Get to know Mesut Ozil's newest club.

Get to know Mesut Ozil's newest club.

After being involved in problems with Fenerbahce club coach Ismail Kartal, Mesut Ozil was removed from the Fenerbahce squad, had discussions and could not find a meeting point Fenerbahce finally decided Mesut Ozil's contract which still had two years left.

Mesut Ozil did not take long to get a new club, he was immediately signed by the Turkish League domination challenger Istanbul Basaksehir. The player who had been linked with Rans Nusantara FC received a short-term contract with a duration of one year, but after Mesut Ozil agreed to a contract with Istanbul Basaksehir.

Slanted assumptions about his new club began to appear on social media, from the issue of a stealth club to the notion that Mesut Ozil's club is a political vehicle. So what kind of club is Istanbul Basaksehir?

Istanbul Basaksehir was originally founded by the Mayor of Istanbul in 1990 as Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyespor, during his participation in Turkish football Buyuksehir was only considered a small club revolving in the second division. They even just penetrated the highest caste of Turkish football in 2007, after breaking into the First Division Buyuksehir is not a title challenger club, they are just trying to stay in the highest caste every year.

They only finished in the twenties and were stuck only being able to penetrate the top six, even though they were relegated in the 2012-2013 season and returned to the highest caste a year later. The peak was in 2014 those who had just promoted the league to the highest caste were immediately acquired by the Medipol company which changed the name Istanbul Buyuksehir to Istanbul Basaksehir.

Similar to Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, Istanbul Basaksehir is also a successful team because of the intervention of wealthy investors. Although his name is relatively new, in 2014 after being acquired by a new investor Basaksehir was never absent from the top four of the Turkish League standings, they even won the League in 2019-2020 this title became the first trophy achievement for the club in the blue and orange uniform.

His name is also the club yesterday afternoon, Istanbul Basaksehir certainly doesn't have as many supporters as other Istanbul clubs such as Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray. Every time he plays at home, the Fatih Terim Stadium, which has a capacity of 11,400 seats, is only filled with about 30% of its capacity, therefore the CEO of the club who also serves as Minister of Youth and Sports of the Turkish state Mustafa relies on young people who are indoctrinated to become loyal supporters of Istanbul. Basaksehir in the future.

It's certainly not easy to persuade the younger generation who have inherited their love of football for clubs like Tomorrow, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce from their parents, so Mustafa gets around this by inviting schools to go on field trips to the Stadium when Basaksehir is playing.

There was a funny moment regarding Basaksehir who did not have many supporters, that moment occurred when Basaksehir hosted the Burnley team in the first match of the 2018 Europa League qualifying round, Basaksehir's management did not even sell a single ticket to Burnley supporters who traveled to Turkey.

Basaksehir's management is worried that Burnley's supporters visiting Fatih Terim Stadium will exceed Basaksehir's supporters, Burnley's side is certainly upset with this treatment. They also responded to Basaksehir's management by doing the same thing at Burnley's home game.

The eyes of Turkish football fans are also bad, quoted from the national news they revealed that in the last few seasons Istanbul Basaksehir has become a team that is hated by football fans, especially Turkey, so it is not surprising that they lack supporters.

As a connoisseur of Turkish football, I think that Basaksehir destabilizes the League that has been built for a long time, the wealth of sources of income and the club's proximity to the government disrupts the football values ​​promoted by Turkish football fans.

Basaksehir's success is considered a disgrace for some parties including Besiktas fans, especially Besiktas itself is 180° different from Basaksehir which is called a Pro-government and Pro Erdogan team, while Besiktas is a team that tends to be in opposition.

When Basaksehir visited Besiktas' headquarters, Besiktas fans chanted an unusual song, asking Erdogan to hand power to his political rival Imam Mogul, who won local elections. So what is the relationship between Basaksehir and President Erdogan?

Turkish President Erdogan has always been associated with Istanbul Basaksehir, his portrait even hangs in the lobby where the team trains, the team wearing orange and blue colors on the jersey was inspired by the Justice and Development Party that carries Erdogan.

The party logo Golem-shaped and orange, the moment that strengthens the club's closeness to the Erdogan government was when the Turkish president took part in an unofficial match at the opening of the Fatih Terim Stadium, Istanbul Basaksehir's headquarters in 2014. Erdoan played and wore the number 12 jersey, and he even managed to score a hat trick, the funny thing is that after the match Basaksehir even retired the jersey number 12 because he supported Erdogan who campaigned to become Turkey's 12th president.

Therefore, some football fans who hate Basaksehir dub them the nickname Erdoan FC, so you could say that Basaksehir's financial structure is supported by Erdoan through his foot with his company. The main funding is the Medipol company which is also a group of companies led by Fahrain Kocha, Erdogan's political ally and even the contractor for the construction of the Fatih Terim Stadium using the services of a company in collaboration with Erdogan.

The president of the Istanbul Basaksehir club, Goksel Gumusdag, is still lacking in close ties to the Justice and Development Party that carries President Erdogan, and it is even reported that Gumusdag has married Erdogan's nephew.

Long before Mesut Ozil landed in Basaksehir, which is headquartered at the Fatih stadium, other European stars had also been defended by other European stars, although he was only reborn in 2014 in fact Basaksehir has become a favorite of several star players who have met their end as football.

Call it like Emmanuel Adebayor, Gokhan Inler, Demba Ba, Martin Skrtel to former Manchester United retainer Rafael Da Silva. But even though they often bring in top players, Basaksehir is not a wasteful club, since 2015 they have spent no more than 50 million Euros on players.

Similar to Ozil, most of the star players signed by Basaksehir came on a free transfer.

Source Images :
Facebook Istanbul Basaksehir Futbol Kulubu.