Istanbulspor, founded in 1926, is a milestone for Turkish football. Many players who have written their names in golden letters to the country’s football have gained fame with Istanbulspor. Once one of the most important teams in the Super League, the yellow-blacks want to get back to where they belong, in the top league of Turkish football. We met with Sebahattin Sarialiogullari, Board Member of Istanbulspor, one of the exemplary clubs with its modern facilities and infrastructure work, and had a pleasant conversation about Istanbulspor.
Could you introduce yourself a bit? Who is Sebahattin Sarialiogullari?
I was born in Of, Trabzon in 1938. I am a member of Saral family from Of, Trabzon. After completing primary and secondary school in Of, I went to high school in Trabzon as a boarding student. I started my football career when I was in elementary school in Of. Since I was tall, they told me to go in goal. So I went in goal and was successful. I was already playing volleyball too.
So which team did you start playing football at?
I started at Yol Spor. Trabzonspor was not founded then. I was playing at the school team in Of. I was a goalkeeper on the high school team. Then one day, they invited me to Yol Spor. I continued to play as a goalkeeper at Yol Spor. Yol Spor was the team of General Directorate for Highways. I both studied in high school and started to work for General Directorate for Highways just to be able to play at Yol Spor. Getting a job at that young age helped me retire at an early age.
How has your later football life been?
I played regularly at Yol Spor for two years. After that, I left high school at second grade and joined to the military. I completed my military service in Denizli. There was Denizli Kara Gucu then. There were very famous football players at that time. Avni Kalkavan from Fenerbahce, Kel Ihsan, or Ihsan Baytar from Istanbulspor, and Bahattin Baytar from Besiktas. I also played football with them in the military for 2 years. I was the goalkeeper. After playing there for 2 years, I returned to my hometown from the military. There was no money in football then. I was playing for my daily bread. This was between 1960 and 1964. Then I started my commercial life since there was no money in football. I left football before I had enough of it. There was no way out in football. When I was young, I played football for our pleasure. But at that time, we did not have the current conditions in football to win our future. Now, on the other hand, football has become industrialized and materialized. At that time, everything started with passion. The biggest advantage of being a football player is that I have become popular in Trabzon. Everyone knew us not only as a high school student but also as a good goalkeeper playing football in Trabzon. I had many friends back then.
Was Yol Spor one of the biggest clubs in Trabzon at that time?
At that time, all the teams were regional ones. There were 12 teams in Trabzon. Yol Spor was often the champion among these 12. So, it was a good team. It was in the custody of the General Directorate for Highways. But as I said, after that I returned to commercial life. Years later, I met Istanbulspor. I used to hear the name of Istanbulspor on the radios and got to know their football players. My pleasure was listening to the matches on the radio then. There were no TVs. I would never have thought that I would be serving, and even managing Istanbulspor.
Could you tell us a little about your story of meeting Istanbulspor?
We, as a family, are prone to sports and we are community people. We don’t like living individually. Living together with society comes from our family structure. In the end, due to my aptitude for this sport, I met İstanbulspor with Omer Sarialioglu. Istanbulspor was owned by Cem Uzan. He spent a lot of money for Istanbulspor and the team was pretty successful. After the state confiscated Cem Uzan’s assets, Istanbulspor was also taken over by the SDIF. After staying under the custody of the state for a few years, Istanbulspor was put up for sale. When it was put up for sale, Omer Sarialioglu entered the tender too. One of the bidders was Saffet Sancakli, and he bought the club. But Saffet Sancakli called Omer a month or two later and offered him to become a shareholder of the club. So, we became a 30% shareholder. Istanbulspor is a very big club and brand. So, we enjoy serving it. After a short time, Saffet Sancakli offered Omer to buy 50% of the club. Omer and I got together and had a little discussion. Saffet Sancaklı had just acquired the club, and we have made an investigation into why he was trying to sell 50% of his shares. We found out that some taxes and debts have not been paid. Later, Sancakli and Omer came together and he said, “Either take the club, or give it away.” Eventually, we bought the club. We have also taken over the debts. My late brother cleared all debts. Since then, we have been serving this club. At that time, I focused on youth setup. I have focused on serving more in youth setup. Because we believe in something. A team without a good youth setup cannot walk towards its goals. You should find new star players from youth setup. Many teams in Europe spend two-thirds of their budget on youth setup and only one-third on the A-team. Their players always come from the youth setup. But unfortunately, this is not the case in Turkiye. People don’t value youth setup that much. Everyone is thinking about the current season to achieve temporary success or become the champion.
You mentioned the importance that Istanbulspor attaches to youth setup. What are you doing about it?
When we bought Istanbulspor, the youth academy was in Atakoy. But they took the Atakoy facilities from us. We suffered a lot in those days and were left without a field. Then we went to Bakirkoy’s field. But we failed in Bakirkoy field too. After that, we went to Florya. We couldn’t continue there either. The lang of this facility where we are now belonged to Omer then. Omer once said, ”We will move Istanbulspor here, we have no other option.” Thank God, these are now Istanbulspor’s own registered grounds. Istanbulspor currently has properties and title deeds. There was Seymen Genctürk, the President of the Kucukcekmece Amateurs Union. He’s been very helpful to us. He gave us the opportunity to work in Kucukcekmece. We brought all the teams to Kucukcekmece. We worked hard there too. We focused on youth setup. We have raised a lot of young players. It’s not easy to raise a star. You have to deal with a child for at least 10-12 years. With patience and hard work… We currently have three players who came through the youth academy and are playing directly in our A-team. This is not an easy thing. The pandemic has damaged us greatly and disrupted our work. So we’re a little behind now. So, in summary, for football to progress in Türkiye, it needs to develop its own school.
