1988; 36 years ago (1988) (as Sankospor) 1999; 25 years ago (1999) (as Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor) 2017; 7 years ago (2017) (as Gazişehir Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü) 2019; 5 years ago (2019) (as Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü)
Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Gaziantep. Founded in 1988, the club plays in the Süper Lig, the highest tier of Turkish football.
The club was founded as Sankospor in 1988 and competed at the amateur level until 1993. They competed between the TFF Third League and TFF First League until 2019, when they were promoted to Süper Lig. During the 2020–21 season, the club reached the top of the standings in week 17, which they held for one week until being taken over by Beşiktaş.[3]
The club was founded at the amateur level as Sankospor under Sanko Holding A.Ş., an industrial group of companies headquartered in Gaziantep, in 1988.[4] The first colors of club were blue and white.[4] The club started to compete at TFF Third League in the 1993–94 season.[4] In the TFF Third League, they played their first game in professional leagues against İslahiyespor, another Gaziantep-based club, which ended as a goalless draw on 26 September 1993.[5] Amassing 85 points with 27 wins in a total of 34 games, the team won Group 3 of the 1996–97 season and was promoted to the TFF Second League, with 17 points above the closest competitor Kilis Belediyespor.[6]
The name of the club was changed to Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor in the beginning of the 1999–2000 season.[7] The club won the Group C title of the 2004–05 season of the TFF Second League,[4] winning 22 games out of 34 with 73 points, scoring 90 goals.[8]
The team, as Gaziantep BB, in yellow-black shirts at 2013–14 Turkish Cup 4th Round encounter against Galatasaray, on 3 December 2013[11]
The name of club was changed for third time as Gazişehir Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü, following the general assembly held on 15 June 2017.[12] The club competed at TFF First League for 2 seasons under this name. The club reached play-offs in 2 consecutive seasons between 2017–18 season under Erkan Sözeri, and 2018–19 season under Mehmet Altıparmak's management.[4] In 2017–18 season, club was eliminated by Erzurum after 4–5 final score in play-off final after penalty shoot-outs.[13]
In 2018–19 season, this time club defeated Hatayspor by 5–3 final score after penalty shoot-outs and promoted to Süper Lig.[14][15] Thus, after Gaziantepspor, Gazişehir Gaziantep are the 2nd team in history to compete at Süper Lig from city of Gaziantep.[15]
Following their promotion to Süper Lig, the club announced the employment of Marius Șumudică as head coach on a single-season-basis contract with a potential one season extension, on 13 June 2019.[17] In match week 1 of 2019–20 season, the club made their Süper Lig debut against Fenerbahçe on an away game held at Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, which Gaziantep FK lost by 0–5 final score, on 19 August 2019.[18][19] Following week of fixtures, they achieved their first Süper Lig win agasint Gençlerbirliği with a 4–1 final score, on 26 August 2019.[16] The first Süper Lig level goal of the club was scored by Olarenwaju Kayode.[16] In October 2019, name of the club was changed once again as Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü.[12][20] On 28 October 2019, the club announced the contract renewal with coach Șumudică, until 2021.[21] The club completed 2019–20 season at 8th place of the table.[22]
On week 17 of the 2020–21 season, beating Ankaragücü by 2–0 final score, reaching 31 points, Gaziantep FK topped the first position of Süper Lig standings, with one game in front Beşiktaş, on 5 January 2021.[3][23] Following a 1–3 loss against Galatasaray at week one, the 2019–20 season, the team retained a 15-week-long unbeaten record until 9 January 2021, where they have been eventually beaten by Sivasspor by 1–2.[24][25] Following a long infiltrated discussion concentrated a contract renewal between the board of club and Șumudică,[26][27] the club sacked Romanian coach on 11 January 2021.[28][29] The club agreed with Portuguese former international Ricardo Sá Pinto on a two-and-a-half-season-long contract, with a potential one season extension, on 20 January 2021.[30][31] After 6 wins and 6 draws out of 21 official games, finishing the season on 9th place under Sá Pinto's management, the parties agreed for a mutual termination at the end of the season.[32] Club announced their agreement with Erol Bulut on 20 May 2021.[33]
Following the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, the club withdrew from the 2022-23 Süper Lig on 11 February 2023.[34] Due to the circumstances of their withdrawal, they were allowed to reenter into the league for the 2023–24 season.
The first colors of the club were blue and white.[4] The colors were altered into "white-red-black" combination and the new and current logo was enacted, all together under the scope of a council board, including changing the name of club, held in June 2017.[35][36] The design of crest was inspired after baklava slices, colored in official club colors.[35][36]
Since their promotion to TFF Third League in 1993, Gaziantep FK played in professional leagues, governed by TFF. During playing at third division, the club co-tenanted their home fixtures with Gaziantepspor at Kamil Ocak Stadium between 1993 and 2000. They played their first home game at professional leagues at Kamil Ocak Stadium, on 3 October 1993, where they beat Adana Polisgücü by 3–0, at week 2 of 1993–94 season, on 3 October 1993.[39]
They sublet GASKİ Stadium of GASKİ SK between 2000 and 2005, until they promoted to TFF First League. Their first game at GASKİ Stadium against Bakırköyspor at first week of 2000–01 season, which they won 6–0, on 13 August 2000.[40] The club returned to Kamil Ocak Stadium at 2005–05 season. They played their last home game at Kamil Ocak Stadium against Eskişehirspor, losing the game 0–1, on 23 December 2016.[41] Demolition of Kamil Ocak Stadium was started in October 2018.[42][43]
Constructed between 2013[37] and 2017 with an approximate 120m TRY,[44] the club took New Gaziantep Stadium, their own stadium, with all-seated 35,502 of capacity,[45] in 2017. They played their first home match of club at New Gaziantep Stadium on 28 January 2017, where team beat Bandırmaspor 3–1.[46]Muhammet Reis scored the first ever goal of stadium's history in the 10th minute of the same match.[46]
Serdar Deliktaş played in 175 official games and scored 55 goals across all competitions for the club between 2009 and 2018, in two different spells[47]
^"Gazişehir Gaziantep'in adı resmen değişti" (in Turkish). NTV Spor. 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020. Kulüpten yapılan açıklamada, 15 Haziran 2017 tarihinden itibaren Gazişehir Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü olarak spor hayatında varlığını sürdüren kulübün adının Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü olarak değiştirilmesi kararı alındığı hatırlatıldı.
^"Gaziantep FK'de Sumudica ve başkan Mehmet Büyükekşi birbirine girdi" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 9 January 2021. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021. Sivasspor'a 2-1 yenilen Gaziantep FK'de teknik direktör Marius Sumudica maç sonrası sözleşmesiyle ilgili açıklamalarda bulundu. "Size maaş indirimi teklifi gelse kabul eder miydiniz? Eşimi arayacağım ve bana para göndermesini söyleyeceğim" diyen Sumudica'ya başkan Mehmet Büyükekşi "Sumudica'ya 1,2 milyon euro ödüyoruz ama şu an primlerle 1 milyon 900 bin euro istiyor. Fatih Terim de dahil bunu Türkiye'de hangi hoca alıyor?" cevabını verdi.
^"Ricardo Sa Pinto veda etti! Gaziantep FK'da Erol Bulut sesleri" (in Turkish). Sabah. 18 May 2021. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021. Ligin 21. haftasında oynanan Hatayspor karşılaşması ile Gaziantep FK kariyerine başlayan Ricardo Sa Pinto, takımın başında 21 resmi karşılaşmaya çıktı. Bu karşılaşmalarda 6 galibiyet, 6 berberlik ve 9 mağlubiyet alan Ricardo Sa Pinto yönetimindeki Gaziantep FK, bu süreçte 24 puan toplarken, rakip kalelere 23 gol gönderdi. Kırmızı-siyahlı ekip, kendi kalesinde ise 27 gole engel olamadı.
^ ab"Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor'un adı ve logosu değişti" (in Turkish). BirGün. 15 June 2017. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020. Yönetime ise tamamı sanayicilerden oluşan 29 üye seçildi. Kurulda yapılan tüzük değişikliği ile de kulübün ismi Gazişehir Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü, amblemi beyaz-kırmızı-siyah renklerinde baklava dilimli "G" harfi, kulüp renklerinin ise beyaz-kırmızı-siyah olarak değiştirilmesi oy birliğiyle kabul edildi.
^ ab"Gaziantep Belediyesi el değiştirdi" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 1 October 2008. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020. Bank Asya 1. Lig'de mücadele veren Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor'da kulüp başkanlığı görevinden istifa eden Fahreddin Uslusoy'un yerine Ünsal Göksen seçildi. 25 Ekim'de Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor kulübü başkanlığından istifa eden Fahreddin Uslusoy'dan boşalan başkanlık görevine yapılan yönetim kurulu toplantısında Ünsal Göksen'in seçildiği belirtildi.
Cevdet Akınal
Ferhat Yanç 
