History of Fenerbahçe S.K.

Fenerbahçe S.K. was founded in 1907 in Kadıköy, Istanbul as a football club by local men Ziya Songülen (then Nurizade Ziya Bey), Ayetullah Bey and Enver Necip Okaner (then Enver Necip Bey). This group of individuals founded the club secretly in order to keep a low profile and not get into any trouble with the strict Ottoman rule. At that time the Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, forbade the Turkish youth from setting up a club nor engaging in the game of football. Songülen was elected the first president of the club, Ayetullah Bey became the first General Secretary, and Okaner was given the post of the General Captain. The lighthouse situated on the Fenerbahçe cape was a big influence on the design of the club's first emblem, which sported the yellow and white colors of daffodils around the lighthouse. The kits were also designed with yellow and white stripes. The emblem and colors of the club were changed in 1910 when Topuz Hikmet redesigned the badge and Ziya Bey changed the colors to yellow and navy, still seen today. Fenerbahçe's activities were kept in secrecy until a legislation reform in 1908, when, under a new law, all football clubs had to register to exist legally. Fenerbahçe joined the Istanbul League in 1909, finishing fifth in their first year. The founding line-up included Ziya Songülen, Ayetullah Bey, Necip Okaner, Galip Kulaksızoğlu, Hasan Sami Kocamemi, Asaf Beşpınar, Enver Yetiker, Şevkati Hulusi Bey, Fuat Hüsnü Kayacan, Hamit Hüsnü Kayacan, and Nasuhi Baydar. Fenerbahce played against the staff of the Royal Navy that occupied Istanbul during the Turkish War of Independence. The club's basketball section was founded in 1913.

Ziya Songülen.

The Turkish Football Federation founded a national league in 1959. Fenerbahçe won the first tournament, beating Galatasaray S.K. 4–1 on aggregate. The next year, Fenerbahçe participated in the European Cup for the first time. They qualified through a 4–3 win over Csepel SC. They lost their first round game to OGC Nice 1–5 in a playoff game after drawing on aggregate. Fenerbahçe became the most successful Turkish club of the 1960s. They were also runners-up three times. In the Balkans Cup 1966–67 (a competition set up for Eastern European clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia that existed between the 1960–61 and 1993–94 seasons), Fenerbahçe won the cup after three matches against Greek club AEK Athens FC, making them the first Turkish club to win a non-domestic competition. This success would remain unparalleled by a Turkish club until Sarıyer G.K. and Samsunspor won the cup many years later in the 1990s.

The 1970s saw Galatasaray win four more league titles. The decade also saw the first non-Istanbul club and a club outside of Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş J.K., and Galatasaray S.K. to win a league title. Trabzonspor went on to win four titles during the decade. Fenerbahçe won three titles in the 1980s, titles Galatasaray S.K. and Beşiktaş J.K. dominated the Turkish League during the 1990s, combining to win nine out of 10 ti Fenerbahçe's only Turkish League success during the 1990s came in the 1995–1996 season under Carlos Alberto Parreira. Fenerbahçe won the league in 2001, denying Galatasaray a fifth consecutive title. They followed up the next season with a runners-up place behind Galatasaray with new coach Werner Lorant. The next season, however, did not go so well as Fenerbahçe finished in sixth place with Ariel Ortega in the squad. Despite this, that season is memorable to many Fenerbahçe fans due to a 6–0 win against arch-rivals Galatasaray in Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium on 6 November 2002. After firing Werner Lorant, they hired another German coach, Christoph Daum. Daum had previously coached in Turkey, winning the league with Beşiktaş J.K. in 1994–95. Fenerbahçe brought in players including Pierre van Hooijdonk, Mehmet Aurélio, and Fabio Luciano as a rebuilding process. These new players lead Fenerbahçe to their fifteenth title and third star (one being awarded for every 5 league titles won by a club). The next year was followed up by a narrow championship over Trabzonspor, winning the then record of sixteen Turkish First Football League championships. Fenerbahçe lost the title in the last week of the 2005–06 season to Galatasaray. Fenerbahçe needed a win, but instead drew 1–1 with Denizlispor while Galatasaray won 3–0 over Kayserispor.

Soon after, Christoph Daum stepped down as manager, and was replaced by Zico on 4 July 2006. Zico began his reign by signing two new defenders, highly-touted Uruguayan international Diego Lugano, and fellow Brazilian Edu Dracena. Zico also signed two strikers, Serbian international Mateja Kežman, and another Brazilian, Deivid. Fenerbahçe's 2006–07 domestic season started off with a 6–0 win over relegation candidates Kayseri Erciyesspor. In the 32nd week of the Süper Lig, Fenerbahçe drew Trabzonspor 2–2, while Beşiktaş J.K. lost to Bursaspor 0–3, putting the former out of contention for the title. Fenerbahçe won their seventeenth Turkish Süper Lig title in 2007, the most in Turkey. Fenerbahçe started off their 2007–08 season by signing Brazilian international Roberto Carlos. The deal saw the defender come for free after his contract was not extended by Real Madrid. Young Turkish players like Gökhan Gönül, Yasin Çakmak, Ilhan Parlak, Ali Bilgin, Turkish-English attacker Colin Kazim-Richards, Turkish-Brazilian left back Gökçek Vederson joined Fenerbahçe in the beginning of the season and Chile national football team captain Claudio Maldonado joined the team in January '08 transfer window.

On 11 January 2007, Fenerbahce S.K. was officially invited to G-14. G-14 is an association which consists of top clubs worldwide. Fenerbahçe S.K. is the only Turkish club that have been invited to this association. On March 2008, Fenerbahçe's record application was accepted by Guinness World Records Menagement Team, which envisages Fenerbahçe to have the highest number of medal and trophy achievements on the planet with its 9 branches entirely, total of 1134 cups and medals. In the UEFA Champions League 1996–97 season Fenerbahçe completed the group stage with seven points and, amongst others, beat Manchester United 1–0 in Old Trafford, the first time the English club had ever lost a home European match, after 40 years of competing in European games. Under Zico’s command, Fenerbahçe qualified from the UEFA Champions League 2007–08 group stage for the first time in the club's history and went on to beat Sevilla FC to become a quarter-finalist in the 2007–08 season. So far, Zico is also the most successful manager of the team's history in the European arena. After successful scores both in local league of Turkey and international matches, Zico gained a new nickname from Fenerbahçe fans: Kral Arthur (meaning "King Arthur" in Turkish). Since 2000, Fenerbahçe S.K. improved the club's finances and facilities, bringing world stars to the club such as Haim Revivo, Ariel Ortega, Serhiy Rebrov, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Alex de Souza, Stephen Appiah, Nicolas Anelka, Mateja Kežman, Diego Lugano, Roberto Carlos, Emre Belözoğlu, Dani Güiza and lately Mamadou Niang and Moussa Sow.

Fenerbahçe's 2009–10 season ended in shock as they lost the title on the last day. The Fenerbahçe players were told a draw would be enough towards the end of the match only to find out that other games went against their favour as Bursaspor beat Beşiktaş 2–1 to get the title. Despite the title loss, Fenerbahçe ended the season with the highest number of clean sheets (10), as well as the joint longest winning streak (8).

Fenerbahçe won a 18th Süper Lig title in the 2010–11 season. The team were nine points behind the leaders after 16 games, but went on an unbeaten run of 17 wins and one draw from the last 18 games of the season and won the title with 82 points. Trabzonspor also finished on 82 points but finished second due head-to-head goal average in favor of Fenerbahçe. Alex, became the top scorer of the season with 28 goals, the highest number of goals by a foreign player in history of Turkish football. Following the season's end club president Aziz Yıldırım was remanded in custody over allegations of match-fixing. On 24 August 2011 Fenerbahçe was withdrawn from the Champions League by Turkey's Football Federation because of an ongoing match-fixing investigation.