Beşiktaş J.K. facts for kids

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Beşiktaş

Full name	Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü
Nickname(s)	Kara Kartallar (lit. Black Eagles) Siyah Beyazlılar (lit. Black and Whites)
Short name	BJK
Founded	3 March 1903; 122 years ago (1903-03-03) as Bereket Jimnastik Kulübü 1909 as Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü
Stadium	Beşiktaş Stadium
Ground Capacity	42,590
President	Serdal Adalı
Manager	Ole Gunnar Solskjær
League	Süper Lig
2021–22	Süper Lig, 6th of 20
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (also known as BJK) is a famous Turkish sports club. It was started in 1903 in Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the "Big Three" in Turkey. They are one of the most successful teams and have never been moved down to a lower league. Beşiktaş was the first sports club officially registered in Turkey. It is also one of the few clubs allowed to have the Turkish flag on its badge.

The football team has won 21 league titles. This includes 16 Süper Lig titles. They have also won the Turkish Cup 11 times. Beşiktaş is the only team to win the Süper Lig without losing a single game. This happened in the 1991–92 season. The team last won the Süper Lig in the 2020–21 season. They won the Turkish Cup in the 2023-24 season. Their home stadium is Beşiktaş Stadium. It can hold 42,590 fans and is next to Dolmabahçe Palace. Many people think it is one of the best stadiums in the world.

Beşiktaş also plays in European competitions often. They reached the quarter-finals of the 1986–87 European Cup. In the 2017–18 Champions League, they had the best performance by a Turkish team in the group stage. They earned 14 points and did not lose any games. Beşiktaş has also reached the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals twice. This was in the 2002–03 and 2016–17 seasons. Beşiktaş is currently the 5th highest-ranked Turkish team in Europe. They are second all-time after their rival Galatasaray.

The club's fan group, Çarşı, is famous worldwide. They were chosen as the best fan group by American sports viewers. This was because of their 132-decibel noise record in a 2007 match against Liverpool. The group often supports social and political causes. They are known for being working-class and left-wing. They are sometimes called "the people's team." The highest number of fans ever at a Turkish league football game was recorded at a Beşiktaş-Galatasaray derby. There were 76,127 spectators at that match.

The club also has teams in other sports. These include women's football, basketball, volleyball, handball, and esports.

Club History

How Beşiktaş Started (1903–1911)

Members of Beşiktaş JK in 1903

Bereket Gymnastics Club began on March 3, 1903. They got special permission from the government to start. After 1908, they had more freedom for sports activities. In 1909, Fuat Balkan and Mazhar Kazancı came to Istanbul. They found young people doing gymnastics in Serencebey. They convinced them to train together. Fuat Balkan was a fencing coach. Mazhar Kazancı was a wrestler and weight lifter.

Fuat Balkan made the first floor of his home the club's main office. It was in the Ihlamur area of Beşiktaş. The club's name was changed to "Beşiktaş Ottoman Gymnastics Club." It became a bigger club with gymnastics, wrestling, boxing, fencing, and athletics. Mehmet Şamil Şhaplı was one of the first members. He became the club's first president.

On January 13, 1910, Beşiktaş became the first officially registered Turkish sports club. This was in the Ottoman Empire. More young people in the area joined the club. The number of members quickly grew to 150. The club's office moved to a bigger building in Akaretler, Beşiktaş. The yard behind this building was turned into a sports field.

Some young people from the Beşiktaş area formed two football clubs. Their names were "Valideçeşme" and "Basiret." They joined Beşiktaş in 1911.

For many years, people thought Beşiktaş's first colors were "Red and White." They believed the colors changed to "Black and White" to remember those who died in the Balkan Wars. However, a study for the club's 100th anniversary showed something different. It found that red was never used in the club's first colors. The club's colors have always been "black and white."

Early Football Years (1911–1959)

The Beşiktaş team that won the 1923–24 Istanbul Football League championship.

Football became very popular in the Ottoman Empire around 1910. Beşiktaş members started to focus more on football. In August 1911, Ahmed Şerafettin started the football team. When World War I began, many athletes left to fight. Sports activities at the club almost stopped. After the war, the team faced a hard time during the occupation of Istanbul. But they recovered thanks to the hard work of Şeref Bey.

Beşiktaş did not join the Istanbul Friday and Sunday leagues at first. They did not win any championships until 1918. In 1918, they won the Istanbul Turkish 1st Sports League. They won it again in 1921. In 1924, Beşiktaş joined the Istanbul Football League. Other big Istanbul teams like Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe were also in this league. Beşiktaş won the first championship of the 1923–24 season. But Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe were the strongest teams until the mid-1930s.

Beşiktaş won their second Istanbul League title in the 1933–34 season. They also won their first Turkish Football Championship that same year. They beat Altay 3–1 in the final on October 29, 1934. In 1937, the Turkish National League was created. Beşiktaş finished 3rd in this league in 1941. The club won the Istanbul League again in 1944–45 and 1945–46. They also won the national league in 1944 and 1947.

In May 1950, the team visited the United States for a month. When they returned to Turkey, they visited President Celâl Bayar.

From Milli Lig to Süper Lig (1959–2001)

Feyyaz Uçar was a top scorer in the 1989–90 season.

Rıza Çalımbay played the most games for Beşiktaş with 602 matches.

Professional football started in Turkey in 1952. In 1959, the Millî Lig was formed. This was the country's first professional football league. Beşiktaş won their first title in this league in the 1959–60 season. In 1960, the club also played in the European Cup. They were the first Turkish team to ever play in this tournament. Beşiktaş won back-to-back championships in 1966 and 1967. In 1967, they also won their first Turkish Super Cup.

After 1967, Beşiktaş's performance was not as strong for a while. They finished lower in the league many times. Other teams like Trabzonspor, Fenerbahçe, and Galatasaray had more success. Beşiktaş only finished second once in the 1970s.

After 15 seasons without a league title, Beşiktaş finally won again in the 1981–82 season. This was a surprise win under coach Đorđe Milić. They won another title in the 1985–86 season.

The Gordon Milne Era (1987–1993)

Beşiktaş had their most successful period in the Süper Lig under coach Gordon Milne. They won three championships in a row in the early 1990s. Three players were very important during this time: Metin Tekin, Ali Gültiken, and Feyyaz Uçar. They were known as Metin-Ali-Feyyaz ("MAF"). Fans loved them for their playing style, goals, friendship, and modesty.

The club won three titles in a row in the 1989–90, 1990–91, and 1991–92 seasons. In the 1991–92 season, Beşiktaş made history. They became the first and only team to win the Süper Lig without losing a single game.

Under Milne, the team used a 4–4–2 playing style. They scored many goals by playing down the sides of the field and crossing the ball. On October 15, 1989, Beşiktaş set a Süper Lig record. They won a game 10–0 against Adana Demirspor. This was the biggest winning difference ever in the league. In the 1994–95 season, Beşiktaş won the league with German coach Christoph Daum. They earned 79 points, three points more than Trabzonspor.

Recent Years (2001–Present)

The team during the 2015–16 season.

The club won the Süper Lig title in 2002–03. This was their 100th year! They won under Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu. They made many changes to the team that summer. They won all four Istanbul derby games and lost only one league game. Beşiktaş secured the title in the second-to-last game against Galatasaray. Sergen Yalçın scored the winning goal in the last minute. They also reached the quarter-finals of the 2002–03 UEFA Cup. In the 2008–09 season, Beşiktaş won the league title with coach Mustafa Denizli.

Şenol Güneş became the head coach in 2015. Beşiktaş then won the league two times in a row, in 2015–16 and 2016–17. The next season, they made history. They became the first Turkish club to reach the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League without losing a game.

Beşiktaş won the league again in 2020–21. This was under the management of former player and club legend Sergen Yalçın. On October 27, 2024, there was some trouble at the team's general meeting. Supporters of the old president and the new one had a disagreement. On June 5, 2024, the club hired Giovanni van Bronckhorst as its coach. However, on November 30, 2024, the club let him go after a 3-1 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League. The current manager is Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who started on January 18, 2025.

Home Stadiums

Beşiktaş Stadium opened in 2016 and is the club's home.

When Beşiktaş first started their football team, they played at different fields. From 1924, they began playing their games at Taksim Stadium.

İnönü Stadium was the home of Beşiktaş for 66 years. They played there from 1947 to 2013. The first football game there was on November 23, 1947. Beşiktaş played against Swedish team AIK in a friendly game. AIK won 3–2. The club played their last game there on May 11, 2013. It was against Gençlerbirliği and Beşiktaş won 3–0.

Since 2016, Beşiktaş has played their home games at Beşiktaş Stadium. This new stadium was built where İnönü Stadium used to be. The first game at the new stadium was on April 11, 2016. Beşiktaş played against Bursaspor and won 3–2.

Club Achievements

Beşiktaş has won many titles throughout its history. Here are some of their main achievements:

•      record

• ^S Shared record

Players

Current Team Squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Mert Günok (vice-captain) 2 DF Jonas Svensson 3 DF Gabriel Paulista 5 MF Demir Ege Tıknaz 6 MF Amir Hadžiahmetović 7 FW Milot Rashica 8 MF Salih Uçan 9 FW Tammy Abraham (on loan from Roma) 10 MF Orkun Kökçü (on loan from Benfica) 11 MF Keny Arroyo 14 DF Felix Uduokhai 15 MF Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 17 MF Kartal Yılmaz 18 MF João Mário 19 FW Yakup Arda Kılıç 20 MF Necip Uysal (captain) 21 MF Cemal Azad Demir 22 MF Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov 23 MF Ernest Muçi 24 DF Tayyip Talha Sanuç

No. Position Player 25 MF Can Keleş 27 FW Rafa Silva 28 MF Al-Musrati 30 GK Ersin Destanoğlu (3rd captain) 33 GK Emre Bilgin 39 DF David Jurásek (on loan from Benfica) 40 DF Emrecan Uzunhan 44 MF Fahri Kerem Ay 53 DF Emirhan Topçu 70 MF Elan Ricardo 71 MF Jean Onana 75 DF Tayfur Bingöl 79 DF Emrecan Terzi 83 MF Gedson Fernandes 85 DF Mustafa Azem Yortaç 90 FW Semih Kılıçsoy 91 FW Mustafa Erhan Hekimoğlu 93 DF Arda Özüarap 96 GK Emir Yaşar MF Kerem Atakan Kesgin

Players on Loan

No. Position Player GK Göktuğ Baytekin (at Sakaryaspor until 30 June 2026)

No. Position Player

Current Coaching Staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Ole Gunnar Solskjær
Assistant managers	Erling Moe Mike Marsh Serdar Topraktepe
Goalkeeping coaches	Richard Hartis Hakan Çalışkan
Athletic performance coaches	Barış Gürol Dolu Arslan
Analysts	Tom Green Caner Batuhan Koç

Famous Players

A statue of Süleyman Seba in Istanbul.

Two players served Beşiktaş as both a player and a president: Hakkı Yeten and Süleyman Seba. The club gave them the title "Honorary President." Hakkı Yeten also managed the first team from 1949 to 1951. In 2008, Beşiktaş put up a statue of Süleyman Seba near their office in Akaretler.

Ricardo Quaresma played in 154 Süper Lig games for Beşiktaş.

Besides Yeten and Seba, 11 players spent their entire careers at Beşiktaş. Nine of them played for over 10 years and had more than 100 appearances. These include Hakkı Yeten, Rıza Çalımbay, Samet Aybaba, Rasim Kara, and Sergen Yalçın. These five also served the club as both a player and a manager. Yalçın is the only one who won Süper Lig titles as both a player and a manager.

Six players from Beşiktaş have played for their country more than 30 times. These are Rıza Çalımbay, Recep Çetin, Mehmet Özdilek, Tayfur Havutçu, İbrahim Üzülmez, and Oğuzhan Özyakup. Five of these six players were also team captains for at least two seasons.

In 2003, for its 100th anniversary, the club asked fans to vote for the "squads of the century." They chose three teams: "golden," "silver," and "bronze." The results were announced at a special event on June 21, 2003.

Some Beşiktaş players have also played for their countries in big international tournaments. Tayfur Havutçu and İlhan Mansız were part of Turkey's team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Turkey reached the semi-finals that year. Mansız scored a "golden goal" in the quarter-final against Senegal. This sent Turkey to the semi-finals. He also scored twice in the game for 3rd place against South Korea.

Ricardo Quaresma was part of the Portugal team that won Euro 2016. This was Portugal's first international title. Quaresma scored a goal in the Round of 16 against Croatia. Domagoj Vida played for Croatia in the final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup against France. Croatia lost 4–2, but Vida helped set up a goal for his teammate Ivan Perišić.

Squads of the Century

Necmi Mutlu played as a goalkeeper for Beşiktaş for 13 seasons.

Beşiktaş J.K. Squads of Century
Team	#	Golden Team	Silver Team	Bronze Team
Goalkeeper	1	Sabri Dino	Necmi Mutlu	Rasim Kara
Right back	2	Rıza Çalımbay	Recep Çetin	Hristo Kostanda
Centre back	4	Gökhan Keskin	Vedat Okyar	Eşref Özmenç
Centre back	5	Ali İhsan Karayiğit	Ronaldo Guiaro	Ulvi Güveneroğlu
Left back	3	Zekeriya Alp	Vedii Tosuncuk	Ahmet Berman
Right Midfielder	7	Metin Tekin	Nihat Kahveci	Ahmet Özacar
Midfielder	8	Hakkı Yeten	Recep Adanır	Mehmet Özdilek
Midfielder	10	Yusuf Tunaoğlu	Sergen Yalçın	Şeref Görkey
Left Midfielder	6	Sanlı Sarıalioğlu	Hüseyin Saygun	İbrahim Üzülmez
Forward	9	Kemal Gülçelik	Ali Gültiken	Güven Önüt
Forward	11	Şükrü Gülesin	Feyyaz Uçar	Daniel Amokachi

Players Who Played Only for Beşiktaş

Hüsnü Savman (left) and Fikret Arıcan during an Istanbul derby in 1932.

These players spent their entire senior football careers playing for Beşiktaş:

Years	Nat	Name	Apps	Goals	Ref
1927–1944		Hüsnü Savman	294	42
1930–1950		Şeref Görkey	N/A	320
1931–1948		Hakkı Yeten	439	382
1932–1947		Mehmet Ali Tanman	354	0
1938-1948		Sabri Gençsoy	137	61
1943–1955		Faruk Sağnak	273	25
1946–1954		Süleyman Seba	N/A	44
1955–1971		Ahmet Özacar	313	100
1962–1975		Sanlı Sarıalioğlu	314	65
1977–1984		Süleyman Oktay	117	5
1980–1996		Rıza Çalımbay	401	37
2009–		Necip Uysal	463	6
2017–		Ersin Destanoğlu	119	0
2022–		Semih Kılıçsoy	85	16

Coaching History

The Beşiktaş football team has had many coaches from Turkey and other European countries. The first known coach was Şeref Bey. He coached the team for 14 years, from 1911 to 1925. This makes him the longest-serving coach. The most successful coach is Gordon Milne. He won the league three times in a row, along with other trophies.

Name Nationality Tenure Şeref Bey 1911–1925 Imre Zinger 1925–1935 Refik Osman Top 1935–1944 Charles Howard 1944–1946 Refik Osman Top 1946–1948 Giuseppe Meazza 1948–1949 Hakkı Yeten 1949 Eric Keen 1949–1950 Hakkı Yeten 1950–1951 Alfred Cable 1951–1952 Sadri Usuoğlu 1952–1953 Sandro Puppo 1 Jul 1953–30 Jun 1954 Cihat Arman 1955–1956 József Mészaros 1 Jul 1956–30 Jun 1957 Eşref Bilgiç 1957 Leandro Remondini 1 Jul 1957–31 Dec 1958 Hüseyin Saygun 1959 András Kuttik 1 Jul 1959–30 Jun 1960 Sandro Puppo 1 Jul 1960–30 Jun 1961 Şeref Görkey 1961 András Kuttik 1 Jul 1961–30 Jun 1962 Ljubiša Spajić 1 Jul 1962–30 Jun 1963 Ernst Melchior 1963–1964 Ljubiša Spajić 1 Jul 1964–30 Jun 1967 Jane Janevski 1967–1968 Krum Milev 1968–1969 Milovan Ćirić 1969–1970 Dumitru Teodorescu 1970–1971 Gündüz Kılıç 1971–1972 Abdulah Gegić 1 Jul 1972–1973 Metin Türel 1973–1974 Horst Buhtz 1974–1975 Gündüz Tekin Onay 1975–1976 İsmet Arıkan 1977 Miloš Milutinović 1 Jul 1977–30 Jun 1978 Doğan Andaç 1978–1979 Serpil Hamdi Tüzün 1979–1980 Metin Türel 1980 Đorđe Milić 1 Jul 1980–30 Jun 1983

Name Nationality Tenure Ziya Taner 1983–1984 Branko Stanković 1 Jul 1984–30 Jun 1986 Miloš Milutinović 1 Jul 1986–30 Jun 1987 Gordon Milne 1 Jul 1987–31 Dec 1993 Christoph Daum 6 Jan 1994–6 May 1996 Rasim Kara 2 Jul 1996–30 Jun 1997 John Toshack 1 Jul 1997–23 Feb 1999 Karl-Heinz Feldkamp 24 Feb 1999–15 Sep 1999 Hans-Peter Briegel 16 Sep 1999–30 Jun 2000 Nevio Scala 1 Jul 2000–6 Mar 2001 Christoph Daum 7 Mar 2001–11 May 2002 Mircea Lucescu 1 Jul 2002–1 May 2004 Vicente Del Bosque 8 Jun 2004–27 Jan 2005 Rıza Çalımbay 1 Feb 2005–17 Oct 2005 Jean Tigana 31 Oct 2005–21 May 2007 Ertuğrul Sağlam 6 Jul 2007–7 Oct 2008 Mustafa Denizli 9 Oct 2008–4 Jun 2010 Bernd Schuster 1 Jul 2010–15 Mar 2011 Tayfur Havutçu 17 Mar 2011–13 Jul 2011 Roland Koch 14 Jul 2011–1 Aug 2011 Carlos Carvalhal 2 Aug 2011–2 Apr 2012 Tayfur Havutçu 2012 Samet Aybaba 16 Jun 2012–27 May 2013 Slaven Bilić 26 Jun 2013–31 May 2015 Şenol Güneş 1 Jun 2015–31 May 2019 Abdullah Avcı 1 Jun 2019–24 Jan 2020 Sergen Yalçın 29 Jan 2020–9 Dec 2021 Önder Karaveli (caretaker) 9 Dec 2021–12 Jan 2022 Önder Karaveli 13 Jan 2022–25 March 2022 Valérien Ismaël 25 Mar 2022–26 October 2022 Şenol Güneş 28 Oct 2022–6 October 2023 Burak Yılmaz (caretaker) 10 Oct 2023–10 Nov 2023 Rıza Çalımbay 10 Nov 2023–22 Dec 2023 Serdar Topraktepe (caretaker) 22 Dec 2023–7 Jan 2024 Fernando Santos 7 Jan 2024–13 Apr 2024 Serdar Topraktepe (caretaker) 13 Apr 2024–5 Jun 2024 Giovanni van Bronckhorst 5 Jun 2024–30 Nov 2024 Serdar Topraktepe (caretaker) 30 Nov 2024–18 Jan 2025 Ole Gunnar Solskjær 18 Jan 2025–Present

Club Presidents

Mehmet Şamil Şhaplı, the first president of Beşiktaş JK.

Hakkı Yeten, a former player and manager, was also an honorary president.

Serdal Adalı, the current president of Beşiktaş JK.

Here is a list of the presidents who have led Beşiktaş J.K. over the years:

Years Nationality Name 1903–08 (1) Mehmet Şamil Şhaplı 1908–11 (2) Şükrü Paşa 1911–18 (3) Fuat Paşa 1918–23 (4) Fuat Balkan 1923–24 (5) Salih Bey 1924–26 (6) Ahmet Fetgeri Aşeni 1926–28 Fuat Balkan 1928–30 Ahmet Fetgeri Aşeni 1930–32 (7) Emin Şükrü Kunt 1932–35 (8) A. Ziya Karamürsel 1935–38 Fuat Balkan 1938–39 A. Ziya Karamürsel 1939–41 (9) Yusuf Ziya Erdem 1941–42 A. Ziya Karamürsel 1942–50 (10) A. Ziya Kozanoğlu 1950 (11) Ekrem Amaç

Years Nationality Name 1950–52 (12) Salih Keçeci 1952–55 A. Ziya Kozanoğlu 1955–56 (13) Tahir Söğütlü 1956–57 (14) Danyal Akbel 1957 (15) Ferhat Nasır 1957–58 (16) Nuri Togay 1958 (17) Enver Kaya 1958–60 Nuri Togay 1960–63 (18) Hakkı Yeten 1963–64 (19) Selahattin Akel 1964–66 Hakkı Yeten 1966–67 (20) Hasan Salman 1967–68 Hakkı Yeten 1968–69 (21) Talat Asal 1969–70 (22) Rüştü Erkuş 1970 Nuri Togay

Years Nationality Name 1970–71 (23) Agasi Şen 1971–72 (24) Himmet Ünlü 1972–73 (25) Şekip Okçuoğlu 1973–77 (26) Mehmet Üstünkaya 1977–79 (27) Gazi Akınal 1979 (28) Hüseyin Cevahir 1979–80 Gazi Akınal 1980–81 (29) Rıza Kumruoğlu 1981–84 Mehmet Üstünkaya 1984–00 (30) Süleyman Seba 2000–04 (31) Serdar Bilgili 2004–12 (32) Yıldırım Demirören 2012–19 (33) Fikret Orman 2019–23 (34) Ahmet Nur Çebi 2023–24 (35) Hasan Arat

Sponsorships

Beşiktaş team jerseys from the 2020–21 season with Beko as the main sponsor.

Beşiktaş has worked with many different companies over the years for their team kits and sponsorships. Here's a look at some of them:

Affiliated Clubs

Beşiktaş J.K. works with these clubs:

• Adanaspor (since 2015)
• KF 2 Korriku (since 2021)
• Kartal Bulvarspor (since 2022)

See also

In Spanish: Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü para niños