Beşiktaş Striped Concept Jersey

Besiktas Jimnastik Kulübü (Gymnastics Club; so it is formally incorrect to refer to this club as Besiktas FC in English), were founded in 1903 in the homonymous neighbourhood of Istanbul’s European part, which makes them the oldest of the city’s “Big Three”.

In the early history of the club, the football team of the club were playing in Istanbul Football League and in which they alongside Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe were outstanding. Besiktas JK won 13 titles during the period in which the league existed. They spent more than 50 years competing in Istanbul’s local league, until 1959, when Turkey got its first national top flight. Or not exactly so, at least according to Besiktas

Dispute about titles

At the Kara Kartallar, “Black Eagles”, they claim to have won the champion’s title in 1957 and 1958 as well. Those two seasons, the “Turkish Federation Cup” was organized in the country, and both years it was Besiktas indeed who won the title. In 2002, the Federation put a final end to the “dispute” regarding how many Championship titles Besiktas really have, choosing the… middle solution, so as to keep everyone happy. The “Federation Cup” was not acknowledged officially as the predecessor of the Turkish national Championship, but, they did accept those two titles as valid in the country’s star system, according to which every club can add a golden star to their emblem for every five Championship titles won. The ruling of the Federation was half a victory for Besiktas, but a victory nonetheless.

Excluding the seventies, during which Besiktas had a very “quiet”, titles-wise, decade, the club have been lifting trophies on a regular basis. Their “top highlight” period was between 1989 and 1995 when they won either the Championship or the Cup (in 1990s case both) every season (excluding 1992–93). Their triumph in the Turkish top flight in the 1991-92 season was the most impressive of all, since, for the first time in the country’s history, a club won the Championship title finishing the season unbeaten.

At international level, Besiktas reached the quarterfinals of the European Cup (today’s Champions League) in 1987, but this success of theirs was not really as big as it seems, since they only beat one opponent in that edition of the competition, and won just two matches, against Albanian side Dinamo Tirana, in the first round. For reasons that had nothing to do with football, Cypriot side APOEL did not play against the Turks in the second round, with Besiktas qualifying without shedding a drop of sweat. In the quarterfinals, still Soviet (before Ukraine’s independence) Dynamo Kyiv beat Istanbul’s Black and Whites by a total score of 7-0 in the two games between them.

UEFA competition success

The biggest real success of Besiktas in a UEFA competition came in 2002-03, when they reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup (today’s Europa League). After eliminating Sarajevo, Deportivo Alavés, Dynamo Kyiv and Slavia Prague, the Turkish side met Lazio in the last-8, losing both games, and having their dream to progress further in the competition terminated.