by

Anadolu Agency Anadolu Agency (, ; abbreviated AA) is a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. History The Anadolu Agency was founded in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence by the order of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. As the Empire's capital � ...

as 218,900,000.00

₺ The lira (; Currency sign, sign: Turkish lira sign, ₺; ISO 4217, ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey. It is also legal tender in the ''de facto'' state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. One lira i ...

. The first ever

season ticket A season ticket, or season pass, is a ticket that grants privileges over a defined period of time. History The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' has illustrative quotations which show the term ''season ticket'' used in the United States in 18 ...

s of the stadium were released on 8 November 2019, covering the second half of the

2019–20 Süper Lig The 2019–20 Süper Lig, officially called the Süper Lig Cemil Usta season, was the 62nd season of the Süper Lig, the highest tier football league of Turkey. The season was named after Cemil Usta, a former Turkey national team player and Trabz ...

season. The stadium was opened on 26 January 2020, Monday, at 16:00 local time, at the week 19 game of 2019–20 Süper Lig season, between Göztepe and Beşiktaş J.K. The game ended 2–1 in favour of Göztepe S.K. On 25th minute of the game,

Halil Akbunar Halil Akbunar (born 9 November 1993) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Süper Lig club Eyüpspor and the Turkey national team. Club career Akbunar was promoted to the senior team of Göztepe in January 2012 after ...

scored the first goal ever scored in Gürsel Aksel Stadium. 17,855 spectators attended the opening game.

Turkish Football Federation The Turkish Football Federation (; TFF) is the governing body of association football in Turkey. It was formed on 23 April 1923, and joined FIFA the same year and UEFA in 1962. It organizes the Turkey national football team, the Turkish Foo ...

announced their decision on 14 April 2021, revealing that 2020–21 Turkish Cup Final to take place at Gürsel Aksel Stadium. Played on 18 May 2021 between

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...

and Beşiktaş, the game ended with 0–2 final score, sealing the cup title of Beşiktaş. On 11 June 2023, the stadium hosted the 2023 Turkish Cup final, which was played between Fenerbahçe and İstanbul Başakşehir. Fenerbahçe won the match 2–0.

Facilities

Final layout of Gürsel Aksel Stadium lies on 34.651 m² of building area with a total construction presence of 94.541 m². There is the official sports museum of Göztepe S.K., exhibition halls, food courts and a parking garage located inside and underground of the stadium. On the roof of stadium, there is a 650 metres long walking track built.

Transportation

As of 2020 information, stadium is accessible via

ESHOT Elektrik Su Havagazı Otobüs Troleybüs () or ESHOT is a bus service operating in the İzmir. ESHOT, along with İZULAŞ are the two main bus transit services in İzmir. Buses serve all districts, however, denser network presence attained in the ...

bus service Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. History of buses Origins While there are indications o ...

s with related connections of bus numbers 5, 6, 7, 24, 25 and 480 from

Balçova Balçova is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 16 km2, and its population is 80,721 (2022). It covers the western part of the Greater Metropolitan Area of İzmir. Balçova is a fully urbanized at the rate of 10 ...

Narlıdere Narlıdere is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 50 km2, and its population is 62,923 (2022). It is fully (100%) urbanized. Narlıdere district area follows the southern coastline of the ...

districts and Kavacık and Oyunlar Köyü neighbourhoods, bus number 486 from Oyak Sitesi neighbourhood, bus numbers 17, 650, 671, 690 and 873 from surrounding high ways, bus number 510 from

Gaziemir Gaziemir is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 70 km2, and its population is 137,754 (2022). It is situated to the south of central İzmir ( Konak) on the road into town. İzmir Adnan Menderes International ...

district, bus number 202 from

Adnan Menderes Airport Adnan () is traditionally regarded as the patriarch of the Adnanite Arabs, a major Arab lineage that historically inhabited Northern, Western, Eastern, and Central Arabia. The Adnanites are distinct from the Qahtanite Arabs of Southern Arabia ...

References

External links

Göztepe S.K. website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gursel Aksel Stadium 2020 establishments in Turkey Sports venues in İzmir Football venues in Turkey Multi-purpose stadiums in Turkey Sports venues completed in 2020 Konak District