Türk Telekom Stadium

Rising in the Seyrantepe quarter of the Şişli district, which is located on the European side of Istanbul, Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi - Türk Telekom Stadium is the home ground of the Süper Lig club Galatasaray S.K.. The all-seater stadium has the capacity to host 52,223 spectators in football games.Türk Telekom Stadium was the first stadium in Turkey that met the UEFA Euro 2016 requirements during the country's bid to host the European Championship. In 2011, Türk Telekom Stadium was one of the six nominees for the Venue of the Year and New Venue categories of the Stadium Business Awards. Galatasaray SK won the Süper Lig in the first season at Türk Telekom Stadium. Türk Telekom Stadium and Galatasaray SK were mentioned in the first chapter of Tom Clancy's 2012 novel Threat Vector.HistoryFootball was first played in Istanbul by some British players in a field known as Papazın Çayırı in the area that is now the site of Fenerbahçe's Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium. With the opening of the Taksim Stadium in 1921, it was this new stadium that became the new football headquarters. In the urban development of 1939, the military barracks in which the Taksim Stadium was located was demolished in 1940. The stadium was thus lost. In this period, Fenerbahçe bought the land encompassing Papazın Çayırı and built the Fenerbahçe Stadium, while the Beşiktaş Club moved into the Şeref Stadium, located in the area where today’s Çırağan Palace Hotel stands. It was Galatasaray that experienced the biggest problem with the use of a stadium in that period.