Ulker Stadium

The Sukru Saracoglu Stadium (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈʃycɾy saɾaˈdʒoːɫu]) (Known for sponsorship reasons as Ulker Stadyumu Fenerbahce Sukru Saracoglu Spor Kompleksi, or Ulker Stadium for short) is a football stadium located in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is the traditional home venue of major Turkish multi-sport club Fenerbahce SK. The stadium was inaugurated in 1908 and renovated between 1929 and 1932, 1965 and 1982, and 1999 and 2006. On October 4, 2006, after numerous inspections by UEFA, Ulker Stadium was selected to host the 2009 UEFA Cup Final that went down to history as the last Final of the UEFA Cup football tournament, which was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League starting from the 2009–10 season.

History

Before the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium was built, the field was known as Papazin Cayiri (The field of the priest). The field, however, became the very first football pitch of Turkey, where the first league games of the Istanbul Football League were all held consecutively. In 1908, the local teams in the league needed a regular football field, so this land was leased from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II for 30 Ottoman gold pounds a year. The total construction cost was 3,000 Ottoman gold pounds. The name was changed to the Union Club Field after the club which made the highest donation for construction of the ground.

The Union Club Field was used by many teams in Istanbul, including the owner, Union Club (which changed its name to Ittihatspor after World War I), Fenerbahce, Galatasaray, and Besiktas. However, it lost its importance when a bigger venue, the Taksim Stadium, was built in 1922, inside the courtyard of the historic Taksim Topcu Kislasi (Taksim Artillery Barracks), which was located at the present-day Taksim Gezi Parki (Taksim Park).

Ittihatspor (which had close relations with the political Ittihat ve Terakki), was forced to sell it to the state, in which Sukru Saracoglu was a member of the CHP government. Thu

This page also has a version in other languages :  Фенербахче Шюкрю Сараджоглу Стадион (russian)