Fenerbahçe is one of the oldest and most successful multi-sport clubs in Turkey, having won 20 international titles, including 16 major European titles, one World championship, three regional Balkan titles and numerous Mediterranean titles across five sport departments. It is among the few clubs in Europe to have won titles across multiple departments.
Fenerbahçe is one of the most supported Turkish clubs with millions of fans inside Turkey and all over the world. The club has 309,026 paid members as of 2012 while having 55.000 congress members as of 2025.
In its 101st year of 2008; with a market value of $2 billion, it surpassed Manchester United to become the world's most valuable club. Also, in March 2008, Fenerbahçe's record application was accepted by Guinness World Records, which envisages Fenerbahçe to have the highest number of medal and trophy achievements on the planet with its 9 departments entirely, a total of 1134 cups and medals.
History
Foundation and early history
Fenerbahçe was founded as a football club in 1907 in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, by Ziya Songülen, Ayetullah Bey, and Necip Okaner. 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. So strict that the Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, forbade the Turkish youth to set up a club or engage in the game of football played by the English families that was watched in envy.
Ziya Songülen was elected the first President of the club, Ayetullah Bey became the first General Secretary, and Enver Necip Okaner was given the post of the General Captain.
The club's name comes from a neighbourhood in Istanbul. The name literally means "lighthouse garden" in Turkish (from fener, meaning "lighthouse", and bahçe, meaning "garden"), referring to a historic lighthouse located at Fenerbahçe Cape. The location was a big influence on the design of the club's first crest as well, which sported the yellow white colours of daffodils and the leaf of oaks around the lighthouse.
The first kits were also designed with yellow and white stripes. The crest and the colours of the club were changed in 1910 when Hikmet Topuzer redesigned the badge and Ziya Songülen changed the colours to yellow and navy, from then on the iconic colours of the club. 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, Hassan Sami Kocamemi, Asaf Beşpınar, Enver Yetiker, Şevkati Hulusi Bey, Fuat Hüsnü Kayacan, Hamit Hüsnü Kayacan, and Nasuhi Baydar.
Fenerbahçe played against the staff of the Royal Navy that occupied Istanbul during the Turkish War of Independence. Some British soldiers formed football teams that were named after the players' speciality, for example Essex Engineers, Irish Guards, Grenadiers, and Artillery. These teams played against each other and against local football teams in Istanbul.
Fenerbahçe won many of these matches. General Harrington Cup, named after the commander of the British occupation forces in Istanbul, was a football tournament held in Istanbul in 1923. Local football teams and teams formed by the occupying forces participated in the tournament. In the final match which was played at Taksim Stadium on 1923, Fenerbahçe and the British occupation forces team faced each other.
Fenerbahçe won this match 2-1 and got the cup. As a result of the Kuşdili Fire that occurred on the night of 1932, the club lost all its material artifacts and documents, including trophies, membership records, and match books. Consequently, May 3, the day Atatürk visited the club's clubhouse for the first time in 1918, was adopted as its founding day. It is being claimed that he was a supporter of Fenerbahçe.
In 1910, the club's infamous rowing department and sailing department were founded. In 1913, the basketball branch was founded, along with its athletics department and swimming department, the former being the first basketball team established within a sports club in the Ottoman Empire. In 1928; both men's and women's volleyball departments were founded along with the table tennis team.
Branch outlines
The men's football department is the most known of the club and has won a total of 54 domestic trophies, including a record 28 Turkish championship titles (19 Turkish Super League, six National Division, and three Turkish Football Championship titles), among others, which make the club the most successful in the country.
The club is also leading the all-time table of the Turkish Super League. In international club football, Fenerbahçe won the Balkans Cup in 1968, the first international trophy won by a Turkish football team.
The men's basketball team is one of the most successful in Turkey and also has one of the highest rankings in Europe, being the first team in Turkish basketball history to have won the EuroLeague and a match against an NBA team. They became European champions in the 2016–17 season and runners-up in 2015–16 and 2017–18.
The club have played in five consecutive EuroLeague Final Fours (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) so far, which is also a Turkish record. They won another F4 in 2023.
In 2023, the women's basketball team won the EuroLeague by defeating ÇBK Mersin Yenişehir 99–60 in the all-Turkish final. By achieving this feat, Fener became the first and only sports club in history to be crowned European champions in both men's and women's basketball. Eventually in the same year, Fenerbahçe became the first and only Turkish club to date to win the FIBA Europe SuperCup by crushing France's LDLC ASVEL Féminin on their own homeground with a dominating victory and a point differential of 57, a record in the SuperCup's history.
In volleyball, Fenerbahçe became the first Turkish club ever to be crowned World champions in an Olympic team sport, by winning the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship undefeated in 2010. They also were crowned European Champions by winning the CEV Champions League in the 2011–12 season, having reached the final before in 2010. Furthermore, they won the CEV Cup in 2014.
The men's volleyball team won the CEV Challenge Cup, also in the 2013–14 season, thus writing volleyball history as the women's team won another continental title, the aforementioned CEV Cup, the very same day. By achieving this unparalleled feat, Fenerbahçe became the only sports club in Turkey and one of few in Europe with European titles won in both the men's and women's volleyball departments. They also became Balkan Champions in 2009 and 2013.
The table tennis department of Fenerbahçe is the best in Turkey and one of the best in Europe, with the women's team having won the ETTU Cup two times in a row, in the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons, which is a Turkish record. They became the only Turkish team that played in a European Champions League Final, and they won the Champions League title in 2015 undefeated, thus achieving the only Triple Crown ever for a Turkish table tennis team.
The men's team reached the final of the ETTU Cup in 2008, which is the best result for any Turkish team to date.
Club crest and colours
Since the club's foundation, Fenerbahçe has used the same badge, which has only undergone minor alterations.
It was designed by Hikmet Topuzer, nicknamed Topuz Hikmet, who played as left winger, in 1910, and had made as lapel pins by Tevfik Haccar Taşçı (then Tevfik Haccar) in London. The crest consists of five colours. The white section which includes the writing Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü ★ 1907 ★ represents purity and open-heartedness, the red section represents love and attachment to the club and symbolises the Turkish flag.
The yellow section symbolises other ones' envy and jealousy about Fenerbahçe, while the navy symbolises nobility. The oak leaf which rises from the navy and yellow section shows the force and the power of being a member of Fenerbahçe. The green colour of the leaf shows the success of Fenerbahçe is imperative. Hikmet Topuzer describes the story of the emblem as below:
After the change of the club's colours from yellow and white to yellow and navy, it was an issue to create an emblem with our new colours. My friends left the design of this emblem to me. Firstly, I brought together the colours of our national flag, red and white. Then drew a heart shape over the red and gave it a yellow and navy colour, adding an acorn leaf that represents resistance, power and strength.
I wrote the club name and foundation date on the white section. When drawing our emblem, I tried to give this meaning: Serving the club with dependence from heart. The design was favored by my friends and our new emblem was made through the guidance of Tevfik Haccar, who was in Germany at time. After the new alphabet was approved, the design was protected, but the club name on the emblem was changed to Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü ★ 1907 ★.
European and worldwide honours
Active departments
Men's football
The club were founded as a football club in 1907, hence the men's football department are the first and oldest of the club. They have won a record 28 Turkish championship titles over the course of their history, including 19 Super League titles, six National Division titles, and three former Turkish Football Championship titles. Fenerbahçe also won the Balkans Cup in 1968, the first ever international trophy won by a Turkish football club.
Turkish football championships: 28 titles (record)
- Süper Lig (since 1959)
- Winners (19): 1959, 1960–61, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2010–11, 2013–14
- Runners-up (25): 1959–60, 1961–62, 1966–67, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1993–94, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
- Turkish National Division (1937–1950)
- Winners (6) (record): 1937, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1950
- Runners-up (2): 1944, 1947
- Turkish Football Championship (1924–1951)
- Winners (3) (shared-record): 1933, 1935, 1944
- Runners-up (2): 1940, 1947
National cups (27)
- Turkish Cup
- Winners (7): 1967–68, 1973–74, 1978–79, 1982–83, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2022–23
- Runners-up (11): 1962–63, 1964–65, 1988–89, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2015–16, 2017–18
- Turkish Super Cup
- Winners (10): 1968, 1973, 1975, 1984, 1985, 1990, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2025
- Runners-up (10): 1970, 1974, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1989, 1996, 2012, 2013, 2023
- Prime Minister's Cup
- Winners (8) (record): 1945, 1946, 1950, 1973, 1980, 1989, 1993, 1998
- Runners-up (7): 1944, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1992, 1994, 1995
- Atatürk Cup
- Winners (1) (shared-record): 1998
- Spor Toto Cup
- Winners (1): 1967
Regional competitions:
- Istanbul Football League
- Winners (16) (record): 1911–12, 1913–14, 1914–15, 1920–21, 1922–23, 1929–30, 1932–33, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1943–44, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1952–53, 1956–57, 1958–59
- Runners-up (18): 1915–16, 1917–18, 1921–22, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1933–34, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1942–43, 1944–45, 1945–46, 1949–50, 1955–56, 1957–58
- Istanbul Football Cup
- Winners (1): 1944–45
- Runners-up (2): 1941–42, 1943–44
- Istanbul Shield
- Winners (4) (record): 1929–30, 1933–34, 1937–38, 1938–39
- Runners-up (1): 1932–33
International competitions:
- Balkans Cup
- Winners (1): 1966–67
Women's football
Originally founded in 1995 and re-founded in 2021, the women's football department of Fenerbahçe competes in the Turkish Women's Football Super League.
National championships (1)
