, founder of the club Galatasaray SK was founded in October 1905 (the exact day is disputed, but is traditionally accepted as "30 October 1905" according to the
Gregorian calendar) by
Ali Sami Yen and other students of
Galatasaray High School (a high school in
Istanbul which was established in 1481) as a
football club. Ali Sami Yen became Galatasaray SK's first president and was given the club's membership number "1". The team's first match was against
Cadi-Keuy FC and Galatasaray won this match with a score of 2–0. There were discussions about the club's name, in which some suggested
Gloria (victory) and others
Audace (courage), but it was decided that its name would be Galatasaray. In addition to
Ali Sami Yen (Club member No. 1), who was the driving force behind the club's foundation, Asim Tevfik Sonumut (2),
Emin Bülent Serdaroğlu (3),
Celal İbrahim (4),
Boris Nikolov (5),
Milo Bakić (6),
Pavle Bakić (7),
Bekir Sıtkı Bircan (8), Tahsin Nihat (9), Reşat Şirvanizade (10), Hüseyin Hüsnü (11), Refik Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu (12) and
Abidin Daver (13) were also involved in the decision to organize such a club. The name Galatasaray itself comes from that of Galatasaray High School, which in turn takes its name from Galata Sarayı Enderûn-u Hümâyûn (Galata Palace Imperial School), the name of the original school founded on the site in 1481, and which in turn took its name from the nearby medieval
Genoese citadel of
Galata (the modern quarter of
Karaköy) in the
Beyoğlu (Pera) district of Istanbul. Galatasaray literally means "Galata palace". According to researcher Cem Atabeyoğlu, Galatasaray took its name from one of its first matches. In that match, Galatasaray won 2–0 over a local
Greek club, and the spectators called them "
Galata Sarayı efendileri" (English: "Gentlemen of Galata Palace"), and, after this incident, they adopted that name and started to call their club "Galata Sarayı". In 1905, during the era of the
Ottoman Empire, there were no laws for associations so the club could not be registered officially, but, after the 1912 Law of Association, the club registered legally. Since there weren't any other Turkish teams, Galatasaray joined the Istanbul League that was consisting of English and Greek teams in the season of 1905–1906. With their first championship title they won in 1908–1909, they heralded the beginning of Turkish football history. in 1924 While football in Turkey began to fully develop, Galatasaray won ten more
Istanbul League titles until 1952. Upon the initiation of professional football in 1952, the first professional but non-national league of Turkey,
Istanbul Professional League, was played between 1952 and 1959. Galatasaray won three of these seven titles.
Türkiye Profesyonel 1. Ligi (
Turkish Super League today) formed in 1959. This is the top-flight professional league in Turkish nationwide football, and the most popular sporting competition in the country. Galatasaray joined all seasons and won 25 league titles since then. The Turkish Football Federation began organizing the Turkish Cup in the 1962–63 season for Turkish clubs to qualify for the
UEFA competitions. This is the only national cup competition in Turkey. Galatasaray joined all seasons and won 16 trophies since then. Historically, one of the clubs biggest achievements came in the
1986–1987 season where they won national championships in 15 different sport branches. Another achievement in this period was reaching the semi-final of the
Champions League in the
1988–89 season making Galatasaray the first and only Turkish team to have played a semi-final in this competition. Galatasaray's most successful era came in the late 1990s, when the club become the first and only Turkish football club to win a major UEFA competition with
1999–2000 UEFA Cup. They were aided in this by one of Turkey's best generation of homegrown footballers who went on to finish third in the
2002 FIFA World Cup, after having played in the quarter-finals of
UEFA Euro 2000. Besides the talented local players, the home stadium of
Ali Sami Yen Stadium created a huge advantage, as it was literally dubbed "Hell" by media and the visitors due to the intimidating atmosphere provided by the fans including chants and riots in the crowds. There are many successful footballers who have played for Galatasaray and made their mark on Turkish football history. The team's legendary players include
Nihat Bekdik nicknamed
Aslan (Lion); the 1930s national hero
Eşfak Aykaç; Boduri who died aged 21; Mehmet Leblebi who scored a domestic record of 14 goals in a single match;
Gündüz Kılıç nicknamed
Baba (Father) who was the coach but also the player of his team in the 1950s, with great success in both duties; Bülent-Reha Eken brothers;
Suat Mamat who scored three goals in the
1954 FIFA World Cup;
Coşkun Özarı who devoted his life to Galatasaray;
Turgay Şeren the heroic goalkeeper who was called "the Panther of Berlin" for his national duties;
Fatih Terim, the team captain of Galatasaray and the Turkish national football team for many years, who won the UEFA Cup in 2000 as the Galatasaray's coach;
Metin Oktay the legendary six-time top-scorer of the Turkish Super League;
Hakan Şükür, the player who scored most goals in Süper Lig history with 249;
Zoran Simović, another skilled goalkeeper known for his penalty saves;
Cüneyt Tanman who played a record of 342 games for Galatasaray;
Tanju Çolak, an extraordinary goalscorer and the 1988
European Golden Boot winner with Galatasaray;
Cevad Prekazi, an Albanian specializing in free kicks;
Cláudio Taffarel the
World Cup-winning goalkeeper for
Brazil;
Gheorghe Hagi, the Romanian football hero who is still described by some as the best foreign player ever to play in Turkey; Brazilian striker
Mário Jardel, dubbed "Super Mário" by the fans and scored both of Galatasaray's two goals in the 2000 UEFA Super Cup match against
Real Madrid, along with the man of the match
Okan Buruk who is the current coach.
Name and pronunciation Galatasaray () is a
quarter in
Karaköy in the
Beyoğlu district of
Istanbul, located at the northern shore of the
Golden Horn. Its name comes from that of
Galata, which may in turn have derived from
Galatai (meaning the "
Galatians"), as the
Celtic tribes were thought to have camped at Galata during the Hellenistic period before settling in
Galatia in central
Anatolia.
Galatasaray translates directly as "Galata Palace" (
saray means "palace" in
Turkish).
Galatasaray High School, established in the area in 1481, was the progenitor of Galatasaray S.K. as well as other institutions of
Galatasaray Community.
Galatasaray is a compound word and is pronounced as such, with a very brief pause between the two words. There is no diminutive form of the club's name. Fans refer to the club either by its full name or by its nickname
Cim-Bom(-Bom), pronounced: ). The person who brought this slogan to Turkey was Sabit Cinol. While Cinol was in Switzerland for education, he also played football. Inspired by the slogan of
Servette, the club he played for, Cinol adapted this slogan for Galatasaray, and this adaptation was embraced by the club and the wider community. However, the shortened form "Gala" is sometimes used by English speakers. ==Crest and colours==