RC Deportivo de La Coruña is known as one of the well-established football clubs of Galicia, founded in A Coruña in 1906. Estadio Municipal de Riazor, where the team hosts its home matches, is located in the heart of the city. Although Deportivo's nickname, "El Turco", was used as a mockery by the fans of the neighboring team Celta Vigo, this name was adopted over time and adopted the slogan "We are strong like the Turks".
Traces of this rivalry are especially evident in the huge Turkish flags unfurled during the matches held at the Riazor Stadium and in the National Anthem sung at the Galicia Derby. Deportivo's feelings towards Celta Vigo go as far as accusing him of being a "Portugal fan".
Deportivo, which experienced one of the brightest periods of its history in 2000, by winning the La Liga championship under the management of Javier Irureta, crowned this with a crushing 4-0 victory against Milan in the Champions League quarter-finals in the 2003-04 season. The team eliminated its opponent with a total score of 4-1 in the said round and could not prevent Porto from being eliminated in the semi-finals.
Deportivo, which also reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the 2000-01 season, had to say goodbye to its dreams by losing to Leeds United.
Deportivo, which ranked 18th in La Liga with 29 points in the 2017-18 season and was relegated to the Segunda División, struggled to get back to the top league through the play-offs a year later. The team completed the Segunda División with 68 points and missed the chance to be promoted to La Liga by losing 3-0 to RCD Mallorca in the play-off final.
The eternal rivalry between the two great teams of Galicia continues to exist as part of a story that has continued for centuries, both in the sporting arena and on the cultural level.
The ties between Deportivo La Coruña and Türkiye date back to the expeditions of Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha, the naval commander of the Ottoman Empire, to Spain in the 16th century. At that time, the youth of Galicia attracted the reaction of the people of Vigo by offering various support to Barbaros. After this incident, the people of A Coruña began to be called "Turks", while Celta Vigo fans began to describe Deportivo as "traitors" and "Portugal fans".
Nowadays, this historical tension has been replaced by friendly but heated encounters with the competition on football fields. Deportivo fans, especially in their matches against Celta Vigo and Greece, decorate the Riazor Stadium with giant Turkish flags and continue to sing our national anthem, the Independence March.
