Turkish football/soccer : Turkish Super League 2011/2012 season preview

Fenerbahce threatened wth loss of title amid match-fix probe

Fenerbahce clinched their 18th Turkish league title with a 4-3 win over Sivasspor on the final day of last season. Trabzonspor also finished on 82 points but Fenerbahce became champions due to a superior record in matches between the two clubs. However, UEFA has decided to replace Fenerbahce with Trabzonspor after the Turkish Football Federation withdrew Fenerbahce from the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League due to the fact that the club has been involved in match-fixing. More than 30 players and officials have been jailed pending trial, including the Fenerbahce chairman Aziz Yildirim. The suspects are accused of manipulating 19 games last campaign. Among games reportedly under investigation are Fenerbahce's victory over Sivasspor which clinched the title and the cup final between Besiktas and Belediyespor.

Champions: Fenerbahce ?
Runners-up: Trabzonspor (UEFA Champions League group stage)
Third place: Bursaspor (UEFA Europa League)
Fourth place: Gaziantepspor (UEFA Europa League)
Cup winners: Besiktas? (UEFA Europa League)
Relegated: Kasimpasa, Konyaspor, Bucaspor
Promoted: Mersin, Samsunspor, Orduspor.

The Turkish Football Federation rejected Fenerbahce's appeal against their exclusion from this season's UEFA Champions League, with the Istanbul club facing the prospect of being stripped of their title or even relegated. Fenerbahce have said UEFA's stance on the issue is unlawful and they have taken legal action against both it and the Turkish federation, saying it was "innocent until proven guilty". Besiktas. meanwhile, have returned the Turkish Cup trophy pending the probe's outcome. In the meantime, last season's results stand, with Fenerbahce confirmed as champions. Turkey has also postponed the start of its football season because of a game-fixing investigation. The federation said it had decided to begin the season on September 9 rather than August 5 as planned.

team	titles	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11
Fenerbahce	18	1	2	4	2	1
Galatasaray	17	3	1	5	3	8
Besiktas	11	2	3	1	4	5
Trabzonspor	6	4	6	3	5	2
Bursaspor	1	10	13	6	1	3
Kayserispor	-	5	5	7	8	6
Sivasspor	-	7	4	2	15	15
Genclerbirligi	-	6	15	14	10	14
Gaziantepspor	-	11	9	8	13	4
Ankaragucu	-	13	8	13	12	13
Manisaspor	-	12	16	-	14	10
Buyuksehir	-	-	12	9	6	12
Eskisehirspor	-	-	-	11	7	7
Antalyaspor	-	16	-	12	9	11
Karabukspor	-	-	-	-	-	9
Samsunspor	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mersin	-	-	-	-	-	-
Orduspor	-	-	-	-	-	-

The overall number of titles for each club in Turkish Superleague since 1959 and their league standings in the last five seasons.

Besiktas appoint Carlos Carvalhal as interim coach

Besiktas have appointed Portuguese Carlos Carvalhal as their interim coach until current manager Tayfur Havutcu is released from jail pending trial as part of an ongoing match-fixing investigation in Turkey. Carvalhal has coached 11 separate teams in the last 13 years. He has worked at Sporting, Aves, Leixoes, Setubal, Maritimo, Beira-Mar, Braga, Belenenses, Espinho and Freamunde along with Greece's Asteras Tripolis. Besiktas, who finished fifth in the league last season, allegedly tried to fix the Turkish Cup final, which they won against Istanbul Belediyespor 4-3 on penalties in May.

This page is introduction to the 2011/2012 Turkish Super League season. Latest news, statistics, results and predictions you can find on our main Euro Football > Turkey page.

Eskisehirspor sign Michael Skibbe

Michael Skibbe is set to return to Turkey, after Eskisehirspor reached a deal with the 45-year-old German coach. Eskisehirspor has been seeking a new coach since Bulent Uygun was jailed pending trial in July. Uygun was one of the arrested as part of a wide-ranging match-fixing investigation in Turkey. Skibbe was appointed Galatasaray's coach at the start of the 2008/09 season but was fired after losing to relegation-battling Kocaelispor 5-2 at home. The German coach was fired later last season after failing to extricate Eintracht Frankfurt from the relegation zone in the Bundesliga. Skibbe has signed a three-year contract with Eskisehirspor.

#	team	points	g.dif.	win-draw-loss
1	Fenerbahce	82	50	26-4-4 (34)
2	Trabzonspor	82	46	25-7-2 (34)

3	Bursaspor	61	21	17-10-7 (34)
4	Gaziantepspor	59	11	17-8-9 (34)
5	Besiktas	54	17	15-9-10 (34)
6	Kayserispor	51	2	14-9-11 (34)
7	Eskisehirspor	47	1	12-11-11 (34)
8	Galatasaray	46	-5	14-4-16 (34)
9	Karabukspor	44	-7	12-8-14 (34)
10	Manisaspor	43	-3	13-4-17 (34)
11	Belediyespor	42	-5	12-6-16 (34)
12	Antalyaspor	42	-7	10-12-12 (34)
13	Ankaragucu	41	-10	10-11-13 (34)
14	Genclerbirligi	40	-8	10-10-14 (34)
15	Sivaspor	35	-14	8-11-15 (34)

16	Bucaspor	26	-28	6-8-20 (34)
17	Konyaspor	24	-21	4-12-18 (34)
18	Kasimpasa	23	-40	5-8-21 (34)

The Turkish Super League standings for season 2010/2011.

Three-team title race

Fenerbahce, Besiktas and Galatasaray have dominated the Turkish league since its inception and it will again be hard to look beyond Istanbul for this season's champions. Trabzonspor is the only club that can threaten their dominance.

team	odds	team	odds
Fenerbahce	2.75	Galatasaray	3.5
Besiktas	4	Trabzonspor	4.75
Bursaspor	15	Kayserispor	40
Gaziantepspor	50	Eskisehirspor	150
Ankaragucu	250	Antalyaspor	250
Genclerbirligi	250	Karabukspor	250
Manisaspor	250	Mersin	250
Samsunspor	250	Belediyespor	250
Orduspor	500	Sivasspor	500

The preseason odds for the outright winner of the 2011/12 Turkish football league.

Turkish Cup finals in last five years

2007 Besiktas - Erciyesspor 1:0 (after extra time)
2008 Kayserispor - Genclerbirligi 11:10 (on penalties, 0:0)
2009 Besiktas - Fenerbahce 4:2
2010 Trabzonspor - Fenerbahce 5:1
2011 Besiktas - Belediyespor 4:3 (on penalties, 2:2)

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key players
(with transfer market value in m€)

Ankaragucu

Goalkeeper Stefan Senecky (1); Defense: Jan Rajnoch (2), Aydin Toscali (1.5), Ugur Ucar (1.4); Midfield: Hurriyet Gucer (1.5), Ozgur Cek (1.5), Guven Varol (1), Murat Duruer (0.9), Jaroslav Cerny (0.9); Forward: Turgut Sahin (1.2), Ergin Keles (0.2).

Antalyaspor

Goalkeeper Omer Catkic (0.5); Defense: Ali Turan (1.7), Ali Tandogan (1.7), Ivan Radeljic (1); Midfield: Musa Aydin (2), Kerem Seras (1.8), Ugur Inceman (1.8), Ibrahim Dagasan (1.5), Sedat Agcay (1.5); Forward: Necati Ates (3.5), Tita (3).

Belediyespor

Goalkeeper Kenan Hasagic (1.8); Defense: Kamil Zayatte (2.5), Mahmut Tekdemir (1.8), Marcin Kus (1.4), Marcus Vinicius (1.2); Midfield: Samuel Holmen (3.5), Gokhan Suzen (2.5), Taner Yalcin (1.5), Efe Inanc (0.9); Forward: Pierre Webo (4), Tevfik Kose (0.9).

Besiktas

Goalkeeper Cenk Gonen (2.8); Defense: Ibrahim Toraman (7.5), Tomas Sivok (6), Egemen Korkmaz (6), Ismail Koybasi (5); Midfield: Ricardo Quaresma (15), Manuel Fernandes (8.5), Fabian Ernst (5.8); Forward: Simao (9), Hugo Almeida (8.5), Filip Holosko (4.7).

Bursaspor

Goalkeeper Scott Carson (3.1); Defense: Wederson (3.5), Ibrahim Ozturk (3), Mickael Chretien Basser (3); Midfield: Pablo Batalla (5.5), Ozan Ipek (5), Gustav Svensson (3.5), Alfred N'Diaye (2.3); Forward: Stanislav Sestak (4), Turgay Bahadir (3), Teteh Bangura (3).

Eskisehirspor

Goalkeeper Vanja Ivesa (0.9); Defense: Diego ngelo (3.5), Safet Nadarevic (2.2), Volkan Yaman (2), Dede (1.5); Midfield: Pele (1.8), Alper Potuk (1.8), Erkan Zengin (1.7), Burhan Eser (1.5); Forward: Kris Boyd (4), Mehmet Yildiz (3).

Fenerbahce

Goalkeeper Volkan Demirel (10.5); Defense: Gokhan Gonul (12), Joseph Yobo (9.5), Reto Ziegler (6.5), Serdar Kesimal (6); Midfield: Emre Belozoglu (10), Mehmet Topuz (8.5), Alex (8.5), Issiar Dia (7); Forward: Mamadou Niang (11.5), Semih Senturk (6).

Galatasaray

Goalkeeper Fernando Muslera (12); Defense: Sabri Sarioglu (6.5), Servet Cetin (5.5), Emmanuel Eboue (5.5); Midfield: Felipe Melo (16.5), Albert Riera (9), Selcuk Inan (8.5), Yekta Kurtulus (4); Forward: Milan Baros (8.5), Johan Elmander (7), Sercan Yildirim (6).

Gaziantepspor

Goalkeeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas (2.5); Defense: Emre Gungor (3), Ivan (3), Dany Nounkeu (2.5), Serdar Kurtulus (2.5); Midfield: Wagner (3.7), Murat Ceylan (3.5), Olcan Adin (3.5), Ivelin Popov (3.5); Forward: Cenk Tosun (3.5), Ismael Sosa (3).

Genclerbirligi

Goalkeeper Ozkan Karabulut (0.4); Defense: Aykut Demir (1.5), Debatik Curri (1), Burak Ozsarac (0.6); Midfield: Randall Azofeifa (2), Hursut Meric (2), Cem Can (1.8), Oktay Delibalta (1.5); Forward: Ermin Zec (2.4), Herve Tum (1.5), Joachim Mununga (1.4).

Karabukspor

Goalkeeper Vjekoslav Tomic (1.2); Defense: Erdem Ozgenc (1.2), Hakan Soyler (1), Armand Deumi (1), Anthony Seric (1); Midfield: Florin Cernat (2), Tozo (1.2), Birol Hikmet (1.1), Ahmet Cebe (1.1); Forward: Luton Shelton (1.8), Ilhan Parlak (1).

Kayserispor

Goalkeeper Gokhan Degirmenci (0.8); Defense: Hasan Ali Kaldirim (2.5), Peter Pekarik (1.5), Eren Gungor (1.2); Midfield: Cristian Riveros (3), Jonathan Santana (2.5), Okay Yokuslu (1.3); Forward: Franco Cangele (4.5), Nordin Amrabat (3), Gokhan Unal (2.2), Omer Sismanoglu (1.7).

Manisaspor

Goalkeeper Ilker Avcibay (0.9); Defense: Jimmy Dixon (2), Michael Klukowski (1.5), Jerry Akaminko (1.2); Midfield: Josh Simpson (3), Yigit Incedemir (2.7), Yigit Gokoglan (1.6), Mehmet Guven (1.4); Forward: Ariza Makukula (2.5), Kahe (1.3), Isaac Promise (1.2).

Mersin

Goalkeeper Hakan Arikan (1); Defense: Ibrahim Kas (0.9), Joseph Boum (0.9), Erhan Guven (0.5); Midfield: Andre Moritz (1), Cristian Zurita (0.7), Wissem Ben Yahia (0.6); Forward: Matthew Amoah (2), Marcio Nobre (1.5), Beto (1), Yannick Kamanan (0.9).

Orduspor

Goalkeeper Fevzi Elmas (1); Defense: Abdurrahman Dereli (2.2), Yalcin Ayhan (2), Miguel Garcia (1.9), Sedat Bayrak (1.3); Midfield: Emmanuel Culio (3.5), Jean-Jacques Gosso (1.5), Wilfried Dalmat (1.5); Forward: Bogdan Stancu (3.8), Joao Ribeiro (2), Fatih Tekke (1).

Samsunspor

Goalkeeper Ahmet Sahin (0.4); Defense: Andre Bahia (2), Valdomiro (1.9), Kemal Tokak (1.5), Yenal Tuncer (1); Midfield: Selim Teber (2), Michael Fink (1), Mustafa Sarp (1), Murat Yildirim (0.9); Forward: Simon Zenke (1.5), Aristide Bance (1).

Sivasspor

Goalkeeper Milan Borjan (0.8); Defense: Jacques Faty (2.5), Hayrettin Yerlikaya (1.5), Mahmut Boz (1); Midfield: Kamil Grosicki (2.2), Kadir Bekmezci (2), Erman Kilic (2), Kerim Zengin (1.5); Forward: Michael Eneramo (2.5), Morten Rasmussen (1.5), Ricardo Pedriel (1.2).

Trabzonspor

Goalkeeper Onur Kivrak (5); Defense: Serkan Balci (5), Giray Kacar (4.5), Marek Cech (2); Midfield: Didier Zokora (8.6), Gustavo Colman (7.5), Volkan Sen (4.7), Alanzinho (4.5), Adrian Mierzejewski (4.3); Forward: Burak Yilmaz (7), Robert Vittek (3.5).

Turkish Super League pages

Turkish Super League statistics, news and predictions
Turkish Super League standings
Turkish Super League transfers
Season 2011/2012 preview - key players, 2011 standings