Goztepe

Göztepe was founded on 14 June 1925 in the Göztepe, Güzelyalı quarter of Konak, İzmir, following a split from Altay; at the inaugural meeting the club adopted red and yellow as its colours and set a striped shirt as the first football kit.

Contemporary accounts describe these short-lived İzmir “mergers” as a policy pushed by the provincial governor to field stronger representatives in the new national competition (Milli Küme): alongside Doğanspor (Göztepe–İzmirspor–Egespor), Altay–Altınordu–Yüce combined as Üçok and Karşıyaka–Bornova as Yamanlar. Doğanspor competed in the İzmir League and the Milli Küme in 1937–39 (contemporary match reports list the club under that name), while Ateşspor formed by İzmirspor members opposed to the merger played the same competitions before İzmirspor reverted to its historic name. According to the club’s official history, Doğanspor won the local league in 1938–39 and, following a members’ congress on 12 September 1940, the football branch formally restored the Göztepe name.

Göztepe’s early national honours came in the pre-league era: they won the Turkish Football Championship in 1950 (Final Group hosted in İzmir) and finished runners-up in 1942. The club’s “golden era” under coach Adnan Süvari (mid-1960s to 1971) produced back-to-back Turkish Cup wins in 1968–69 and 1969–70 and the Turkish Super Cup in 1970. In Europe, Süvari’s Göztepe became the first Turkish side to reach a European semi-final: the 1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, advancing past Marseille, Argeș Pitești and OFK Beograd before losing to Újpest in the last four. The following season they reached the 1969–70 European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals (eliminating Union Luxembourg and Cardiff City) and went out to Roma (0–2, 0–0).

Starting with 2002–03 season which brought relegation from Süper Lig, Göztepe struggled with financial problems. Due to the inability to reduce their outstanding debt, the football club was banned from signing new players, which resulted in a free-fall with the team being relegated four times in the next five seasons. On 21 April 2007 they lost their last home game 2–0 against Aliağa Belediyespor in TFF Third League and were relegated to the Regional Amateur League.

On 20 August 2007, the club was sold in an auction to an Istanbul-based business conglomerate Altınbaş Holdings. The owner, businessman İmam Altınbaş, vowed to take Göztepe back to the Süper Lig, making them one of the top five clubs in Turkish football. The owners of the club were met by the local fan base with initial suspicion. Altınbaş Holdings sold the club to Mehmet Sepil in June 2014, for a sum rumored to be around $9 million.

The team competed in the Regional Amateur League for the 2007–08 season but were eliminated by Ayazağaspor after a 6–5 penalty kick shootout in Eskişehir. Following relegation to the Regional Amateur League, Göztepe re-entered the professional pyramid at the start of 2008–09 by acquiring Aliağa Belediyespor’s competition/naming rights. On 18 June 2008 the Turkish Football Federation approved Aliağa Belediyespor’s request to change its name, colours and crest to Göztepe, allowing the club to take Aliağa’s place in the TFF Third League; contemporary reports and officials described this as a transfer of competition rights rather than a full merger.

Göztepe returned to the professional leagues in 2008–09 and won the TFF Third League overall title, defeating Tepecik Belediyespor 2–0 to seal promotion to the TFF Second League. After finishing eighth in the Second League in 2009–10, the club won the White Group in 2010–11 and were promoted to the TFF First League.

Göztepe again won promotion from the Second League in 2014–15, clinching the Red Group and receiving the championship trophy before the final matchday. On 4 June 2017, they returned to the Süper Lig for the first time since 2002–03 by defeating Eskişehirspor on penalties in the First League play-off final in Antalya (1–1 a.e.t., 4–3 pens). The club were relegated from the Süper Lig at the end of the 2021–22 season, along with Altay and Yeni Malatyaspor.

In August 2022 London-based investment firm Sport Republic purchased a 70% controlling stake and named co-founder Rasmus Ankersen as club chairman. In the first full season under the new ownership (2022–23), the team finished 7th in the TFF First League with 60 points.

On 21 November 2023, Bulgarian coach Stanimir Stoilov was appointed head coach on a 2.5-year deal. Under Stoilov, Göztepe secured automatic promotion in 2023–24 by beating Gençlerbirliği 2–0 at Gürsel Aksel Stadium on 28 April 2024, returning to the Süper Lig after two seasons. The club subsequently extended Stoilov’s contract through the end of the 2026–27 season.