May 27 – Galatasaray won the Turkish championship on Sunday, beating city rivals Fenerbahce with a record score of 102.
Galatasaray needed just one point in their final game at Konyaspor to win 3-1, while Fenerbahce swept bottom-placed Istanbulspor 6-0 to finish just three points behind on 99 points, the second-highest tally ever achieved in a 38-game season in the Turkish league.
Fenerbahce had postponed their title celebrations by a week when they won 1-0 at Galatasaray last Sunday – the only points the champions have dropped at home all season. Fenerbahce have now finished runners-up six times since their last title in 2014.
The two Istanbul clubs were far superior to the other Super Lig teams this season. Third-placed Trabzonspor finished the season with 67 points.
Galatasaray’s triumph capped a season marked by controversy on and off the field. In December, the president of Süperlig club Ankaragücü, Faruk Koca, was arrested for punching the referee in the face at the end of a match. The official told police that Koca had also threatened to kill him.
Two weeks later, the Super Cup final between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh was postponed shortly before kick-off due to a political controversy over the clubs’ warm-up kits.
When the match was finally played in April, Fenerbahce’s players left the stadium after one minute, forcing the match to be abandoned. Their request to postpone the match due to it being too close to an important European match was rejected.
And in March, Trabzonspor fans stormed the pitch and fought with security guards and Fenerbahce players. Fenerbahce threatened to withdraw from the league, but ultimately decided to continue playing.
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