İstanbul Başakşehir

İstanbul Başakşehir is a Turkish club from the capital Istanbul, founded in 1990. It won the Turkish League (Süper Lig) in 2019-20, the club's first and only national title.

History

The club was founded in 1990 as the sports team of Istanbul's metropolitan municipality, under the name İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor. It made its debut in the Turkish first division in the 2007-08 season and, in 2014, changed its name to İstanbul Başakşehir, relocating to the Başakşehir district. The team established itself among the country's top clubs in the following seasons, with experienced players such as Emmanuel Adebayor, Demba Ba and Arda Turan. In the 2019-20 season, under the command of Okan Buruk, Başakşehir won the Süper Lig title for the first time. The championship gave the club a place in the group stage of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League. On December 8, 2020, the match against Paris Saint-Germain was interrupted following an incident involving a suspected racist act against assistant referee Pierre Webo, and both teams left the field. The match was resumed the following day.