Galatasaray
The club
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü were founded on 1 October 1905 by Ali Sami Yen and students of Galatasaray High School in Istanbul. The club have worn red and yellow in a split design since 1908, and the president is Dursun Özbek. Galatasaray is a large multi-sport club — basketball and volleyball sections turn up under the same name — and this dossier concerns the football team. They are not to be confused with the other two Istanbul giants: Fenerbahçe, the opponent in the Intercontinental Derby (Kıtalar Arası Derbi), and Beşiktaş are Galatasaray's fiercest rivals, not the same club.
The ground is Rams Park, opened on 15 January 2011, with a capacity of 53,387 seats. Its roof carries 10,404 solar panels, a Guinness World Record for stadium solar output. The stadium has previously been known as the Nef Stadium, the name under which the current head coach's signing ceremony was held in 2022.
The head coach is Okan Buruk, a former Galatasaray player, whose appointment was announced on 23 June 2022 on a two-year deal, with the signing ceremony held on 24 June 2022 at the Nef Stadium. He signed a new two-year contract on 7 June 2024 and has now won four consecutive league titles.
Recent seasons
In 2023/24 Galatasaray retained the title with 102 points from 38 matches, 33 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats — the first 100-point season in Süper Lig history, sealed with a win over Konyaspor, along with records for most wins in a season and a 17-match winning streak; Fenerbahçe were second on 93. In 2024/25 they won again with 95 points from 30 wins, 5 draws and a single defeat, 91 goals scored and 31 conceded, clinching the 25th title with a 3-0 win over Kayserispor and becoming the first Turkish club to wear a fifth star on the badge; Fenerbahçe were second on 84 and Victor Osimhen was the league's top scorer with 26 goals. In 2025/26 they made it four in a row, the record 26th championship, clinched with a 4-2 home win over Antalyaspor at Rams Park on 9 May 2026 with a match to spare — Mario Lemina, an Osimhen penalty and second goal, and Kaan Ayhan in stoppage time. Reports of the clinching day had them on 77 points at matchday 33; the final points total was not established from the sources read here. The league's top scorers that season were Paul Onuachu and Eldor Shomurodov with 22 goals each, while Osimhen was Galatasaray's best with 15 in the league and 22 in all competitions. Antalyaspor, Kayserispor and Fatih Karagümrük went down.
Honours and landmarks
Twenty-six Süper Lig titles, the most in Turkish football, along with 19 Turkish Cups and 17 Turkish Super Cups. Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup in 1999/2000 and the UEFA Super Cup in 2000, and remain the only Turkish club to have won a major UEFA competition. The 2023/24 side's 102 points made them the first Süper Lig club to reach three figures, and the 2024/25 title brought the fifth star. The club lost the 2025 Turkish Super Cup final and reached the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 Turkish Cup.
Notable scorelines
The biggest win over Fenerbahçe in the derby is 7-0, on 12 February 1911, and the largest victory over Beşiktaş is 9-2, on 30 June 1940. In the 2025/26 Champions League knockout phase play-off Galatasaray beat Juventus 5-2 at home, becoming the first Turkish club to score five goals in a Champions League match. The heaviest recent European defeat read here is 4-0 away to Liverpool on 18 March 2026. The club's all-time record win and record defeat across all competitions were not established from the sources read here.
European record
The peak came in 1999/2000 under Fatih Terim, when Galatasaray beat Arsenal in the UEFA Cup final at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on 17 May 2000, 0-0 after extra time and 4-1 on penalties with Cláudio Taffarel in goal — the first European trophy won by a Turkish club, with Gheorghe Hagi in the side. The UEFA Super Cup followed later in 2000.
In 2025/26 Galatasaray reached the Champions League round of sixteen. They came through the knockout phase play-off against Juventus 7-5 on aggregate, winning 5-2 at home and losing the return 3-2 after extra time, then beat Liverpool 1-0 at home on 10 March 2026 before losing 4-0 at Anfield on 18 March and going out. Osimhen's 13 European goals across the campaign made him the foreign player with the most European competition goals in the club's history.
Quotes
No directly quoted material was confirmed from the sources read here.
Right now (2026-27)
Okan Buruk remains head coach, in the job since June 2022 and under the contract extended on 7 June 2024. Galatasaray sit top of the Süper Lig table in the early running as four-time defending champions. They drew 2-2 with Çorum FK on 14 August 2026, won 4-0 away at Erzurumspor FK on 21 August — the biggest away win of the young league season — and beat Göztepe 3-2 at Rams Park on 29 August in front of 49,218, the club's highest home attendance of the season so far. A match against İstanbul Başakşehir was scheduled for 4 September, with Kocaelispor on 13 September and Trabzonspor on 19 September to follow; results of those were not established from the sources read here. Victor Osimhen has 6 goals in all competitions.
They are in the Champions League league phase, with the squad list submitted to UEFA on 3 September 2026 and no matches yet played. The draw gave them Sporting Clube de Portugal away, Barcelona at home, Lille away, Stuttgart at home, Aston Villa at home, AEK Athens away, Feyenoord at home and Paris away.
The summer's business was heavy: Rafael Leão arrived from AC Milan for 38 million euros plus add-ons on 29 August 2026, Aleksey Batrakov from Lokomotiv Moscow for 25 million euros plus add-ons on 20 August, and Deniz Gül from Porto for 10 million euros plus add-ons on 1 September, with Lesley Ugochukwu on loan from Burnley and El Chadaille Bitshiabu on loan from RB Leipzig; Nicolò Zaniolo left for Udinese for 5 million euros on 15 June. The previous summer's record signing, Victor Osimhen, had joined permanently from Napoli for 75 million euros, the largest transfer fee in Turkish football, alongside free transfers İlkay Gündoğan and Leroy Sané.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatasaray_S.K._(football) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023%E2%80%9324_S%C3%BCper_Lig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024%E2%80%9325_S%C3%BCper_Lig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_S%C3%BCper_Lig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Galatasaray_S.K._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Galatasaray_S.K._season https://www.aa.com.tr/en/sports/galatasaray-hire-okan-buruk-as-their-new-head-coach/2620877 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_UEFA_Cup_final https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/clubs/50067--galatasaray/ https://www.turkiyetoday.com/sports/galatasaray-wins-record-26th-turkish-title-after-4-2-win-over-antalyaspor-3219676 https://www.panafricafootball.com/post/victor-osimhen-lemina-galatasaray/ https://www.dailysabah.com/sports/football/osimhen-retains-galatasarays-top-scorer-crown-in-super-lig
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.