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

Galatasaray is the team with the most championships in Turkey with 23 championships. 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]

The big three 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 60 out of 81 provinces of Turkey while its crosstown rival Fenerbahçe had the highest number of fans in 17 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, 37.6% of the fans support Galatasaray, 32.3% support Fenerbahçe and 20.8% support Beşiktaş. [2] [3]

The three-way rivalry

As of 24 December 2023

Fenerbahçe vs. Galatasaray

Team [4] Pl W D L GF GA
Fenerbahçe 398 148 123 127 540 496
Galatasaray 398 127 123 148 496 540

Fenerbahçe vs. Beşiktaş

Team [5] Pld W D L GF GA
Fenerbahçe 358 134 97 127 497 456
Beşiktaş 358 127 97 134 456 497

Beşiktaş vs. Galatasaray

Team [6] Pld W D L GF GA
Galatasaray 354 126 114 114 495 464
Beşiktaş 354 114 114 126 464 495

Statistics

League placements

Club 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th Total Top 3
Galatasaray 23 11 16 3 4 3 2 1 1 1 65 50
Fenerbahçe 19 24 8 5 4 2 1 1 1 65 51
Beşiktaş 14 14 14 10 5 4 2 2 65 42

Head-to-head ranking in Süper Lig

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
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
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
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
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: Fenerbahçe with 25 higher finishes, Galatasaray with 25 higher finishes, Beşiktaş with 15 higher finishes (as of the end of the 2022–23 season).

Honours comparison

As of June 11, 2023
Competition Galatasaray Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş
National
Süper Lig 23 19 16
Turkish Cup 18 7 10
Turkish Super Cup 16 9 9
Süper Lig & Cup 57 35 35
Turkish Football Championship (defunct) 3 2
National Division (defunct) 1 6 3
Prime Minister's Cup (defunct) 5 8 6
Ataturk Cup (defunct) 1 1
Spor Toto Cup (defunct) 1 3
50th Anniversary Cup (defunct) 1
Istanbul Football League (defunct) 15 16 13
Istanbul Cup (defunct) 2 1 2
Defunct total 24 36 30
Europe
UEFA Europa League 1
UEFA Super Cup 1
Europe total 2 0 0
Total 83 71 65

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

European competitions

As of 24 October 2023
UEFA Super Cup European Cup / UEFA Champions League UEFA Cup / Europa League UEFA Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Intertoto Cup
Club Winner Semi-finalist Quarter-finalist Winner Semi-finalist Quarter-finalist Quarter-finalist Joint Winner
Galatasaray 2000 1989 1963, 1970, 1994, 2001, 2013 2000 - - 1992 -
Fenerbahçe - - 2008 - 2013 - 1964 -
Beşiktaş - - 1987 - - 2003, 2017 - -
Ranking Club Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Galatasaray 314 112 84 118 423 466 −43 420
2 Fenerbahçe 266 105 55 106 360 380 −20 370
3 Beşiktaş 242 91 48 103 320 365 −45 321

UEFA 5-year Club Ranking of the Big Three

Ranking [7] Team 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23 Total Points
Decrease 55 Galatasaray S.K. 8.00 6.00 2.50 15.00 - 31.500
Increase 56 Fenerbahçe S.K. 8.00 - - 5.00 17.00 31.000
Decrease 109 Beşiktaş J.K. 5.00 3.00 2.00 4.00 - 14.000

Players who have played for the three clubs

As of 2023, Caner Erkin is the only currently active player who played at all three parties.
As of 19 July 2022: [8]
  • 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)

Managers who have managed the three clubs

Former Turkish international footballer and current manager Mustafa Denizli is the only manager who won Süper Lig titles with Big Three.
As of 26 June 2021: [8] [9]
  • Turkey Mustafa Denizli (Galatasaray 1987–1989, 1990–1992, 2015–2016, Fenerbahçe 2000–2002, Beşiktaş 2008–2010)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Süper Lig Tarihçe Şampiyonluklar Arşiv Gol Krallığı TFF". TFF. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Socios'un Türkiye Taraftarlık Anketi'nin sonuçları açıklandı! - Futbol Haberleri - Spor - Sayfa 5". Fanatik (in Turkish). Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  3. ^ Sabah, Daily (22 July 2022). "Galatasaray dominates Turkey's 'fan map' ahead of Fenerbahçe". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  4. ^ "Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray rekabetinde 396. randevu". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  5. ^ "Beşiktaş-Fenerbahçe rekabetinde 356. randevu". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  6. ^ "Beşiktaş-Galatasaray rekabetinde 352. randevu". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  7. ^ "UEFA 5-year Club Ranking 2023". kassiesa.net. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  8. ^ a b "Türkiye'de 3 Büyük Takımda Da Forma Giymiş 8 Futbolcu" [The 8 Footballers Who Played In Three Big [Teams] in Turkey] (in Turkish). 90min.com. 31 August 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Süper Lig'in şampiyon teknik direktörleri" [Title Winning Managers of Süper Lig] (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2020.