| UEFA | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Short name | TFF |
| Founded | 23 April 1923; 102 years ago (1923-04-23) |
| Headquarters | Istanbul |
| FIFA affiliation | 1923 |
| UEFA affiliation | 1962 |
| President | İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu |
| Website | www |
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TheTurkish Football Federation (Turkish:Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu;TFF) is the governing body ofassociation football in Turkey. It was formed on 23 April 1923, and joinedFIFA the same year andUEFA in 1962.[1] It organizes theTurkey national football team, theTurkish Football League and theTurkish Cup.
The Turkish football league system is divided into eight tiers, ranging from the top-tierSüper Lig to local amateur divisions.
TheTurkish Cup changed its name to the Federation Cup (Turkish:Federasyon Kupası) in the 1980–81 season, then back to Turkish Cup in 1992–93.
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Turkey have bid five times to host theUEFA European Championship.
Turkey submitted a joint bid withGreece forUEFA Euro 2008, which failed. Their bid forUEFA Euro 2012 was also unsuccessful, with the competition going toPoland andUkraine. The federation also submitted a bid to hostUEFA Euro 2016, but UEFA announced thatEuro 2016 would be hosted byFrance. Turkey were also bidding forUEFA Euro 2024, competing againstGermany. Germany were announced the hosts. Turkey will host theUEFA Euro 2032, alongside Italy (both previously bid against each other for 2016), given Turkey to finally host a UEFA Euro on their fifth attempt.
Turkey had already hosted the2005 UEFA Champions League Final, the2023 UEFA Champions League Final, and the2009 UEFA Cup Final all played inIstanbul.[2] At the youth-level, they hosted theUEFA European Under-17 Football Championship in2008, after first hosting the event back in1993.
The TFF organized a nationwide championship as early as 1924. That year theTurkish Football Championship (Turkish:Türkiye Futbol Şampiyonası) was held in order to bring forth a national football champion.[3][4] The championship format was based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of each of the country's regional leagues. Some years later, in 1937, the first national league calledMillî Küme was introduced. The league was held until 1950, one year before the Turkish Football Championship was also abolished.[5][6]
Even though both competitions were organized by the TFF and were official championships respectively,[7][8] they are not acknowledged and counted by the very same federation which held them. Until today no official reason or motive was given for the unparalleled and irregular denial. All other football associations in Europe without exception consequently acknowledge their former national championships. The Turkish Federation is the only one with such a stance.
As a result,Ankara Demirspor became the first club to officially demand that the federation acknowledge their championship title won in 1947, but received no answer at all to date.[9][when?] Club president Nuğman Yavuz stated that he contacted the Turkish Federation twice, but the federation did not respond in any way.[10] Similarly,Fenerbahçe also requested proper acknowledgement of these national championship titles, and faced the same unconstructive reaction.[11] Having won a total of nine titles in both former championships, the club demands to have those official titles rightfully acknowledged.[12][13][14][15]
For instance, Mehmet Demirkol, a renowned sports writer and commentator,[16] stated thatBeşiktaş won their 20th championship title overall in the2016–17 season, not their 15th.[17][18][Video 1] Numerous other sports writers, persons of authority, politicians, and officials also openly expressed their opinions on this issue and reinforced the view that the Turkish federation should unambiguously acknowledge and count the former championship titles.[19][20][21][22][23][Video 2][Video 3] Among them is also historian and headmaster of theGalatasaray High School Vahdettin Engin[24] and Turkish football expertAhmet Çakar.[25]
According to historians' analysis of the 2002 Turkish Football Federation Arbitration Board (tahkim kurulu) decision, which stated that the Turkish League Championships began before 1959 and the championships before 1959 cannot be left uncounted.[26][27]
In addition to requesting acknowledgement of the titles, Fenerbahçe's kit for the 2023-24 season includes a badge with 5 stars above which can't be worn in league matches because it is against the regulations of the federation and they did not give permission to play with them,[28] likely in the hopes that the TFF will recognize their pre-1959 championships, also notably on the club's website the 28 championships are listed as if they were official likely as an act of protest against the TFF's lack of recognition of the pre-1959 titles.[29]
Fenerbahçe filed a lawsuit against Turkey (Turkish Football Federation) at theEuropean Court of Human Rights in October 2023. As a result, the European Court of Human Rights initiated preliminary proceedings against Turkey (Turkish Football Federation) in March 2025. According to the initial assessment of a Turkish lawyer, Fenerbahçe's rights have been violated (Right to property of championship titles andRight to a fair trial).[30]
In July 2024, İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu was elected president of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF). He appointed Celal Nuri Demirtürk as President of the Professional Football Disciplinary Committee (PFDK) of the TFF. In the same month, a Turkish media outlet revealed that Demirtürk is a fanatical supporter of Galatasaray Istanbul. In addition, Mr Demirtürk acted in the past as a legal counsel in 2002 for a Turkish football referee who was arrested in connection with match-fixing and betting.[31]
Following a leak of the ‘hostile’ WhatsApp conversations of the PFDK board in June 2025, Fenerbahçe filed a complaint with the Turkish Football Federation.[32] PFDK President Demirtürk and other board members submitted their resignations following the publication of the WhatsApp conversations.[33] In the WhatsApp conversations, they showed their bias in favour of Galatasaray, their feelings of revenge and threatened Galatasaray's arch-rival football coach that if he continued to cause trouble next season, they would get back at him. They also patronisingly ridiculed Galatasaray's arch-rivals Fenerbahçe. For Fenerbahçe, this shows Demirtürk's bias and casts doubt on his impartiality, justice and equality as PFDK president.[34]
In the same month, the resignations of Demirtürk, his deputy and reporting member were accepted and a new PFDK president was appointed by the TFF half a week later.[35]
In the summer of 2011, Turkish police began an investigation into 19 football matches suspected of being fixed, and by 10 July 61 individuals had been arrested, including club managers andTurkish national team players. 26 of these would later have requests for release refused by the court.[36][37] By 12 JulyUEFA had confirmed they were monitoring the situation. Accusations included attempts to fix matches to influence league standings. Beşiktaş presidentYıldırım Demirören later returned the Turkish Cup following match-fixing allegations levelled at his own club.[38]
On 6 November 2020, the Turkish court declared all suspects innocent. The trial was held in the Istanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court after the appeals court overturned another acquittal verdict in January by a lower court for all the suspects. During the trial, 19 suspects were declared innocent due to the lack of evidence.[39][40] Being one of the clubs which were acquitted of the accusations, Fenerbahçe demand €135 million fromUEFA and TFF in the context of a claim for damages.[41]
On 11 December 2023, a melee occurred during a match betweenMKE Ankaragücü andÇaykur Rizespor, in which fans being invaded the playing field's pitch.[42][43][44] Six people, including MKE Ankaragucum club PresidentFaruk Koca, were arrested for assaulting a referee.[43][42][44] The referee,Halil Umut Meler, was hospitalized following the assault.[43]
The next day, Koca resigned from MKE Ankaragucu, and the Turkish Football Federation decided to suspend all league games in Turkey indefinitely.[45][42][46][43][44] Meler, who suffered a minor facial facture and eye injury, was discharged from the hospital on 13 December.[47][48][49] The same day, it was announced that the suspension of league games would end on 19 December 2023.[48]
On 14 December 2023, the TFF announced that Koca had been banned permanently for punching Meler. Ankaragücü were fined two millionlira (£54,000) and ordered to play five home games without any fans.[50]
Koca stood trial on 9 January 2024 on charges of injuring a public official, threatening an official, and violating a law relating to the prevention of violence in sports.[51][52] On 11 November, Koca was convicted and sentenced to 3.5 years' imprisonment.[53]
Turkish Football Federation gain 45 medals of 900 events.
1936'ya kadar süren bu dönemde ilk Türkiye Şampiyonası Ankara'da yapılmış ve şampiyon Harbiye olmuştur.
...ilk deplasmanlı lig kapsamındaki Milli Küme maçları da yine bu dönemde tertip edilmiştir.
Öncelikle şu iki hususu net bir şekilde söylemek lazım. Kimse 1959 öncesini yok saymıyor. Tahkim Kurulu'nun 2002 yılında verdiği kararla 59 öncesine geçilmiştir. Tahkim'in kararı varken 59 öncesi sayılmıyor diyemeyiz...
... Tahkim Kurulu 2002 yılında almış olduğu kararda Türkiye liglerinin bir 1959'da başlamadığını net bir şekilde şey yapmış Ortaya koymuş ...'
İbrahim Ethem Hacıosmanoğlu has been elected new Turkish Football Federation (TFF) president at the congress held in Ankara on 18 July.
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