Caykur Rizespor

Caykur Rizespor Kulubu is a Turkish professional football club based in Rize. The club play in the Turkish Super Lig, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club was founded on May 19, 1953 with green-yellow as club colours, but later changed to blue-green. Since 1990, the team has been sponsored by the Turkish tea company Caykur, hence the name and the image of a tea leaf on the club's logo. The club plays its home games in Yeni Rize Sehir Stadium.

History

A committee of five people—Yakup Temizel, Atif Taviloglu, Ismet Bilsel, Yasar Tumbekcioglu and Muharrem Kurkcu—founded the club on 19 May 1953 at the 34th anniversary year of the start of Independence War. The intention was to enhance the physical and cultural talents of the youth as well as to contribute to the developments of Rize. Domestic cultivation of lemon citruses and oranges labeled the club colour to be yellow and being Rize's symbol, tea gardens, represented the colour green. One of the founding members, Yasar Domlekcioglu was chosen the first president of the club.

During the amateur league years through 1953 to 1968, local-born players such as Ahmet Durmus, Kenan Tiryaki, Mustafa Erol, Irfan Akaslan, Mahmut Salih Yavuz, Salih Kazanci, Ahmet Kemal Yavuz, Hamil Kazanci, Mustafa Veziroglu, Yilmaz Ozkan, Yilmaz Balta, Ahmet Fenci, Ekif Fence, Oktay Arayici, Abdullah Kitir, Mustafa Kazdal, Abdullah Seker and Omer Cakir played for Rizespor. With the regulation changes in 1968, the club formed a professional club structure by the association of two clubs, Rize Gunesspor and Fenergenclik.The club started from the third division with the colours blue and green. At the end of a competitive season, as a result of a fight inside the game the club got punished with a forfeit as well as a deduction of 2 points which bereaved Rizespor from promotion that season. The punishment was the first time in the Turkish football history. In the coming period, the club did not get relegated and in 1978–1979, Rizespor won the title and qu

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