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Walking from Central Kadıköy or Moda towards Fenerbahçe, you’ll pass Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium (Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadyumu). It’s the home of the Fenerbahçe football club and contains a museum and gift shop.
History
Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium is located just outside the Fenerbahçe area, which gives the club its name. It was originally called Priest’s Field (Papazın Çayırı) and was the first ever football pitch in Turkey. It hosted all Constantinople Football Association League games.
In 1908, the league needed a bigger stadium, so they built Union Club Field on the site. It was named after Union Club, which made the biggest donation towards construction. The field was the main football pitch in the city until Taksim Field was built in 1922. It was located at Taksim Square, where Gezi Park is located today.
Union Club Field was sold to the government and leased to Fenerbahçe, who changed its name to Fenerbahçe Stadium. Fenerbahçe renovated the stadium between 1929 and 1932. By 1949, it had a capacity of 25,000 and was the country’s biggest stadium.
In 1998, the stadium was renamed after Şükrü Saracoğlu (1887-1953), Turkey’s fifth Prime Minister and the chairman of Fenerbahçe from 1934 to 1950. From 1999 to 2006, the stadium was renovated to its current capacity of 50,509.
My Experiences
Fenerbahçe is my favorite Turkish football team. I actually started supporting them long before I ever visited the city because of their history and one player in particular, Lefter Küçükandonyadis.
I’ve been fortunate to attend two games at the stadium. One was to see Fenerbahçe play Konyaspor in 2011 and another to see the Turkish national team in 2012. My schedule never quite worked out to see more games, and reasonably priced tickets were hard to come by for the ones I could attend.
Lighthouse
Outside the stadium is a lighthouse that stands as a monument to the club. Fener means lighthouse in Turkish.
Lefter Küçükandonyadis Facilities
A few blocks south of the stadium are the Fenerbahçe Dereağzı Lefter Küçükandonyadis Facilities (Fenerbahçe Dereağzı Lefter Küçükandonyadis Tesisleri). It’s a 37,000 square meter training facility and has been in service since 1989.
