In October 1905, in a literature class in Istanbul, a group of students decided to start a football team. The traditional founding date of Galatasaray is 30 October 1905, so on 30 October 2026 the club turns 121 years old. The exact day is still debated, though, as sources give different dates within the same month.

An idea in the classroom

The driving force was Ali Sami Yen, a pupil at the famous Galatasaray High School. With classmates such as Asım Tevfik Sonumut, Emin Bülent Serdaroğlu and Celal İbrahim, he set up the team and became member number 1 and the first president.

Because the Ottoman Empire had no law on associations at the time, the club could not be officially registered in 1905. The first games were played at Papazın Çayırı, a meadow in the city.

The "Galata Palace"

The name means "Galata Palace", and the team took it from its school. The school in turn owed it to the imperial Galata Palace school, founded on the same spot in 1481.

Before settling on it, the boys had also considered Gloria (victory) and Audace (courage). According to researcher Cem Atabeyoğlu, after an early win spectators called the players "the gentlemen of Galata Saray", and the name stuck.

How yellow and red were born

The first colours were red and white, like the Turkish flag. According to a Turkish encyclopedia they were politically sensitive under Sultan Abdul Hamid II, so the team briefly tried yellow and black as well.

The final choice was made in a fabric shop in Bahçekapı, where Ali Sami Yen and his friends picked yellow and red cloth. He later wrote that they pictured "yellow-red flames" shining on the team, while a legend links the colours to the roses Gül Baba offered to Sultan Bayezid II. The new shirts, sewn by his sister Samiye, were first worn on 6 December 1908 against a team from a British warship.

The "parçalı" and the crest

The iconic home shirt is the parçalı, meaning "sectioned": eight alternating yellow and red panels, so the front is the reverse of the back. The basic design has stayed essentially the same since 1908.

The first emblem showed an eagle with a ball in its beak, but it was replaced. Since 1925 the team has worn the crest with the Arabic letters Ghayn and Sin, the initials of "Galata Saray". It has many nicknames: Aslanlar (the Lions), Sarı-Kırmızılılar (the Yellow-Reds) and, of course, Cimbom.

The Copenhagen night

The greatest moment came on 17 May 2000 at the Parken in Copenhagen. After a 0-0 draw with Arsenal, Galatasaray won 4-1 on penalties, with Gheorghe Popescu scoring the last kick and Cláudio Taffarel named man of the match.

It was the first European trophy for a Turkish club, in a season when Fatih Terim's team also won the league and the cup. A few months later they added the UEFA Super Cup, with two goals from Mário Jardel against Real Madrid.

Legends such as Metin Oktay, Gheorghe Hagi and Hakan Şükür, the Süper Lig's all-time top scorer with 249 goals, have worn the shirt. Today the team plays at Rams Park and counts more than 25 Turkish league titles.

Celebrate with us

From a literature lesson to the top of Europe, Galatasaray carries 121 years of passion in the yellow and red panels of its shirt.

Happy birthday, Cimbom! May the yellow-red flames keep burning for many years to come.

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Galatasaray's stadium (Rams Park) in Istanbul – 1886kusagi, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.