History

BEŞİKTAŞ and FOOTBALL

Although football was overshadowed by other sports in the early period, starting from late 1910s, the athletes and the gymnasts of the Club began to show more interest in football and played matches among themselves. In those years, the interest of the youth was about to shift to football, and two local clubs, known as Valideçeşme and Basiret, were formed not too far away from the Beşiktaş Club. In August 1911, Ahmet Şerafettin Bey (Şeref Bey), the Chairman and Founder of Valideçeşme Football Club, joined Beşiktaş with his players. As a result of the attempts by Şeref Bey, who was trying to bring all local football clubs under one roof, Basiret Club joined Beşiktaş as well. Thus, a football section had started operating officially within the Club.

All material needs of Beşiktaş’s first football team, which was made up of Resul, Rıdvan, Behzat, Doctor Sabri, Poet Kazım, Sadi (Baltalimanı), Doctor Mehmet, Asım, Şeref, Doctor Ali and Fahri, were met by an ardent club supporter named İpekçi İhsan. In addition to seniors, the section went on to form three more teams and started holding regular trainings in the garden of the Club building in Akaretler.  Consequently, football had become the main activity of the Club. However, the devastating Balkan Wars of 1912 - 1913 and the ensuing World War I had a profound impact on Turkish sports and would slow down the club’s development significantly.