Gala has first participated in a European competition in 1956, entering the
European Cup, and have competed in forty eight seasons of European competitions since then. The club has achieved their most successful period in late 80s, the millennium year (2000) and beyond. They have won once both the
UEFA Cup and the
UEFA Super Cup title. Making them the first and only Turkish club to have won a European competition trophy. The successful millennium year resulted also in a qualification to the
FIFA Club World Cup, but the
second edition of the tournament had been cancelled owing to a combination of factors such as the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner in same year.[1] Despite having reached several times the quarter-finals and also once the semi-finals of the
UEFA Champions League campaign, the club has not won the trophy so far.
History
"Our aim is to play together like Englishmen, to have a color and a name, and to beat the non-Turkish teams".
—Ali Sami Yen, about the founding mission of Galatasaray.
Begin of the European era
Gündüz Kılıç started managing Galatasaray back in 1952, and it was under him that the team first competed in European competition in 1956–57, qualifying for the European Cup by winning the regional
Istanbul Football League the
previous season. The first game was a preliminary round game against Romanian side
Dinamo București which ended up in a 3–4 loss on aggregate.
The
1969–70 European Cup season was a remarkable one, because the club make it to the quarter finals. In that round the opponent
Legia Warsaw won the clash 1–3 on aggregate.
Knocking the doors of Europe: 1988–89 European Cup
Line up of Galatasaray in 1988-89 European Cup semi-finals.
The first-ever European success was achieved during the 1988–89 season of the
European Cup club competition, when the club was being coached by
Mustafa Denizli. Galatasaray started in the first round and reached the semi-finals where they got eliminated by Romanian club
Steaua București and future Gala legend
Gheorghe Hagi. Throughout the competition Galatasaray has played against
Rapid Wien,
Neuchâtel Xamax,
Monaco and Steaua București. The second round game against Neuchâtel Xamax was an incredible one; Galatasaray lost the away game by 3-0 and the return game was being played in front of 35,000 fans at the
Ali Sami Yen stadium and Galatasaray won the game by 5–0 and promoted to the quarter-finals on 5–3 aggregate.
The weather conditions were the real opponents: 1991–92 season
Galatasaray had built a strong squad that season and reached the quarter-finals after eliminating
Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt and
Baník Ostrava. In the quarter-finals, the opponents were German side
Werder Bremen and Galatasaray took the lead 0–1 in the first game, but eventually lost the game (1–2). Unfortunately, the second leg at Ali Sami Yen was played in bad weather conditions due to snowfall during the match. Both sides failed to score and Werder Bremen won 2–1 on aggregate. That year, the German side won the trophy and according to many analysts, Galatasaray would have won the cup if they could have knocked out Werder Bremen in Istanbul.
UEFA Cup Final match line-up against
Arsenal, 17 May 2000
The
1999–2000 UEFA Cup competition was won by Galatasaray after they defeated
Arsenal in
the final. The victory marked the first time a Turkish side had won a European club football trophy, prompting wild celebrations on the streets of
Istanbul.[5]
The final was scoreless through both the first 90 minutes and after extra time. After 94th minute Gala played remaining part of the extra time with 10 players;
Gheorghe Hagi received a straight red card, after game footage showed the player holding and striking
Tony Adams in the back; the Arsenal captain was awarded a yellow card for hitting Hagi during the altercation. In the ensuing penalty shoot-out,
Patrick Vieira and
Davor Šuker missed for Arsenal, while Galatasaray's
Ergün Penbe,
Hakan Şükür,
Ümit Davala all converted past goalkeeper
David Seaman.
Gheorghe Popescu then scored the winning kick to win the UEFA Cup for Galatasaray.
^"Match Press Kit (2009)"(PDF). Union of European Football Associations. p. 18. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2012.