Samsunspor is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Samsun. The club was formed through a merger of five clubs: 19 Mayis, Akinspor, Fener Genclik, Samsunspor, and Samsunspor Galatasaray. The club colours are red and white, and they play their home matches at Samsun Stadium.
The club finished runners-up for the 2. Lig crown in 1968–69, but then yo-yoed between the top two divisions until 1993. The club competed in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1997 and 1998, and won the Balkans Cup in 1994.
History
First Years
Samsunspor stepped into professional leagues for the first time in the second football league, today's TFF First League in the 1965-66 season. The opponent of Samsunspor, who played the first professional league match on September 5, 1965, was Yesildirek S.K. Samsunspor won the match 1-0 with the goal scored by Nihat Serceme. Thus Nihat made history as the player who scored Samsunspor's first league goal. In this first season of the league, Samsunspor became 5th in the White Group. The club also competed in the Turkish Cup that year. They reached round two after defeating Gunesspor in the first round, but would go on to lose 2–1 to Petrolspor. The following season was more successful, as the club placed second in the 2. Lig, six points behind champion Bursaspor. In the Turkish Cup, the club reached the semi-finals, defeating Konyaspor, Adanaspor, Manisaspor, Galatasaray, and Fenerbahce along the way. They met Goztepe in the semi-finals, eventually losing 5–2 on aggregate. Samsunspor finished second in the 2. Lig and were knocked out in the first round of the Turkish Cup in 1967–68.
The club earned their first promotion to the 1. Lig (Super Lig) in 1969. They finished first in the Beyaz Grup (White Group) of the 2. Lig, six points ahead of runners-up Boluspor. Because there were two groups, the winners of each group played each other in a final game to decide the champion and the runner-up. Ankaragucu beat Samsunspor 1–0 in the final. Samsun
This page also has a version in other languages : Самсунспор (russian)