Galatasaray Spor Kulübü, Galatasaray Sports Club) is a Turkish football club, part of the Galatasaray multi-sport club of Istanbul. Galatasaray is a major sports club in Turkey, holding the joint record for the Turkish Super League titles until the 2010–11 season, and the highest number of Turkish Cups. It is one of the three European clubs to ever achieve a continental quadruple, by winning the UEFA Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, the Turkish Super League Championship and the Turkish Cup in 2000. The club's colours are red and yellow, and their home stadium is the Türk Telekom Arena.
Name and PronunciationThe name Galatasaray itself comes from that of Galatasaray Lisesi, 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 colony of Galata. Galatasaray translates directly as 'Galata Palace'.
There is no diminutive form of Galatasaray. Fans refer to the club either by its full name or by its nickname "Cim Bom Bom" (pronounced 'Jim Bom Bom') or the shortened 'Cim Bom'. The shortened form 'Gala' is sometimes used in Europe/Americas.
It is important to keep in mind Galatasaray is a compound word and it is pronounced as such. The most common mistake that is done by non-Turkish speakers is to intonate as Gala-tasaray, while the correct enunciation should be Galata-Saray with a very brief pause between the two words.
Ali Sami Yen StadiumGalatasaray played its first years in different fields, since there were not any stadiums in Istanbul. In 1921, the first stadium, Taksim Stadium opened.[29] Galatasaray played there until 1940. When historic Taksim Stadium was demolished, Galatasaray decided to build a large, modern stadium. Due to difficulties stemming from World War II, construction was delayed for over two decades. In this period, they played in İnönü Stadium.
On 20 December 1964, Ali Sami Yen Stadium opened. It is named after the founder of the club, Ali Sami Yen. It is in Mecidiyeköy quarter of the Şişli district at the center of the city. In 1964, the stadium had capacity over 35,000. Today, due to improvements in security and prohibition of non-seater spectators, it has an all-seater capacity of 24,990.
After 2002, when Atatürk Olympic Stadium was built for Istanbul's Olympic Games bid, Galatasaray started to play European Cup matches there. The attendance record among Turkish stadiums was broken there, in Galatasaray–Olympiacos match played in front of 79,414 spectators. Yet, Ali Sami Yen Stadium has historic importance for Galatasaray fans although it is smaller and older.
New StadiumThe new home ground of Galatasaray is the newly built Türk Telekom Arena in the Aslantepe quarter near Maslak financial district in Şişli. The new stadium, which was opened 15 January 2011, has a capacity of 52,695 seats, making it the largest private stadium owned by a club in Turkey.
Stadium AnthemSince 1998, after every goal scored by Galatasaray, the last part of the song I Will Survive by the Hermes House Band played. Although the song is in English, the part used has no lyrics except "la la la la". This makes it easy for fans to participate.
In addition, before every game the Florida State Warchant is played accompanied by what the fans call a "scarf show" where fans display and wave their Galatasaray scarves, banners and flags.A lot of people call stadium 'Cehennem' (hell) because of stadium anthem
Supporters and rivalries
European matchesGalatasaray fans attach high importance to European competitions, and Galatasaray is known as the Conqueror of Europe by their fans. This nickname underlines the importance of the UEFA Cup and Super Cup Galatasaray managed to win during the 1999–2000 season. Galatasaray fans also have a reputation in Europe as being one of the fiercest in the world, along with ultrAslan. Ryan Giggs once said I've never experienced anything like Galatasaray. Two hours before kick-off, we went out to have a look at the pitch and the stadium was packed! The chanting was brilliant: one side starts, then the other, then quiet, then all of them chanting! The players really enjoyed it. Before it was good, after it wasn't!'
Istanbul derbies"The big three" clubs of Istanbul, Beşiktaş J.K., Fenerbahçe S.K. and Galatasaray S.K. have a century-long history of rivalry. Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray rivalry is the primary Istanbul derby and the important rivalry in Turkish football.The rivalry has led to violence among supporters on numerous occasions. Other top level İstanbul derbies include the teams; İstanbul BB and Kasımpaşa although these teams pose a minor rivalry as the history and the nation-wide attention to the derbies among the big three is unmatched.
Torches, smoke, drums, flags and giant posters used to create visual grandeur and apply psychological pressure on visiting teams, which fans call "welcoming them to hell".
RecordsGalatasaray break the "loudest crowd roar at a sport stadium" record on 18 March 2011 at Galatasaray’s new stadium Türk Telekom Arena in Istanbul. A peak reading of 131.76 dBA was recorded.
Current squadAs of 20 July 2011
1 Turkey GK Aykut Erçetin
3 Turkey DF Çağlar Birinci
4 Brazil MF Felipe Melo (on loan from Juventus)
5 Turkey DF Gökhan Zan
6 Turkey MF Ceyhun Gülselam
7 Turkey MF Aydın Yılmaz
8 Turkey MF Selçuk İnan
9 Sweden FW Johan Elmander
10 Turkey MF Arda Turan (Captain)
15 Czech Republic FW Milan Baroš
17 Czech Republic DF Tomáš Ujfaluši
18 Turkey MF Ayhan Akman
22 Turkey DF Hakan Balta
26 Turkey DF Semih Kaya
27 Argentina MF Emmanuel Culio
28 Romania FW Bogdan Stancu
35 Turkey MF Yekta Kurtuluş
52 Turkey MF Emre Çolak
55 Turkey DF Sabri Sarıoğlu
66 Turkey FW Anıl Dilaver
76 Turkey DF Servet Çetin
80 Turkey MF Colin Kazım-Richards
86 Turkey GK Ufuk Ceylan
-- Uruguay GK Fernando Muslera
Coaching staffManager Fatih Terim
Assistant Manager Hasan Şaş
Assistant Manager Ümit Davala
Assistant Manager Tugay Kerimoğlu
Fitness Coach Adam Rotchstein
Trainer Metin Çakıroğlu
Fitness Coach Fatih Yıldız
Goalkeeping Coach Claudio Taffarel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatasaray_S.K._%28football_team%29