Süper Lig

The Süper Lig, also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. Eighteen teams compete, where a champion is decided and three clubs are promoted from, and another three relegated to the 1. Lig. The season runs from August to May, with each club playing 34 matches. Matches are played Friday through Monday.
Run by the Turkish Football Federation, the league succeeded the Turkish Football Championship and the National Division, both being former top-level national competitions. The Süper Lig is currently 9th in the UEFA coefficient ranking of leagues based on club performances in European competitions over the last five years. A total of 75 clubs have competed in the Süper Lig, but only 6 have won the title to date: Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş, Trabzonspor, Başakşehir and Bursaspor.

History

stems back to the late 19th century, when Englishmen brought the game with them while living in Salonica. The first league competition was the Istanbul Football League, which took place in the 1904–05 season. The league went through several variations until the creation of the Millî Lig in 1959. Between the creation of the Istanbul League and Millî Lig, several other regional leagues took place: Adana, Ankara, Eskişehir, İzmir, Bursa, and Trabzon, to name a few. The first competition to bring forth a national champion was the former Turkish Football Championship, which began in 1924 and continued until 1951. The championship format was based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of each of the country's top regional leagues. The National Division was the first national league competition in Turkey. Started in 1937, the National Division consisted of the strongest clubs from the Ankara, Istanbul, and İzmir leagues. The championship lasted until 1950.
File:FB-GS Seramoni.jpg|thumbnail|left|Fenerbahçe–Galatasaray match in the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium
In 1952 the TFF introduced professionalism in Turkish football. As a result, the former Turkish Football Championship lost its first level status. Since there was no top-level national champion in the period from 1952 to 1955, the Turkish federation sent Galatasaray, winners of the 1955–56 Istanbul League, to the European Cup in the 1956–57 season.
Protests of some Ankara and İzmir clubs regarding this decision, as well as UEFA deciding to only accept national champions to the European Cup from that season on induced the TFF to establish the Federation Cup in 1956. It is the first professional national football league in Turkey and the predecessor to the Super League. The competition took place as a knock-out tournament to decide a national champion. This champion would go on to participate in the European Cup. The competition was held for two seasons until it was replaced by the Millî Lig. Beşiktaş won both editions and qualified for the European Cup during the two-year span. However, since the TFF failed to register their name for the draw in time, Beşiktaş could not participate in the 1957–58 season after all.
The top clubs of Ankara, Istanbul, and İzmir competed in the 1959 Turkish National League. The first season took place in the calendar year of 1959, instead of 1958 to 1959, since the qualifying stages took place in 1958. The 16 clubs who competed in the first season were: Adalet, Altay, Ankaragücü, Ankara Demirspor, Beşiktaş, Beykoz, Karagümrük, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Gençlerbirliği, Göztepe, Hacettepe Gençlik, İstanbulspor, İzmirspor, Karşıyaka, and Vefa. The first champions were Fenerbahçe and the first "Gol Kralı" was Metin Oktay. No clubs were promoted or relegated at the end of the first season.
The 2. Lig was created at the start of the 1963–64 season and the Millî Lig became known as the 1.Lig. Before the foundation of a second division, the bottom three clubs competed with regional league winners in a competition called the Baraj Games. The top three teams of the group were promoted to the Süper Lig. After the foundation of a new second division in 2001, known as the 1. Lig, the formerly titled 1. Lig was rebranded as Süper Lig. The Süper Lig is home of the Fenerbahçe–Galatasaray derby, the most watched football game in Turkey. It is considered to be one of the best and most intense in the world, being ranked among the greatest football rivalries of all time by various international sources.
On 12 December 2023, the Turkish Football Federation suspended all league games indefinitely following an incident during a match between MKE Ankaragucu and Caykur Rizespor which involved fans being able to successfully invade the pitch and people, including recent MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca, being arrested after attacking referee Halil Umut Meler. Koca would resign from MKE Ankaragucu as well. However, on 13 December, the same day Meler was discharged from the hospital it was soon agreed that Super Lig matches would resume on 19 December.

Format

There were 18 clubs in the Süper Lig until 2020. 20 Clubs are competing in the Süper Lig starting from 2020. During the course of the season each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then head-to-head record, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned champion. If points are equal, the head-to-head record and then goal difference determine the winner. The three lowest placed teams are relegated to the 1. Lig and the top two teams from the 1. Lig, together with the winner of play-offs involving the third to seventh placed 1. Lig clubs are promoted in their place.

16 clubs: 1959
20 clubs: 1959–1962
22 clubs: 1962–1963
18 clubs: 1963–1964
16 clubs: 1964–1966
17 clubs: 1966–1968
16 clubs: 1968–1981
17 clubs: 1981–1982
18 clubs: 1982–1985
19 clubs: 1985–1987
20 clubs: 1987–1988
19 clubs: 1988–1989
18 clubs: 1989–1990
16 clubs: 1990–1994
18 clubs: 1994–2020
21 clubs: 2020–2021
20 clubs: 2021–2022
19 clubs: 2022–2023
20 clubs: 2023–2024
19 clubs: 2024–2025
18 clubs: 2025–present
Qualification for European competitions

The champions and runners-up qualify for the second qualifying round of the Champions League. The third place and the Turkish Cup winners qualify for the second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League. If the Turkish Cup winner has already qualified for European competition through their league finish, then the team that finishes fourth in the league takes their place.

Media coverage

Domestic

2016–2021: Record deal with beIN Sports

On 28 November 2016 Qatari media group beIN won a 5-year deal to become the TV tender of the Süper Lig. They won the rights with a record offer worth $500M per season. Digiturk continued to offer the sports content with beIN’s support.
Before the start of the 2019–20 season, due to the wild fluctuations in value of the Turkish lira, beIN seek to renegotiate the fees for the upcoming season. The broadcaster settled on a $410 million agreement with the TFF.
On 18 November 2020, after originally signing a deal where the annual fees were split evenly between Turkish lira and US dollars, the wild fluctuations in value of the Turkish lira saw beIN seek to renegotiate the fees for the Süper Lig. The new reduced fee had to be paid exclusively in Turkish lira, and took into account the financial realities of the COVID-19 crisis. Despite a drop in overall value, the Süper Lig’s TV rights income remained the sixth highest in Europe.
Due to the several negotiations and currency fluctuations, the 2021–22 season's deal was decreased to $215 million.

2022–2024: new two year deal with beIN

On 24 June 2022 TFF and beIN agreed a new two-year deal of the TV rights for an annual deal of ₺2.2 billion.

2024–2027: contract renewal

On 2 March 2024 Turkish Football Federation stated that Qatari media group beIN has renewed its rights to broadcast Turkey's top flight matches for three more years, until 2027. beIN will pay $182 million-a-year to broadcast Turkey's Süper Lig and TFF First League. As such, Süper Lig becomes the 6th most valuable football league after the Big Five leagues in Europe.

International

UEFA ranking

Süper Lig ranks 9th in UEFA Country Rankings 2024. The league made a big breakthrough in the early 90s and became one of the most valuable leagues in Europe. Süper Lig achieved the best ranking in its history in 2001 by rising to 7th place. In 1982, the league dropped to 28th place, achieving the worst ranking in its history.

Clubs

Stadiums and locations

Team	Home city/borough	Home province	Stadium	Capacity
Alanyaspor	Alanya	Antalya	Alanya Oba Stadium	9,789
Antalyaspor	Antalya	Antalya	Corendon Airlines Park	29,307
Başakşehir	Başakşehir	Istanbul	Fatih Terim Stadium	17,067
Beşiktaş	Beşiktaş	Istanbul	Tüpraş Stadium	42,445
Eyüpspor	Eyüpsultan	Istanbul	Pendik Stadium	4,505
Fatih Karagümrük	Fatih	Istanbul	Atatürk Olympic Stadium	77,563
Fenerbahçe	Kadıköy	Istanbul	Chobani Stadium	47,430
Galatasaray	Sarıyer	Istanbul	Rams Park	53,978
Kasımpaşa	Kasımpaşa	Istanbul	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Stadium	13,797
Gaziantep	Gaziantep	Gaziantep	Gaziantep Stadium	30,320
Gençlerbirliği	Yenimahalle	Ankara	Eryaman Stadium	20,000
Göztepe	Göztepe	İzmir	Gürsel Aksel Stadium	20,756
Kayserispor	Kayseri	Kayseri	RHG Enertürk Enerji Stadium	32,856
Kocaelispor	İzmit	Kocaeli	Kocaeli Stadium	34,829
Konyaspor	Konya	Konya	Konya Metropolitan Municipality Stadium	41,600
Rizespor	Rize	Rize	Rize City Stadium	14,850
Samsunspor	Samsun	Samsun	Samsun 19 Mayıs Stadium	33,303
Trabzonspor	Trabzon	Trabzon	Papara Park	40,980