İstanbul Başakşehir FK
Also written as Basaksehir.
The club
İstanbul Başakşehir began in 1990 as İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor, a municipal club created under mayor Nurettin Sözen by bringing together the amateur sides of the transport authority İETT, the fire service club İtfaiyespor and the water authority club İSKİ. As İstanbul BB the club climbed the Turkish pyramid, reached the top flight in 2007 and lost the 2010/11 Turkish Cup final to Beşiktaş on penalties after a 2-2 draw. After relegation in 2013 the club won the second tier in 2014 and, on 4 June 2014, was reconstituted as the professional İstanbul Başakşehir Futbol Kulübü, separate from municipal ownership. From 2015 to 2023 the club carried the sponsor name Medipol Başakşehir, and since 2023 it has carried the sponsor name Rams Başakşehir; readers will also see the plain İstanbul Başakşehir FK used across that period and today. These are all the same club under different sponsor branding, not separate entities, which is worth flagging because older match reports and honours lists can use any of the names for the same result.
The home ground is the Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium, opened on 26 July 2014 with a capacity given as 17,319 in some sources and 17,067 in others; before it opened the club had played its top-flight home games at the much larger Atatürk Olympic Stadium, which left the ground looking empty for a club of Başakşehir's crowds. The club's colours are orange and navy blue, a deliberate break from the colours of Istanbul's other major clubs. The head coach is Nuri Şahin, the former Borussia Dortmund and Turkey international, appointed in 2025.
Recent seasons
Başakşehir finished fifth in the Süper Lig in both of the last two completed seasons: in 2024/25 with 54 points from 36 matches, 16 wins, 6 draws and 14 defeats, 60 goals scored and 56 conceded, and in 2025/26 with 57 points from 34 matches, 16 wins, 9 draws and 9 defeats, 58 scored and 35 conceded. In 2023/24 they finished fourth with 61 points, and in 2022/23 fifth with 62 points. Galatasaray won the 2025/26 title with 77 points and Fenerbahçe were runners-up on 74, with Başakşehir's fifth place enough to send them into the 2026/27 Conference League.
Honours and landmarks
Başakşehir's only Süper Lig title came in 2019/20, won under coach Okan Buruk with 69 points, four clear of runners-up Trabzonspor; they had also finished runners-up in 2016/17 and 2018/19. They have never won the Turkish Cup, losing three finals: to Beşiktaş on penalties in 2010/11 as İstanbul BB, and as Başakşehir in 2016/17 and 2022/23.
Notable scorelines
In the 2019/20 Europa League round of 32, Başakşehir beat Sporting CP 5-4 on aggregate, winning the home leg 4-1 after extra time before losing 1-3 away. In the 2020/21 Champions League group stage they beat Manchester United 2-1 at home, one of the results of that campaign, before losing 1-5 away to Paris Saint-Germain in a match that had originally been abandoned and resumed the following day. In the 2022/23 Conference League round of 16 they were eliminated by Gent, losing 2-5 on aggregate. In the 2024/25 Conference League league phase they beat Celje 5-1 away in Slovenia. The club's all-time record win and record defeat in all competitions were not established from the sources read here.
European record
Başakşehir's European history goes back to the 2015/16 season, when as Medipol Başakşehir they lost to AZ Alkmaar 1-4 on aggregate in the Europa League third qualifying round. In 2016/17 they beat Rijeka on away goals before losing 1-4 on aggregate to Shakhtar Donetsk in the play-off round. Their best season for continental football came either side of that: in 2017/18 they beat Club Brugge 5-3 to reach the Champions League play-off, lost 3-4 to Sevilla there, and dropped into the Europa League group stage, finishing third in Group C. In 2019/20 they won a Europa League group containing Roma and Borussia Mönchengladbach, beat Sporting CP 5-4 on aggregate in the round of 32, then lost 1-3 to Copenhagen in the round of 16. In 2020/21 they reached the Champions League group stage itself, drawn with Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and RB Leipzig, and finished fourth despite beating United at home. In 2022/23 they won a Conference League group ahead of Fiorentina and Hearts before losing to Gent in the round of 16. In 2024/25, in the reformatted Conference League league phase, they finished 26th of 36 after results that included a 1-5 defeat away to Celje, a 1-2 defeat to Rapid Wien, and draws with Copenhagen and Petrocub.
Head-to-head notes
Copenhagen are the one side Başakşehir have met twice in Europe: beaten 1-3 in the 2019/20 Europa League round of 16, then held 2-2 in the 2024/25 Conference League league phase. No other opponent recurs across the seasons read here, and no published all-time domestic head-to-head record against a specific Süper Lig rival was established from the sources read here.
Right now (2026/27)
Nuri Şahin remains head coach. Başakşehir entered the 2026/27 Conference League at the second qualifying round, having finished fifth in the 2025/26 Süper Lig, and were knocked out at the first attempt by FC Inter Turku of Finland. The first leg in Istanbul on 22 July 2026 finished 1-1, Clinton Jephta putting Inter ahead after 16 minutes and Emin Bayram equalising for Başakşehir early in the second half. The return leg in Turku on 30 July 2026 was won 2-0 by Inter Turku, sending the Finnish side through 3-1 on aggregate and eliminating the Süper Lig club from Europe for the season. Başakşehir's 2026/27 Süper Lig results and any summer transfer business were not established from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0stanbul_Ba%C5%9Fak%C5%9Fehir_FK https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0stanbul_Ba%C5%9Fak%C5%9Fehir_FK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025-26_S%C3%BCper_Lig https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024-25_S%C3%BCper_Lig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_S%C3%BCper_Lig
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.