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Big Three (Turkey)

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Flags of the 'Big Three' in Gezi Park protests.

The Big Three (Turkish: Üç Büyükler) is the colloquial name given to Beşiktaş, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, the three most successful sports clubs in Turkey. They are all based in Istanbul.

Galatasaray is the team with the most championships with 26. Fenerbahçe have won 19 championships and Beşiktaş have won 16 Turkish championships. None of the trio have been relegated since 1959. The worst places the side have finished in league history were 10th for Fenerbahçe in 1980–81, 11th for Beşiktaş in 1975–76, and 13th for Galatasaray in 2021–22.[1]

During the late 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, Trabzonspor won six times the Turkish league throughout nine seasons. In that period, the "Big Three" were expanded to a Big Four, with the Trabzon club among the Istanbul trio.[2]

Nevertheless, due to Trabzonspor long lack of league titles between 1984 and 2022, the so-called "Big Four" gradually became again the Big Three.[2] They all started to compete in Europe after the 1950s. Galatasaray is only Turkish team to have won a European trophy, having won both the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2000.

A reported 90% of the fans in Turkey support the Big Three. A survey by a fan-token platform showed support for Galatasaray in 65 out of 81 provinces of Turkey while its crosstown rival Fenerbahçe had the highest number of fans in 18 provinces, and Beşiktaş, the other member of Turkish football's "Big Three", had more fans than other clubs only in the eastern province of Iğdır. According to the survey, 40% of the fans support Galatasaray, 35% support Fenerbahçe and 20% support Beşiktaş.[3][4]

The three-way rivalry

[edit]
As of 7 March 2026

Fenerbahçe vs. Galatasaray

[edit]
Team [5] Pl W D L GF GA
Fenerbahçe 405 150 125 130 546 505
Galatasaray 405 130 125 150 505 546

Fenerbahçe vs. Beşiktaş

[edit]
Team [6] Pld W D L GF GA
Fenerbahçe 366 138 97 131 507 466
Beşiktaş 363 130 97 136 463 503

Beşiktaş vs. Galatasaray

[edit]
Team [7] Pld W D L GF GA
Galatasaray 360 129 115 116 501 473
Beşiktaş 360 116 115 129 473 501

Statistics

[edit]

League placements

[edit]
Club 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th Total Top 3
Galatasaray 26 11 16 3 4 3 2 1 1 1 68 53
Fenerbahçe 19 27 8 5 4 2 1 1 1 68 54
Beşiktaş 16 14 15 11 5 5 2 2 68 43

Head-to-head ranking in Süper Lig

[edit]
P. 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
7 7
8 8 8 8
9 9 9 9
10 10
11 11 11 11
12
13 13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

• Total: Galatasaray with 28 higher finishes, Fenerbahçe with 25 higher finishes, Beşiktaş with 15 higher finishes (as of the end of the 2025–26 season).

Honours comparison

[edit]
As of 17 May 2026
  •   Numbers with this background indicate the record in the competition.
Organization Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş
National
Süper Lig 26 19 16
Turkish Cup 19 7 11
Turkish Super Cup 17 10 10
Turkish Football Championship — 3 2
Turkish National Division 1 6 3
Prime Minister's Cup 5 8 6
Spor Toto Cup — 1 3
Atatürk Cup — 1 1
50th Anniversary Cup 1 — —
Aggregate 68 55 52
Local
Istanbul Football League 15 16 13
Istanbul Football Cup 2 1 2
Aggregate 17 17 15
Europe
UEFA Super Cup 1 - —
UEFA Europa League 1 - —
Aggregate 2 — —
Total 88 72 67

Note: Calculated based on official tournaments. Preparatory and special tournaments are not included.

European competitions

[edit]

Honours

[edit]
As of 10 March 2026
Club UEFA Super Cup European Cup / UEFA Champions League UEFA Cup / Europa League UEFA Europa Conference League / Conference League UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
Winner Semi-finalist Quarter-finalist Winner Semi-finalist Quarter-finalist Quarter-finalist Quarter-finalist
Galatasaray 2000 1989 1963, 1970, 1994, 2001, 2013 2000 - - - 1992
Fenerbahçe - - 2008 - 2013 - 2024 1964
Beşiktaş - - 1987 - - 2003, 2017 - -

Standings

[edit]
Ranking Club Pld W D L GF GA Pts GD
1 Galatasaray 339 121 90 128 468 514 453 −46
2 Fenerbahçe 300 118 65 117 409 423 419 −14
3 Beşiktaş 258 97 50 111 348 395 341 −47

UEFA 5-year Club Ranking of the Big Three

[edit]
Ranking [8] Team 21/22 22/23 23/24 24/25 25/26 Total Points
40 Fenerbahçe 5.00 17.00 14.00 11.25 10.50 57.75
47 Galatasaray 15.00 - 8.00 12.75 17.75 53.50
123 Beşiktaş 4.00 - 3.00 6.00 2.50 15.50

Players who have played for the three clubs

[edit]
Caner Erkin
  • Turkey Refik Osman Top (Beşiktaş 1912–1913, 1923–1924, Fenerbahçe 1913–1915 and 1923, Galatasaray 1915–1917, 1921–1922, 1923 and 1924)
  • Turkey Ali Soydan (Galatasaray 1951–1957, Fenerbahçe 1959–1960, Beşiktaş 1963–1964)
  • Turkey Saffet Sancaklı (Beşiktaş 1987–1991, Galatasaray 1994–1995, Fenerbahçe 1996–1998)
  • Turkey Sergen Yalçın (Beşiktaş 1991–1997 and 2002–2006, Fenerbahçe 1999–2000, Galatasaray 2000 and 2001–02)
  • Turkey Ahmet Yıldırım (Fenerbahçe 1993–1994, Galatasaray 1999–2001, Beşiktaş 2001–2005)
  • Turkey Emre Aşık (Fenerbahçe 1993–1996, Galatasaray 2000–2003 and 2006–2010, Beşiktaş 2003–2006)
  • Turkey Mehmet Yozgatlı (Galatasaray 1999–2000, Fenerbahçe 2004–2007, Beşiktaş 2007–2008)
  • Turkey Burak Yılmaz (Beşiktaş 2006–2008 and 2019–2020, Fenerbahçe 2008–2010, Galatasaray 2012–2016)
  • Turkey Caner Erkin (Galatasaray 2009–2010, Fenerbahçe 2010–2016 and 2020–2021, Beşiktaş 2016–2020)
  • Turkey Mehmet Topal (Galatasaray 2006–2010, Fenerbahçe 2012–2019, Beşiktaş 2021–2022)
  • Belgium Michy Batshuayi (Beşiktaş 2021–2022, Fenerbahçe 2022–2024, Galatasaray 2024-2025)
  • Turkey Yağmur Uraz (Beşiktas 2018–2022, Galatasaray 2022–2023, Fenerbahçe 2023–)

Uraz is the first woman to play for all three clubs.

Yalçın and Yılmaz did also had play for Trabzonspor, a club seen as big as the trio in the 1970s and 1980s.[2]

Managers who have managed the three clubs

[edit]
Former Turkish international footballer and current manager Mustafa Denizli is the only manager who won Süper Lig titles with Big Three.
  • Turkey Mustafa Denizli (Galatasaray 1987–1989, 1990–1992, 2015–2016, Fenerbahçe 2000–2002, Beşiktaş 2008–2010)

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Süper Lig Tarihçe Şampiyonluklar Arşiv Gol Krallığı TFF". TFF. Retrieved 20 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  2. 1 2 3 "Dez histórias que mostram um pouco mais por que o título do Trabzonspor é tão especial" [Ten stories that show a little more of why Trabzonspor's title is so special.]. TFF (in Portuguese). 4 May 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2026.
  3. ↑ "Socios'un Türkiye Taraftarlık Anketi'nin sonuçları açıklandı! - Futbol Haberleri - Spor - Sayfa 5". Fanatik (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  4. ↑ Sabah, Daily (22 July 2022). "Galatasaray dominates Turkey's 'fan map' ahead of Fenerbahçe". Daily Sabah. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  5. ↑ "Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray rekabetinde 396. randevu". www.aa.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2023-03-20. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  6. ↑ "Beşiktaş-Fenerbahçe rekabetinde 356. randevu". www.aa.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2023-03-20. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  7. ↑ "Beşiktaş-Galatasaray rekabetinde 352. randevu". www.aa.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2023-03-20. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  8. ↑ "UEFA 5-year Club Ranking 2023". kassiesa.net. Archived from the original on 2021-02-17. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
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