Gençlerbirliği S.K.

Gençlerbirliği
Full name	Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü
Nickname(s)	Gençler (The Youth); Ankara Rüzgârı (The Wind of Ankara); Alkaralar (The Red and Black)
Founded	14 March 1923; 101 years ago
Ground	Eryaman Stadium
Capacity	20,560
President	Murat Cavcav
Manager	Mehmet Altıparmak
League	Süper Lig
2023–24	TFF First League, 8th of 19
Website	http://www.genclerbirligi.org.tr/
	Current season

Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü (pronounced Turkish pronunciation: [ɟentʃˈlæɾbiɾli.i]), commonly known as Gençlerbirliği, is a Turkish sports club based in Ankara. Formed in 1923, Gençlerbirliği are nicknamed Ankara Rüzgârı (The Wind of Ankara) or simply Gençler (The Youth). The club colours are black and red. The football team currently plays its home matches at Eryaman Stadium, following the closure of the Ankara 19 Mayıs.

Domestically, the club have won the Turkish Cup twice, in 1987 and 2001. They have also won the former Turkish Football Championship twice and the regional Ankara Football League a record nine times. In Europe, Gençlerbirliği's greatest success came in 2004. The club reached the fourth round of the UEFA Cup before losing to eventual champions Valencia.

History

Gençlerbirliği were founded in a slightly different way compared to many other football clubs, having been established by students from a high school, Ankara Erkek Lisesi (Sultani Mektebi). The students in question (Ramiz Eren, Mennan İz, Mazhar Atacanlı, Sait, Kenan, Nuri, Namık Katoğlu, Namık Ambarcıoğlu, Rıdvan Kırmacı, Hafi Araç, Ruhi, Sarı Ziya and Hakkı) had failed to be selected for their own school team, and asked one of their student friends, Asim, to talk with his father about setting up a football team for them to show how well they could play.

On 14 March 1923, Asim's father, the member of parliament from Muş Province, established the team for his son and his friends. Since all the members of the team were students he chose the name 'Youth Union' (Turkish: Gençlerbirliği). They elected Sarı Ziya's father Faik Bey as their first chairman.^[2]

Turkish newspaper Yeni Sabah announcing the Turkish championship title of Gençlerbirliği on 16 July 1941 — Turkish newspaper *Yeni Sabah* announcing the Turkish championship title of Gençlerbirliği on 16 July 1941.

Subsequently, these young students wanted to play against the school team which had not selected them. Gençlerbirliği won the game, played at "Hamit tarlası", 3–0. According to these young rebellious players this victory forged the identity of their new team.

They won the regional Ankara Football League a record nine times between 1923 and 1959, when the league had first level status before the introduction of a nationwide league.^[3] Their greatest success domestically were the victories in the former Turkish Football Championship, when they became Turkish champions in 1941 and 1946.^[4] Gençler entered the Turkish National League in 1959 and played 12 seasons until relegation in the 1969–70 season. They played in the second level until relegation to third level in the 1978–79 season. The club came back to second level after the merger of the third level with second level, at the end of the 1979–80 season. They finished second from last in Group A of the Second League, and had to relegate to the regional league. But, since the number of teams in the second division was increased, Gençlerbirliği were readmitted. The club won Group D in the 1982–83 season and finally returned to the top-flight after 13 years. They relegated again in 1987–88 season. Finally, Gençlerbirliği returned to the top-flight in the 1988–89 season, in their first return attempt. Gençlerbirliği's most successful seasons in the Süper Lig are 1965–66 and 2002–03, when they reached the third place. At the end of the 2017–18 season Gençler only reached the 17th place and as a result the club relegated to the second tier TFF First League.

Colors

There are two rumors about how Gençlerbirliği got their team colors, black and red:

The young students went to a local haberdashers and the only available colors were black and red. They purchased these colors to sew their own kit. [1]
The outskirts of Ankara during spring time see plenty of poppy flowers (Gelincik) blooming and Gençlerbirliği selected the red and black of this flower for their colors. Gençlerbirliği merchandise in their store is usually called Gelincik by their supporters.

Rivalry

Gençlerbirliği's arch-rival are the neighbouring club Ankaragücü and games between the clubs are considered as the "Derby of the Capital".

Youth academy and scouting

Gençlerbirliği have always been one of the teams in Turkey most notable for their talented young footballers that they procure through scouting both in Turkey and throughout Europe and Africa. For example, Geremi was scouted and raised by the club, transferred to Real Madrid and later Chelsea. Another of Gençlerbirliği's young stars Isaac Promise received the 2005–06 Super League Individual Youth player of the Year award.^[5]

Gençlerbirliği's state-of-the-art youth academy is located in Beştepe, Ankara with 50 acres (200,000 m²) of training facilities (Beştepe İlhan Cavcav Tesisleri).

Gençlerbirliği had been run by İlhan Cavcav from 1978 until his death in 2017. With Cavcav's help, Gençlerbirliği have become one of the more stable clubs in Turkey. This has been achieved mainly through the departure of the most talented players every season to the other clubs in Turkey. Departing players are usually replaced with much cheaper imports from Turkey, Europe or Africa.

Honours

Domestic competitions

Turkish Football Championship

Winners (2): 1941, 1946

Runners-up (1): 1950

Turkish Cup

Winners (2): 1986–87, 2000–01

Runners-up (3): 2002–03, 2003–04, 2007–08

Turkish Super Cup

Runners-up (1): 1987

Prime Minister's Cup

Runners-up (1): 1946

Regional competitions

Ankara Football League

Winners (9) (record): 1930, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1934–35, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1945–46, 1949–50, 1950–51

Runners-up (7): 1926, 1926–27, 1929, 1934, 1936–37, 1942–43, 1947–48

Others

TSYD Cup

Winners (13): 1960, 1961, 1969, 1979, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1998 (two winners), 2002, 2003

European participations

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1987–88	1R	Dinamo Minsk	1–2	0–2	1–4

UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2001–02	1R	Halmstad	1–1	0–1	1–2
2003–04	1R	Blackburn Rovers	3–1	1–1	4–2
	2R	Sporting CP	1–1	3–0	4–1
	3R	Parma	3–0	1–0	4–0
	4R	Valencia	1–0	0–2 (aet)	1–2
2004–05	Q2	Rijeka	1–0	1–2	2–2 (a)
2004–05	1R	Egaleo	1–1	0–1	1–2 (a)

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1995	Group Stage	Hapoel Petah Tikva	4–0	—	3rd
		Strasbourg	—	1–4
		Floriana	3–0	—
		Tirol Innsbruck	—	2–3

Players

Current squad

As of 5 January 2021^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	SWE	Kristoffer Nordfeldt
2	DF	SWE	Mattias Johansson
3	DF	TUR	Halil Pehlivan
4	DF	TUR	Arda Kızıldağ
6	DF	BRA	Diego Ângelo
7	MF	POL	Dominik Furman
8	MF	TUR	Soner Dikmen
9	FW	ROU	Bogdan Stancu
10	MF	TUR	Sefa Yılmaz
13	FW	CIV	Giovanni Sio
15	MF	SEN	Zargo Touré
17	FW	TUR	İlker Karakaş
19	MF	TUR	Rahmetullah Berişbek
21	MF	POR	Daniel Candeias
23	MF	PAR	Robert Piris Da Motta (on loan from Flamengo)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
24	DF	TUR	Salih Dursun
26	MF	TUR	Gökhan Altıparmak
27	DF	TUR	Ömürcan Artan
28	MF	GUI	Sadio Diallo
33	FW	TOG	Floyd Ayité
37	GK	TUR	Yasin Davus
39	DF	FRA	Pierre-Yves Polomat
44	GK	TUR	Übeyd Adıyaman
55	DF	TUR	Abdullah Şahindere
63	MF	TUR	Mustafa Hüseyin Seyhan
66	MF	TUR	Mert Kabasakal
70	MF	AUT	Srđan Spiridonović (on loan from Red Star Belgrade)
77	MF	TUR	Mustafa Çeçenoğlu
88	MF	NED	Murat Yıldırım

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	TUR	Ömer Alper Tatlısu (at Hacettepe)
—	MF	TUR	Emre Gündoğdu (at Ankara Keçiörengücü)

Most capped players

	Player	Caps	Period
1	Tevfik Kutlay	353	1959–72
2	Selçuk Çakmaklı	336	1959–72
3	Avni Okumuş	317	1983–93
4	Zeynel Soyuer	291	1959–71
5	Nihat Baştürk	279	1994–2005
6	Metin Diyadin	265	1988–98
7	Orhan Yüksel	235	1959–66
8	Mehmet Şimşek	228	1993–2001
9	İhsan Temen	219	1959-66
10	Okan Gedikali	207	1982–91

Source: Mackolik news site, in Turkish

Top goalscorers

	Player	Goals (Caps)	Period
1	Andre Kona N'Gole	72 (145)	1993–2001
2	Avni Okumuş	71 (317)	1983–1993
3	Orhan Yüksel	67 (235)	1959–1966
4	Ümit Karan	59 (150)	1996–2001
5	Souleymane Youla	57 (134)	2001–2005
6	Bogdan Stancu	53 (130)	2013-2020
7	Abdullah Çevrim	50 (154)	1961–1966
8	Zeynel Soyuer	47 (291)	1959–1971
9	Tevfik Kutlay	46 (353)	1959–1972
10	Muammer Nurlu	44 (152)	1983–1989