Konyaspor Kulübü (Turkish pronunciation:[konjaspoɾkulyby], Konya Sports Club) is a Turkish professional
football club based in
Konya. They are better known as Konyaspor. In 1922 Konyaspor were founded with the name Konya Gençlerbirliği and have played at their current home stadium,
Konya Metropolitan Municipality Stadium, since 2014. Konyaspor currently play in the
Süper Lig, the top tier of Turkish football. The club colours are green and white.[3]
History
Konyaspor were founded officially with the name Konya Gençlerbirliği on 22 June 1922. As champions of the regional Konya Football League they participated in the
1924 Turkish Football Championship, the first ever national championship in Turkish football.[4] In 1965 the club combined with Meramspor, Selçukspor, and Çimentospor and took the name Konyaspor with black and white as the team colors, and started their first season in the
Second League in 1981. Konyaspor then changed to green and white as the team colours after their merger with the cross-town rivals
Konya İdman Yurdu.[3] The new team adopted the name of Konyaspor and the colors of Konya İdman Yurdu. In 1987–88 Konyaspor became champions of the
second league and were promoted to the
first league for the first time in their history.
Konyaspor lasted five seasons in the
first league. They played 160 official matches, ending up with 47 wins, 33 draws, and 80 losses. During the 1988–89 season Konyaspor made it to the semi-finals of the
Turkish Cup, losing to eventual champions
Beşiktaş. In the
1992–93 season, the club were relegated back to the
second league. After spending 10 seasons in the
second league, Konyaspor returned to
Süper Lig as the title holders of the
2002–03 First League with 68 points. During the 2003–04 season Konyaspor made it to the quarter-finals of the
Turkish Cup, but then lost to eventual champions
Trabzonspor 2–1 during extra time. In 2004–05 Konyaspor advanced to the quarter-finals beating
Beşiktaş 3–1, but then lost to
Denizlispor 5–4 on penalty shoot-outs. In
2008–09 despite the 3–0 home win against
Ankaraspor, Konyaspor couldn't avoid relegation as they remained 16th in the table with 38 points which meant their relegation from the
Süper Lig. Konyaspor were in the
Süper Lig since 2003. However, Konyaspor completed the
TFF First League 6th and secured a position in the
Promotion Play-offs in 2010. Konyaspor then won the Promotion Play-offs and made an immediate return to the
Süper Lig after 1 year. They finished the Play-offs 1st with 7 points beating
Adanaspor 3–1 in the first game,
Karşıyaka 1–0 in the second and drawing with
Altay 2–2 in the final match. But Konyaspor relegated again in the
2010–11 season.
Konya Metropolitan Municipality Stadium is a multi-use stadium in
Konya, Turkey. It replaced the ageing
Konya Atatürk Stadium at the end of 2013, which has been in use since the early 1950s. The stadium has a capacity of 42,000 people and is fully covered. Record attendance is 41,007 people in
Turkey against
Netherlands, 6 September 2015
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group A match.[11] The Konya Buyuksheir Stadium is one of Turkey's biggest stadiums with many sporting events happening there. The national team also plays some of its games there.