Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkishfootball club located inEskişehir. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division of Turkish football for 16 years until they were relegated. After being out of theSüper Lig for 12 years the club won theTFF First Leagueplayoffs[2] and were promoted in May 2008. Since being relegated from the Süper Lig in 2016 they have competed in lower leagues.
Eskişehirspor was founded by merging the regional teams of İdman Yurdu, Akademi Gençlik and Yıldıztepe and was admitted to the Second League in the 1965–1966 season. The team was promoted to the First League in its first professional season. Eskişehirspor became one of the better historically richAnatolian clubs despite having never won theSüper Lig between 1968 and 1975. They were runners-up in 1968–1969, 1969–1970, and 1971–1972 seasons. Eskişehirspor won theTurkish Cup in the 1969–1970 season by beating Bursaspor by 4–3 (1–2, 3–1) aggregate and a year after that in 1970–1971 season they lifted the Cumhurbaskanligi Kupasi (President Cup) by beating Galatasaray once again by the same scoreline 3–2 with all goals coming from the Eskişehirspor legend himself Fethi Heper.[3][4]But in 2024/25 season they managed to be first in Turkish Regional Amateur League and Return to 3rd League.
One of Eskişehirspor's greatest matches took place in the1970–71UEFA Cup againstSevilla FC. Eskişehirspor lost the away leg 1–0, butFethi Heper won it for them 3–2, scoring a hat-trick in front of a home crowd with only 10 minutes left to play.[5]
After the 80's, Eskişehirspor started to slowly lose their success. The club relegated to the Second League in the 1981–82 season after an eventful match againstBeşiktaş on gameweek 34, the last gameweek. The match was halted at 78th minute due to an intemperance caused by Eskişehirspor's supporters, after Beşiktaş's midfielderZiya scored the 2-1 goal in the 76th minute. Eskişehirspor was announced to have unanimously lost the match 3-0 by TFF and relegated, being 1 point behindGaziantepspor while Beşiktaş won the First League trophy 14 years after their last league trophy in 1967. Eskişehirspor returned to the First League in the 1983–84 season. They reached theFederation Cup final in the 1986–87 season but lost againstGençlerbirliği 6–2 on aggregate. They won theChancellor Cup againstBeşiktaş after the penalty shootout resulted in a 4–2 victory, the match previously finishing in a 2–2 draw.
They relegated again to the Second League after a 1–0 loss againstGalatasaray, a goal scored byTanju in Round 38, the last round in the 1988–89 season. Eskişehirspor collected 41 points and remained behindAltay by average. They relegated to the Third League after finishing third from last in Group A of the Second League in the 1991–92 season. However, they returned to the Second League the following season after finishing 1st in Group 5 of the Third League.
Eskişehirspor finished 1st in the 3rd Group in the Second League and qualified for the Promotion Group in the 1994–95 season. They finished 3rd and qualified to Extra Playoff where they successfully defeatedErzurumspor 2–1,Adanaspor 3–2 after extra time andAydınspor 2–1, returning to the First League. Eskişehirspor's new adventure in the First League would however last only one season as they were relegated after a 7-1 loss againstTrabzonspor despite a good start againstİstanbulspor where the match finished in a 3–1 victory for Eskişehirspor. Eskişehirspor qualified to the Promotion Playoff but didn't return to the First League in the 1997–98 season. They escaped relegation to the Third League the following season, Petrol Ofisi SK being the one to relegated in the 1998–99 season. Eskişehirspor finally qualified to the Second League Category B (later renamed Second League), which is the third level of Turkish football, after the 2000–2001 season.
Eskişehirspor finished 1st in 3rd Group ofİddaa League B and played in Promotion Group in 2005–2006 season. They finished 3rd behind ofKasımpaşa andGençlerbirliği Asaşspor and qualified for Extra Playoff matches. Eskişehirspor's first play off match was againstKardemir Karabükspor. After regular and extra time the match ended in a 0–0 draw. Eskişehirspor advanced to quarter final game after beating them 3–1 in the penalty shoot out. They also defeatedSarıyer after 6–5 in the penalty shoot out. Regular and extra time the match ended in a 0–0 draw before penalty shoot out. They defeated 3–0Kartalspor in semifinal andPendikspor in final and promoted to First League. Eskişehirspor finished 13th in 2006–2007 season. After a successful season in theBank Asya First League, Eskişehirspor finished in 4th place and qualified for the playoffs in 2007–2008 season. The playoffs determine who is going to take the third and final promotion spot for theSüper Lig.
Eskişehirspor's first play off match was againstDiyarbakırspor. The match ended 0–0 after regular and extra time, Eskişehirspor won the penalty shoot out, 6–5.
The final match againstBoluspor was held at the Beşiktaş'Inonu Stadium inIstanbul. At the end of 90 minutes Eskişehirspor were promoted to the Süper Lig winning 2–0, with goals fromDoğa Kaya andCoşkun Birdal.
On 3 June 2008, Halil Ünal was elected as the new chairman of Eskişehirspor.[6]Rıza Çalımbay was appointed as manager for the2008–2009 season.[7] Eskişehirspor beatGalatasaray twice (4–2 at home and 1–0 at away), and draw 2–2 with Fenerbahçe at home in this season and secured Süper Lig status for 2009–2010 season, despite losing 5–2 at home toTrabzonspor on 24 May 2009. The 2009–2010 season was a much more progressive period for ESES. Almost all title chasing clubs were beaten in the Eskisehir Stadium by Kırmızı Şimşekler. ESES had a very poor beginning to the 2010–2011 season, losing 6 matches back to back. Rıza Çalımbay was sacked by the board and Bulent Uygun was announced as the new Coach. Within a short time he and his technical staff solved the main problems of the team, and, after 10 matches, almost qualified for the UEFA Cup, but were ranked 7th in the table at end of the season. During the summer break, Bulent Uygun was fired and Michael Skibbe announced as new coach.
Eskişehirspor was relegated from the Süper Lig in 2016 and spent 5 seasons in theTFF First League, the second division of Turkish football, before being relegated in 2021. During this period, the club was placed under a transfer embargo starting in 2019, due to months of unpaid wages and a debt of 234 million Turkish Lira.[8]
In 2022, the club suffered back-to-back relegations as it fell to theTFF Third League.
In January 2023, Erkan Koca was elected as the sole candidate at the extraordinary general assembly meeting and became the new president of the club.[9] After the new management took office, Eskişehirspor's transfer ban was lifted in February 2023 after 7 transfer periods following the letter of no debt received from its creditors.[10] At the end of the 2022–23 season, the club was relegated to theTurkish Regional Amateur League.
The club colours were inspired by French clubStade Rennais' 1964–1965Coupe De France win, the board saw Rennes lifting the cup celebrating on the front page of a football magazine and immediately fell in love with the club colours and adopted them as their own believing that it would bring them good luck.[11]
New Eskişehir Stadium is a multi-usestadium in the Sazova neighborhood of (Southwest of Eskişehir metropolitan area)Eskişehir,Turkey. The all-seated stadium has a capacity of nearly 32,500 people.It was also one of the 9 candidate host stadiums of theTurkish bid forEURO 2016.[13] Despite losing the election, the Chairman of TFF said "we have to work on these stadiums like a winner of the election; I'm going to talk about it with the Prime Minister".
The inner walls of the stadium are constructed partially with serigraphic glass to provide maximum transparency from the inside and to emphasise its open character at night. A tram line connects the New Eskişehir Stadium with the city centre, the airport and the university. A new express ring road around the city also passes just south of the stadium.
On 7 January 2010, the Eskişehirspor president, Halil Ünal, Eskişehir mayor, Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Büyükerşen and Eskişehir governor, Mehmet Kılıçlar, signed the agreement to construct the new stadium in Muttalip.[14]
The supporters create a great atmosphere during the season with their Band Team (known asBandoESES). Besides BandoESES, there is another supporter group (known asKoreoESES), who create very different and unique shows, with some beautiful choreographies for every match, at the stadium and on the road. Eskisehirspor supporters are really different than others when it comes to supporting their club through 2nd and even 3rd divisions. They regard their old fashioned stadium as holy grounds and reject the idea that it be moved to the outskirts of the city for the modern one. Because of their passionate, obsessive and dominant atmosphere during matches, they are the envy of many other team's supporters. They have gained recognition and respect as one of the fiercest fanbases in Turkey and are known as a "phenomenon" of Turkish football.
The game in Group VI between Eskişehirspor andManavgat Belediyespor of December 15, 2024 had the highest attendances numbers in the history of theTurkish Regional Amateur League with a total of 30,328 spectators.[15]
Founded in 2006 in the 'Samba Bar',Eskişehir, what started as a group of friends has grown into one of the most well known and respect supporter groups in Turkey. Bando-ESES currently has 23 active musicians playing instruments ranging fromTrumpets to traditionsTurkishdavul drums. They are accompanied by loyal backing members who also help out. The group bring a change to the usual chanting and really liven games up turning matches into a carnival atmosphere. They can help to control the tempo of the game and have a range of musical styles. The group are well organised and are constantly growing.[11]
On 14 May 2016, after losing 1–2 toİstanbul BB, by a late winning goal in the 93rd minute, Eskişehirspor, after all the effort to stay, were relegated from the Süper Lig. Fans of the club, the Eskişehirspor Ultras, upset with this, set their own stadium on fire.[16][17] The stadium was never used again.[18]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.