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Galatasaray S.K. (women's volleyball)

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Galatasaray SK
2025–26 season
Full nameGalatasaray
Short nameGalatasaray
Founded1922
GroundTVF Burhan Felek Sport Hall
(Capacity: 7,000)
ChairmanTurkey Dursun Özbek
ManagerItaly Alberto Bigarelli
CaptainTurkey İlkin Aydın
LeagueSultanlar Ligi
2025–26Regular season: 5th
Play-offs: 5th
WebsiteClub home page
Championships5 Turkish Championships

Galatasaray Daikin is the professional women's volleyball section of Galatasaray SK, a major sports club in Istanbul, Turkey. Galatasaray play their matches in the 7000-seat arena TVF Burhan Felek Sport Hall.

Previous names

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Period Previous names
1922–2010 Galatasaray
2010–2011 Galatasaray Medical Park
2011–2012 Galatasaray
2012–2016 Galatasaray Daikin
2016–2019 Galatasaray
2019–2023 Galatasaray HDI Sigorta
2023–present Galatasaray Daikin

History

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Early history

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Galatasaray's women's volleyball branch was established in 1922. The team won the Istanbul Women's Volleyball League seven times and the Turkish Women's Volleyball Championship five times. However, the team does not have a Sultans League championship.

1980 era

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As a result of Galatasaray (men's volleyball team) becoming the champion in the league in the 1986–1987 season, the volleyball branch managers of the period formed an ambitious team for the women's volleyball team and entered the 1987–1988 season. They finished second.

2000 era

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In the following years, with the establishment of more clubs, the team could not be as successful in volleyball as before. Due to the economic crisis, the team was closed for a year while they were in the Sultans League in the 2003–2004 season. However, after four seasons, this time three weeks before the end of the league, they were defeated by TED Ankara College 3-0 and relegated to the 1st league in the 2006-2007 season for the first time in their history and were promoted to the Sultans League again the following season. The women's volleyball team, which has had to compete in the 1st league twice, has become a team that plays for the championship in the league again and consistently participates in the European cups every year, as a result of the efforts of the administrations coming after this process to raise the branch.

The team, which came in 3rd place in the CEV Women's Challenge Cup in the 2009-2010 season, changed their name to Galatasaray Medical Park Women's Volleyball Team as a result of the name sponsorship made with Medical Park in the 2010-2011 season and continued their struggle in the league. However, the paths parted with Medical Park after one season. In the next season, the team that competed as the Galatasaray women's volleyball team played in the final with Italy's Unendo Yamamay Busto Arsizio team in the Women's CEV Cup for the first time in their history, and won the second place in the final by losing in the gold set. At the end of the same season, the team that participated in the CEV Women's Champions League by receiving a wild card, advanced to the next round as a result of the group matches they played, and were entitled to organize the final four in the CEV Women's Champions League.

2010 era

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Having signed a name sponsorship agreement with Daikin at the beginning of the 2012-2013 season, the team hosted the final four of the CEV Women's Champions League as Galatasaray DaikinwWomen's volleyball team, and finished the tournament in 4th place.

In the 2014–2015 season, Galatasaray Daikin women's volleyball team said goodbye to Europe by losing to their rival in the semi-finals of the Women's CEV Cup, then lost to VakıfBank 3-2 in the Turkish Super Cup and said goodbye to the cup in the semi-finals. In the league, the team finished the regular season in 4th place and matched with their rival Nilüfer Belediyespor in the quarter finals. By defeating their opponent 2-0 in the quarter-finals and finishing in 4th place in the play-off final stage, the team qualified to compete in the Women's CEV Cup next season.

Contrary to previous seasons, the team started the 2015–2016 season with an infrastructure-weighted squad, surprising all authorities, and continued on their way in the league and Europe with full reins, winning all 10 matches until the final match in the Women's CEV Cup and matched with the Russian representative Dinamo Krasnodar in the final. Having won the first match of the series 3-2 at home, the team lost the second match in Russia 3-0 and had to say goodbye for the second time in the last match of a final leg in this cup. In the league, the team that was among the top four teams completed the group in the last place and won the right to compete in the Women's CEV Cup for the next season.

Starting from the 2016–2017 season, the team parted ways with their sponsor, Daikin, and decided to continue their struggle as the Galatasaray women's volleyball team.

Completing the league in 4th place in the 2016-2017 season, the team lost to their arch-rival Fenerbahçe in the play-off series. They completed the play-offs in 2nd place and earned the right to compete in the CEV Women's Champions League for the next season. They said goodbye to the cup after losing 3-2 to Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyesi in the Turkish Women's Volleyball Cup. In the Women's CEV Cup, they lost to Dynamo Kazan in the semi-finals by 3-0 in both matches and said goodbye to the tournament.

Finishing the league in 3rd place in the regular season in the 2017-2018 season, the team finished the play-offs in 4th place. In the Cup, they lost 3-1 to Eczacıbaşı VitrA in the semi-finals and said goodbye to the organization. In the CEV Women's Champions League, the team reached the final four and finished the season in the last place in the finals of four.

In the 2018-2019 season, the team, which finished the league and play-offs in 4th place, said goodbye to the cup and also to the semi-finals. In Europe, they finished the season by saying goodbye to the Women's CEV Cup with the golden set in the quarter-finals.

Before the 2019-2020 season, the team agreed with HDI Sigorta to be the name sponsor and started the season as Galatasaray HDI Sigorta Women's Volleyball Team. Galatasaray HDI Sigorta women's volleyball team finished the league in 4th place in the regular season in 2019–2020. However, after the decision[clarification needed] by Turkish Volleyball Federation on May 11, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league, whose play-off stage was not played, was registered with this ranking, and the champion or the relegated team was not determined in the season. Cup Volley to be played due to the pandemic has also been canceled for the 2019-2020 season. In Europe, the team that competed in the Women's CEV Cup said goodbye to the cup in the last 16 rounds before the pandemic.

2020 era

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Galatasaray team (December 2025)

In the 2020-2021 season, they completed the Sultans League in 6th place at the end of the regular season matches, and as a result of the 5th & 8th play-off matches they played, they completed the season in 7th place and could not participate in the European Cups after many years. As a result of the Cup Volley matches they played, they lost to her opponent VakıfBank 3-0 in the semi-finals and said goodbye to the cup. They achieved her greatest success in the season by playing the final of the Women's CEV Cup for the third time in their history, however, as in the previous finals, they lost to their rival Saugella Monza, lost the cup as a result of a final, and came 2nd. Galatasaray Daikin defeated Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri '76 in both matches and became the 2025–2026 CEV Cup Champion.[1]

Honours

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European competitions

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Domestic competitions

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  • Turkish Cup
    • Runners-up (1): 2011–12
    • Third place (1): 2012–13

Regional competitions

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  • Istanbul League (defunct)
    • Winners (7): 1959–60, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1977–78
    • Runners-up (9): 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1960–61, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1975–76, 1976–77
    • Third place (9): 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81

Technical staff

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As of 21 February 2026[2]
Name Job
Turkey Neslihan Turan Administrative manager
Turkey Mustafa Yurdaer Kobal Assistant administrative manager
Turkey Neşve Büyükbayram Team manager
Italy Alberto Bigarelli Head coach
Turkey Emre Türkileri Assistant coach
Greece Ioannis Paraschidis Assistant coach / conditioner
Turkey Oğulcan Akbal Statistics coach
Turkey Dinçer Kaya Physiotherapist
Turkey Murat Beder Masseur
Turkey Defne Heybeli Media officer
Turkey Özkan Arslan Outfitter

Team roster

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As of 24 February 2026[3]
No. Player Position Date of birth Height (m) Country
1 Ali Frantti Outside hitter 3 March 1996 (age 30) 1.85  United States
2 İlkin Aydın (c) Outside hitter 5 January 2000 (age 26) 1.83  Turkey
3 Aslı Tecimer Outside hitter 12 May 2000 (age 26) 1.80  Turkey
4 İrem Nur Özsoy Libero 13 June 2003 (age 23) 1.70  Turkey
5 Eylül Akarçeşme Libero 1 October 1999 (age 26) 1.70  Turkey
7 Wang Yuanyuan Middle-blocker 14 July 1997 (age 29) 1.96  China
8 Yasemin Güveli Middle-blocker 5 January 1999 (age 27) 1.90  Turkey
9 Eline Timmerman Middle-blocker 30 December 1998 (age 27) 1.92  Netherlands
10 Ayçin Akyol Middle-blocker 15 June 1999 (age 27) 1.88  Turkey
11 Naz Aydemir Setter 14 August 1990 (age 35) 1.86  Turkey
12 Britt Bongaerts Setter 3 November 1996 (age 29) 1.85  Netherlands
13 Büşra Güneş Middle-blocker 8 August 1997 (age 28) 1.90  Turkey
14 Alexia Căruțașu Opposite 10 June 2003 (age 23) 1.88  Romania /  Turkey
15 Kaja Grobelna Opposite 4 January 1995 (age 31) 1.88  Belgium
17 Myriam Sylla Outside hitter 8 January 1995 (age 31) 1.84  Italy

Season by season

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Season League Pos. Turkish Cup Turkish Super Cup European competitions Worldwide competitions
2012–13 TWVL 3rd 3rd RU CEV Champions League4th Top Volley International 3rd
2013–14 TWVL 4th Semi finals Not qualified CEV Champions League8th
2014–15 TWVL 4th Semi finals CEV CupSF Top Volley International 4th
2015–16 TWVL 4th Not held CEV CupRU Not qualified
2016–17 TWVL 2nd Quarter finals Not held CEV CupSF
2017–18 TWVL 4th Semi finals Not qualified CEV Champions League4th
2018–19 TWVL 4th Semi finals CEV CupQF
2019–20 cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic CEV Cup
2020–21 TWVL 7th Semi finals Not qualified CEV CupRU
2021–22 TWVL 5th Quarter finals
2022–23 TWVL 6th CEV Cup16th finals
2023–24 TWVL Group stage CEV Challenge Cup8th finals
2024–25 TWVL 4th Quarter finals CEV Challenge CupSF
2025–26 TWVL

Previous

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Notable players

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Players written in italic still play for the club.

Former coaches

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Alberto Bigarelli, the current coach
Dates Name
1958–1967 Turkey Oral Yılmaz
1989–1993 Turkey Mehmet Bedestenlioğlu
1993–1996 Turkey Cengiz Göllü
1996–1999 Turkey Mehmet Bedestenlioğlu
1999–2000 Cuba Eugenio George Lafita
2000–2002 Turkey Gökhan Edman
2004–2007 Turkey Gökhan Rahman Çokşen
2007–2008 Turkey Ahmet Reşat Arığ
2008 Turkey Mehmet Bedestenlioğlu
2008–2011 Turkey Gökhan Edman
2011–2012 Serbia Dragan Nešić
2012–2015 Italy Massimo Barbolini
2015–2023 Turkey Ataman Güneyligil
2023–2024 Spain Guillermo Naranjo Hernández
2024–2025 Italy Alberto Bigarelli
2025–2026 Italy Massimo Barbolini
2026–present Italy Alberto Bigarelli

Team captains

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İlkin Aydın, the current captain
Dates Name
2020–2023 Turkey Gizem Güreşen
2023 Turkey Gamze Alikaya
2023–2024 Turkey Bihter Dumanoğlu
2024–present Turkey İlkin Aydın

Home halls

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This is a list of the home halls where the senior team played in the recent years.

# Hall Period
1 TVF Burhan Felek Sport Hall 1985–present

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ CEV CUP FINAL DETAILS
  2. ↑ "Kadın Voleybol İdari ve Teknik Kadro". Galatasaray S.K. (in Turkish). Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  3. ↑ "Kadın Voleybol Takım Kadrosu". Galatasaray S.K. (in Turkish). Retrieved 5 May 2025.
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