It was founded in 1913 as a basketball branch under the roof ofFenerbahçe S.K. This is the first basketball team established within a sports club in theOttoman Empire.[3] Besides the two European championship titles in2017 and2025,[4] Fenerbahçe have also beenEuroLeague runners-up in2016 and2018. Fener also have played in sevenEuroLeague Final Fours (2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2024,2025) to date, a record in Turkish basketball. As of 2025, Fenerbahçe is the onlyTurkish Super League team to score aTriple Crown and holds the1st place in European rankings.[5] In 2012, Fenerbahçe became the first and only Turkish basketball club to win against anNBA team. In 2015, Fenerbahçe made history by defeating theBrooklyn Nets on their home court at theBarclays Center, becoming the first and only Turkish team to beat anNBA franchise in theUnited States. With this remarkable achievement, Fenerbahçe became one of only three teams in global basketball history to accomplish such a feat.[6]
In 1913,Fenerbahçe S.K. established its first basketball team under the roof of an association sports club, but since there was no knowledge of basketball in theOttoman Empire at that time and there was no team in the country, this attempt remained at the training level only. The branch, which was also interrupted by theBalkan Wars andWorld War I, was re-established in 1919 under the roof ofFenerbahçe S.K., this time under the supervision of an American instructor. However, this first serious basketball attempt in the country also died out on its own, as no other team could be found to play matches.
Also, In the second attempt in 1919, this time an announcement was made to the public by placing an advertisement in local newspapers inIstanbul.[7]
"Our club has recently taken on a new identity and started playing basketball for the first time in our country under the supervision of an American instructor, and is proud of showing great success among its members in this regard"
— İdman (Sports) Magazine, 10 July 1919
Eventually, under the initiative of Muhtar Sencer and Cem Atabeyoğlu, it was founded in its current permanent form in 1944 and achieved considerable success when the sport established itself inTurkey.
Fenerbahçe, who dominated the sport with notable players of the period such as Altan Dinçer, Sacit Seldüz, Hikmet Vardar, Erdoğan Karabelen, Yılmaz Gündüz and Mehmet Baturalp under the leadership of memorable coach Samim Göreç, became champions of theIstanbul Basketball League in 1954–55, 1955–56, and 1956–57. By defeating their rivals Galatasaray 55–47 on February 5, 1955, which was the first basketball game broadcast live on radio in Turkey, Fener celebrated their first championship. The club made a new breakthrough in amateur sports, afterİsmet Uluğ, one of the former football players and boxers of the club became president in 1962, and won Istanbul League titles again in 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65 and 1965–66.
They remained a solid team in the rest of the 1960s, but had mixed success in the following decades, especially the 70s and 80s. Those decades were dominated by the likes ofEfes Pilsen andEczacıbaşı, and later alsoÜlkerspor, who won most of the titles. As these teams belonged to notable corporations with a solid financial background and support, traditional sports clubs such as Fenerbahçe had difficulties keeping up with them.
Fenerbahçe finished the league leader three times with stars such asErman Kunter, Aytek Gürkan, Can Sonat, Ferhat Oktay,Pete Williams andLarry Richard in the seasons 1984–85, 1987–88 and 1989–90, but was eliminated in the playoffs.Erman Kunter broke the record by scoring 153 points in a game of the 1987–1988 season, in which the yellow-navy blues team beat Hilalspor 175–101. Fenerbahçe would reach championship in 1991 that the fans were waiting for.Levent Topsakal,Larry Richard,Hüsnü Çakırgil and head coach Çetin Yılmaz led Fenerbahçe to the Turkish League title overTofaş.[8]
Fenerbahçe returned to theEuroLeague in 1992, but lost in the preliminary round. The club were back in the Turkish League finals in 1992, 1993, and 1995, but could not find a way to win the championship for some time. Fenerbahçe continued to have success in the late 90s. A third-place finish in the 1997–98 season allowed the club to return to the EuroLeague in 1998–99 season, and with players likeMahmoud Abdul-Rauf,Marko Milič,Žan Tabak,İbrahim Kutluay, and the lateConrad McRae, Fenerbahçe advanced to the eighth-final playoffs, losing there toReal Madrid. İbrahim Kutluay won theEuroLeague top scorer trophy with an average of 21.4 points.
The club made it to theSaporta Cup quarter-finals in1994–95. The following season Fenerbahçe reached the quarter-finals of theKorać Cup in1995–96 and repeated this achievement in2000–01. The early 2000s, however, were with very limited success. AfterAydın Örs started as a coach in 2004, Fenerbahçe returned to the Turkish League semifinals and had a great return to European competitions, finishing in fourth place in the2004–05FIBA Europe League.
In the summer of 2006, the basketball club acquired a main sponsorship deal withÜlker, to form Fenerbahçe Ülker. After the sponsorship agreement, Fenerbahçe dominated the Turkish League and became the league champions two times in a row after 16 years and the team returned to theEuroLeague.[9][10][11] After losing the Turkish League championship toEfes Pilsen in the2008–09 season, in a closely contested playoff finals,[12] Fenerbahçe became Turkish League champions again in the2009–10 season, this time by defeating Efes Pilsen in the finals 4–2.[13]
After two disappointing seasons, in 2011–12 and 2012–13 where Fenerbahçe Ülker finished in fifth place in the Turkish league, legendary coachŽeljko Obradović was then signed as the team's head coach, and the roster was strengthened with the likes of formerToronto RaptorLinas Kleiza, promisingpower forwardNemanja Bjelica, consistentcenterLuka Žorić, and hot Turkish prospectsKenan Sipahi andMelih Mahmutoğlu. Fenerbahçe became the Turkish League champions once again, after beating eternal rivalsGalatasaray in the playoff's finals of the2013–14 season.[15] Success in theEuroLeague, however, continued to elude the team.
In the2014–15 season, Fenerbahçe reached theEuroLeague Final Four for the first time in their history. In the quarterfinals, Fenerbahçe knocked outMaccabi Tel Aviv with three straight wins. In the semifinals, the team lost toReal Madrid, and eventually finished fourth. At the end of the season, the club's sponsorship agreement with Ülker ended.[16] In the2015–16 season, Fenerbahçe impressed in the EuroLeague Regular Season and Top 16, and qualified once again for theFinal Four tournament, by eliminating the defending champions,Real Madrid, in the playoffs, again with a score of 3–0. During their first Final Four match againstLaboral Kutxa, Fenerbahçe faced risking elimination once again beforeKostas Sloukas made a game-tying lay-up to force the game into overtime, whereBogdan Bogdanović would help lead the team in overtime to win 88–77. The club became the first Turkish team to ever make it to theEuroLeague Final game. Their final opponent in the EuroLeague competition wasCSKA Moscow. Fenerbahçe lost 101–96 afterovertime.
The team that won theEuroLeague title in the 2016–17 season is at the cup ceremony
In the following2016–17 season, Fenerbahçe won their first European championship. The club beat Greek powerhouseOlympiacos 80–64 in thechampionship game of the Final Four, that was held inIstanbul.[4] Fenerbahçe became the first and only Turkish team in history to win the EuroLeague title.[17]CenterEkpe Udoh was namedEuroLeague Final Four MVP.[18] Following their European title, Fenerbahçe acquired a new main sponsor deal in the 2017 off-season.Doğuş Group signed a three-year contract with the club, worth an amount of €45 million, which guaranteed the club the largest name sponsorship deal in European basketball history.[19]
In the2017–18 season, Fenerbahçe finished second at the regular season of the EuroLeague. In thePlayoffs, they faced off againstKirolbet Baskonia, whom they eliminated with 3–1 in the best-of-five series. Thus the club managed to reach the EuroLeague Final Four for the fourth time in a row, improving their record.[20] The team eventually lost against Real Madrid in thechampionship final. Fenerbahçe also continued their domination of the Turkish Super League – after a setback in 2015, Fenerbahçe won the 2016, 2017, and 2018 championships in dominating fashion.
Before the beginning of the 2018–19 season,Doğuş withdrew from the sponsorship deal which originally was projected for three years.[21] Following the unexpected retraction, a new main sponsorship agreement withBeko was initiated.[22] During the2018–19 season, Fenerbahçe became the only team who stayed undefeated at home after a 30-game regular season and secured the best record after a regular season (25–5) under the new EuroLeague format (2016–17 season to present). Fener also became the earliest EuroLeague Playoffs qualifiers ever in the modern EuroLeague era.[23] Domestically, the Yellow-Navy Blues defeated rivals Anadolu Efes in the2019 Turkish Cup final to claim their sixth title. Fenerbahçe defeatedBC Žalgiris, 3–1, in the EuroLeague quarterfinals, qualifying to their fifth consecutive Final Four. In the EuroLeague Final Four, however, Fenerbahçe was beaten by Anadolu Efes in the semifinals, and Real Madrid in the third place game, finishing in a disappointing fourth place. In the Turkish Super League, Fenerbahçe once again made the finals – however, in an upset, they were again defeated by Anadolu Efes in a seven-game series.
The 2019–2020 season was the last under Obradović. Fenerbahçe managed to win the2020 Turkish Cup by beatingTeksüt Bandırma in the quarterfinals,Türk Telekom in the semifinals, andDarüşşafaka in the finals. Despite improving their roster with signings likeDerrick Williams andNando De Colo, Fenerbahçe struggled in the EuroLeague – at the time the season was stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic, Fenerbahçe was fighting for the final playoff spot, and in the Turkish Super League, Fenerbahçe was just 4th – behind Anadolu Efes,Pınar Karşıyaka andGalatasaray. Both tournaments were cancelled with no champions announced. In the summer, coach Obradović resigned.
Fenerbahçe signed formerPhoenix Suns head coachIgor Kokoškov to replace Obradović. Fenerbahçe underwent many changes during the post season, though managed to keep top players like Vesely and De Colo on the roster. The team greatly struggled in the EuroLeague, suffering many embarrassing blowout loses in the beginning, and fell quickly behind Anadolu Efes in the Turkish Super League standings, but with the late season signing ofMarko Gudurić, the team greatly improved. A winning streak in the EuroLeague helped Fenerbahçe make the EuroLeague playoffs with a 20–14 record and 7th place in the regular season. In the playoffs, Fenerbahçe was swept by CSKA Moscow. In the Turkish Super League, Fenerbahçe returned to the finals and faced the 2021 EuroLeague champions Anadolu Efes, who easily swept Fenerbahçe in the finals. Despite signing a long-term contract,Kokoškov left Fenerbahçe during the summer.
During the off-season, Fenerbahçe signedSaša Đorđević as the new head coach. Fenerbahçe had higher expectations for the season than the previous year. In the EuroLeague, Fenerbahçe struggled, and for the first time since the 2013–2014 season, failed to make the playoffs – finishing in a disappointing 12th place, and coach Đorđević suffered much criticism. Anadolu Efes repeated as the 2022 EuroLeague champions. In the re-established Turkish Cup, Fenerbahçe was beaten by Anadolu Efes. Afterwards,Dimitris Itoudis was signed in and in the Turkish Super League, Fenerbahçe got their revenge – they finished over Efes in the regular season standings, earning home-court advantage for the playoffs, and made the finals – in the finals, Fenerbahçe beat Anadolu Efes 3–1 to win the championship, their record breaking 10th Turkish League championship.
In the first match of the semi-finals of the 2022-23 Turkish Basketball Super League Play-Offs, Fenerbahçe Beko defeated Anadolu Efes by 108–66, with a difference of 42 points. With this result, Fenerbahçe broke new record in its competition against Anadolu Efes. The yellow-navy blue team achieved its biggest victory in all the matches it played against its opponent in history, with a difference of 42 points. In addition, this result was the most different defeat suffered by Anadolu Efes in a Basketball Super League match.[24] However, Efes rebounded and shocked Fenerbahçe with a 3–1 win in the semifinals – a disaster for Fenerbahçe.
Šarūnas Jasikevičius, who became a champion both during his time as a coach and during his time playing basketball at Fenerbahçe
Fenerbahçe won theTurkish Basketball Cup for the 8th time in the 2023–24 season by defeating Anadolu Efes 67–80 in the Turkish Basketball Cup final. With the appointment ofŠarūnas Jasikevičius as head coach on December 14, 2023, Fenerbahçe once again participated in the Final Four after a 3-year hiatus. In the 2023-24 Euroleague season,Nigel Hayes-Davis broke therecord for most points scored in a EuroLeague game by scoring 50 points againstAlba Berlin.[25] Fenerbahçe, which successfully completed the Play-Offs in the 2023–24 Turkish Basketball League, faced Anadolu Efes in the finals and won the final games 3–1, winning its 11th Championship.
In the 2024–25 season, Fenerbahçe defeated Beşiktaş 104–81 in the Turkish Basketball Cup final and took theTurkish Basketball Cup to its museum for the 9th time. They qualified for the2024 EuroLeague Final Four for the sixth time in the 2023–24 season, but bowed out in the semi-finals.
The club finished the2024–25 EuroLeague regular season in second place, beatParis 3–0 in the Play-Off qualifiers, qualified for theFinal Four held in Abu Dhabi, and beatPanathinaikos 82–76 in the semi-finals, making it to the EuroLeague finals for the fourth time, winning it againstMonaco 81–70 and winning theEuroLeague for the second time.[26] Fenerbahçe, which completed the 2024–25 season as the EuroLeague champion, defeated rivals Beşiktaş 4–1 in the Turkish Super League final series and declared its 15th championship. Fener thus completed the2024–25 season with a historicTriple Crown (Turkish Cup, Turkish Super League andEuroLeague championship), becoming the first Turkish team to achieve this feat. Fenerbahçe, which did not renew the contracts ofErrick McCollum,Marko Gudurić,Dyshawn Pierre andSertaç Şanlı, whose contracts expired at the end of the 2024–25 season, has begun restructuring its new squad. Before the start of the 2025–26 season, Fener signedMikael Jantunen, who had a strong performance for the Finnish national team at theEuroBasket 2025, as well asBrandon Boston Jr.,Armando Bacot, andTalen Horton-Tucker from theNBA. Fener also re-signedOnuralp Bitim, who was loaned to Bayern Munich at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. Fenerbahçe beat Beşiktaş 85–83 to lift the 38th edition of the President's Cup, which serves as theTurkish Supercup, on 24 September. The reigning EuroLeague champions, who captured thetriple crown last season and also won the Turkish League and Turkish Cup titles, have now lifted their fourth trophy of the calendar year. Thus, it achieved a significant success by winning trophies in a total of 4 official tournaments in one season.[27]
Fenerbahçe participated in European competitions numerous times throughout their history and became one of the most successful Turkish clubs ever. By winning the formerTurkish Basketball Championship, the club represented Turkey for their first time in theFIBA European Champions Cup in1959–60 and again in1965–66. Some years later, they made it to theFIBA European Cup quarter-finals in the1994–95 season. The following season Fenerbahçe reached the quarter-finals of theFIBA Korać Cup in1996 and repeated this achievement in2001. In the1998–99 season of the FIBA EuroLeague, they reached the Top 16 stage, but lost there toReal Madrid. The club became fourth in the2004–05 season of theFIBA EuroChallenge. The first major success in the modern eraEuroLeague was achieved in the2007–08 season, where Fenerbahçe reached the quarter-finals. The firstFinal Four participation in the history of the club followed some years later, in the2014–15 season, when the team eliminated reigning European championsMaccabi Tel Aviv in the play-offs with three straight victories under the guidance of legendary coachŽeljko Obradović. In the semi-final game they lost against Real Madrid and eventually finished fourth. In thenext season, the club reachedthe final of the competition with a convincing overall performance, again by eliminating the reigning champions (Real Madrid) with three straight wins, and lost dramatically againstCSKA Moscow in overtime. Then eventually, in2017, Fenerbahçe managed to win the EuroLeague trophy as the first and only Turkish club ever, in their own city, by defeating Greek teamOlympiacos in thefinal game with a score of 80–64. From thequarter-finals onwards, the club eliminated their opponents in dominating fashion, first sweeping Greek teamPanathinaikos Superfoods with 3–0 wins despite the home-court disadvantage, and then defeating European powerhousesReal Madrid andOlympiacos with being behind only for a few seconds in total in the Final Four inIstanbul. Fenerbahçe, which finished the2024–25 EuroLeague regular season in second place, beatParis 3–0 in the Play-Off qualifiers, qualified for theFinal Four held in Abu Dhabi, and beatPanathinaikos 82–76 in the semi-finals, making it to the EuroLeague finals for the fourth time, winning it againstMonaco 81–70 and winning the EuroLeague for the "second" time.
On 15 May 2016, Fenerbahçe became the first Turkish basketball club to playEuroLeague final and on 21 May 2017, became the first Turkish basketball club to wonEuroLeague.
x Name sponsorship1 Main sponsorship2 Back sponsorship3 Short sponsorship4 Transportation sponsorship5 Arm side sponsorship (*) OneEmbraer 195 jet (TC-YAT) is painted with the club's livery[30]
The Fenerbahçe Basketball Museum, which is the first and only basketball museum in Turkey, contains the entire history of the basketball team from 1913 to the present. The museum is located in theÜlker Sports Arena, the team's basketball hall. Previously located in theŞükrü Saracoğlu Stadium inKadıköy, the club's headquarters, the trophies and all awards belonging to the basketball branch were transferred to this new museum, which was opened on November 18, 2022. The museum displays the trophies and awards of the men's basketball team, as well as the women's basketball team.[50]
First team to win thePresidential Cup for 2 consecutive years (1989–90, 1990–91)
Only Turkish team to win againstNBA teams (October 5, 2012 Fenerbahçe 97–91 Boston Celtics)
Turkish team with the most wins against NBA teams. It is the 4th team in Europe (2 Wins)
Only Turkish team to beat an NBA team in the Americas. In Europe, it is the 2nd team afterCSKA Moscow (October 5, 2015 Brooklyn Nets 96–101 Fenerbahçe)
The Turkish team that finished the EuroLeague 1st round groups as the leader the most (3 times: 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16)
The Turkish team that won the most in a single EuroLeague season (28 wins in the 2018–19 season, 25 wins in the regular season, 3 wins in the play-offs)
The Turkish team that won the most at home in a single EuroLeague season (14 wins – 0 losses in the 2015–16 season)
The Turkish team that won the most in the same season in EuroLeague history,Maccabi Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow,Olympiacos andBarcelona on the road
First Turkish team to advance to the EuroLeaguefinals (2015–16 season)
Turkish team with the highest winning average in the EuroLeague (Fenerbahçe 54%, Anadolu Efes 51%)
Only Turkish team to advance to the EuroLeagueFinal Four for five consecutive seasons (2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 seasons)
First Turkish team to becomechampions in the EuroLeague (2016–17 season)
First Turkish team to finish the regular season as the leader in the EuroLeague (2018–19 season)
First Turkish team to play in three consecutiveEuroLeague finals (2016, 2017, 2018)