2018–19 Süper Lig Explained

Competition:	Turkish Süper Lig
Season:	2018–19
Dates:	10 August 2018 – 26 May 2019
Winners:	Galatasaray 22nd title
Relegated:	Akhisarspor Bursaspor Erzurum BB
Continentalcup1:	Champions League
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers:	Galatasaray İstanbul Başakşehir
Continentalcup2:	Europa League
Continentalcup2 Qualifiers:	Beşiktaş Trabzonspor Yeni Malatyaspor
League Topscorer:	Mbaye Diagne (30 goals)
Matches:	306
Total Goals:	821
Longest Wins:	Beşiktaş (6 matches)
Longest Unbeaten:	Galatasaray (19 matches)
Longest Winless:	Ankaragücü Kasımpaşa (6 matches)
Longest Losses:	Konyaspor (11 matches)
Highest Attendance:	51,578 (Galatasaray 2–0 Beşiktaş, (5 May 2019)
Prevseason:	2017–18
Nextseason:	2019–20

The 2018–19 Süper Lig, officially called the Spor Toto Süper Lig Lefter Küçükandonyadis season, was the 61st season of the Süper Lig, the highest tier football league of Turkey. The season began on 10 August 2018 and concluded in 26 May 2019.

The season was named after Lefter Küçükandonyadis, a former Turkey national team player and Fenerbahçe legend.^[1]

This season the VAR was introduced in all games of Süper Lig competition.

Teams

A total of 18 teams contest the league, including 15 sides from the 2017–18 season and three promoted from the 2017–18 TFF First League. It includes Rizespor and Ankaragücü, the two top teams from the TFF First League, and Erzurum BB, the winners of the 2017–18 TFF First League playoffs.Gençlerbirliği, Osmanlıspor, and Karabükspor were relegated to 2018–19 TFF First League.

Stadiums and locations

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
Akhisarspor	Manisa (Akhisar)	Spor Toto Akhisar Stadium	12,139
Alanyaspor	Antalya (Alanya)	Bahçeşehir Okulları Stadium	10,130
Ankaragücü	Ankara	Eryaman Stadium	20,071
Antalyaspor	Antalya (Muratpaşa)	Antalya Stadium	32,537
Beşiktaş	Istanbul (Beşiktaş)	Vodafone Park	41,188
Bursaspor	Bursa	Büyüksehir Belediyesi Stadium	43,361
Çaykur Rizespor	Rize	Yeni Rize Şehir Stadı	15,332
Erzurum BB	Erzurum	Kazım Karabekir Stadium	23,277
Fenerbahçe	Istanbul (Kadıköy)	Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium	47,834
Galatasaray	Istanbul (Şişli)	Türk Telekom Stadium	52,223
Göztepe	İzmir	Bornova Stadium	12,500
İstanbul Başakşehir	Istanbul (Başakşehir)	Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium	17,300
Kasımpaşa	Istanbul (Beyoğlu)	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Stadium	14,234
Kayserispor	Kayseri	Kadir Has Stadium	32,864
Konyaspor	Konya	Konya Büyükşehir Stadium	42,000
Sivasspor	Sivas	4 Eylül Stadium	27,532
Trabzonspor	Trabzon	Şenol Güneş Sports Complex	40,782
Yeni Malatyaspor	Malatya	Malatya Stadium	27,044

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
Akhisarspor	Cem Kavçak	Bilal Kısa	Nike
Alanyaspor	Sergen Yalçın	Haydar Yılmaz	Uhlsport
Ankaragücü	Mustafa Kaplan	Sedat Ağçay	Puma
Antalyaspor	Bülent Korkmaz	Diego Ângelo	Nike
Atiker Konyaspor	Aykut Kocaman	Ali Turan	Nike	Spor Toto
Beşiktaş	Şenol Güneş	Tolga Zengin	Adidas	Vodafone
Bursaspor	Mesut Bakkal	Ertuğrul Ersoy	Puma	BUDO
Çaykur Rizespor	Okan Buruk	Ali Çamdalı	Nike	Çaykur
Erzurum BB	Hamza Hamzaoğlu	Egemen Korkmaz	Nike	Anka Jeneratör
Fenerbahçe	Ersun Yanal	Volkan Demirel	Adidas	Avis
Galatasaray	Fatih Terim	Selçuk İnan	Nike	Nef
Göztepe	Tamer Tuna	Beto	Puma	Mahall Bomonti
İstanbul Başakşehir	Abdullah Avcı	Emre Belözoğlu	Macron	Decovita
Kasımpaşa	Mustafa Denizli	Veysel Sarı	Nike	Ciner
Kayserispor	Hikmet Karaman	Umut Bulut	Nike	İstikbal
Sivasspor	Hakan Keleş	Ziya Erdal	Adidas	Demir İnşaat
Trabzonspor	Ünal Karaman	José Sosa	Macron	QNB
Yeni Malatyaspor	Ali Ravcı	Adem Büyük	Macron	Battalbey

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Trabzonspor	Rıza Çalımbay	End of contract	17 May 2018^[2]	5th	Ünal Karaman	30 May 2018^[3]
Bursaspor	Mustafa Er	Change of staff role ^[4]	17 May 2018	13th	Samet Aybaba	19 May 2018^[5]
Sivasspor	Samet Aybaba	Resignation	19 May 2018^[6]	7th	Tamer Tuna	29 May 2018^[7]
Antalyaspor	Hamza Hamzaoğlu	Mutual agreement	21 May 2018^[8]	14th	Bülent Korkmaz	9 June 2018^[9]
Göztepe	Tamer Tuna		22 May 2018^[10]	6th	Bayram Bektaş	24 May 2018 ^[11]
Akhisarspor	Okan Buruk	End of contract	14 June 2018^[12]	11th	Safet Sušić	21 June 2018^[13]
Fenerbahçe	Aykut Kocaman	Mutual agreement	18 June 2018^[14]	2nd	Phillip Cocu	22 June 2018^[15]
Akhisarspor	Safet Sušić	Sacked	17 September 2018	17th	Cihat Arslan	25 September 2018
Çaykur Rizespor	İbrahim Üzülmez	Mutual agreement	21 September 2018 ^[16]	16th	Okan Buruk	24 September 2018 ^[17]
BB Erzurumspor	Mehmet Altıparmak	Mutual agreement	26 September 2018	18th	Mehmet Özdilek	1 October 2018
Kasımpaşa	Kemal Özdeş	Resignation	1 October 2018^[18]	6th	Mustafa Denizli	2 October 2018^[19]
Fenerbahçe	Phillip Cocu	Sacked	28 October 2018	15th	Ersun Yanal	14 December 2018 ^[20]
Sivasspor	Tamer Tuna	Resignation	6 November 2018 ^[21]	14th	Hakan Keleş	19 November 2018 ^[22]
Alanyaspor	Mesut Bakkal	Mutual agreement	6 November 2018^[23]	13th	Sergen Yalçın	9 November 2018^[24]
Konyaspor	Rıza Çalımbay	Sacked	12 November 2018 ^[25]	9th	Aykut Kocaman	19 November 2018 ^[26]
Kayserispor	Ertuğrul Sağlam	Resignation	2 December 2018 ^[27]	17th	Hikmet Karaman	5 December 2018 ^[28]
Göztepe	Bayram Bektaş	Resignation	9 December 2018 ^[29]	12th	Kemal Özdeş	10 December 2018 ^[30]
Ankaragücü	İsmail Kartal	Sacked	15 December 2018 ^[31]	11th	Bayram Bektaş	19 December 2018
Ankaragücü	Bayram Bektaş	Resignation	13 January 2019	12th	Mustafa Kaplan	14 January 2019
Akhisarspor	Cihat Arslan	Sacked	14 February 2019	18th	Cem Kavçak	15 February 2019^[32]
Göztepe	Kemal Özdeş	Sacked	24 February 2019	13th	Tamer Tuna	26 February 2019
BB Erzurumspor	Mehmet Özdilek	Mutual agreement	4 March 2019	17th	Hamza Hamzaoğlu	5 March 2019
Bursaspor	Samet Aybaba	Mutual agreement	7 April 2019	15th	Mesut Bakkal	8 April 2019
Yeni Malatyaspor	Erol Bulut	Resignation	28 April 2019	7th	Ali Ravcı	29 April 2019
Kasımpaşa	Mustafa Denizli	Resignation	14 May 2019	13th	İlyas Öztürk / Erkan Çoker	14 May 2019^[33]

Foreign Players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Player 7	Player 8	Player 9	Player 10	Player 11	Player 12	Player 13	Player 14	Former Players
Akhisarspor	Sokol Cikalleshi	Avdija Vršajević	Edin Cocalić	Serginho	Dany Nounkeu	Jeremy Bokila	Abdoul Sissoko	Adrien Regattin	Elvis Manu	Hélder Barbosa	Josué	Miguel Lopes	Milan Lukač	Rajko Rotman	Daniel Larsson Yevhen Seleznyov
Alanyaspor	Djalma	Lucas Villafáñez	Baiano	Welinton	Mbilla Etame	Junior Fernandes	Josef Šural	Fabrice Nsakala	Isaac Sackey	Georgios Tzavellas	Glynor Plet	Joel Obi	Papiss Cissé	Steven Caulker	Bobô Filipe Augusto Giannis Maniatis
Ankaragücü	Óscar Scarione	Héctor Canteros	Ante Kulušić	Thibault Moulin	Wilfred Moke	Stelios Kitsiou	Brice Dja Djédjé	Dever Orgill	Hadi Sacko	Michał Pazdan	Tiago Pinto	Zaur Sadayev	Ricardo Faty	Tyler Boyd	Anton Putsila Bakary Koné Thomas Heurtaux Alessio Cerci Moestafa El Kabir Youness Mokhtar Lanre Kehinde Łukasz Szukała Thievy Bifouma Johannes Hopf
Antalyaspor	Fredy	Ruud Boffin	Amilton	Charles	Chico	Diego Ângelo	Ondřej Čelůstka	Aly Cissokho	Jean Armel Drolé	Souleymane Doukara					Danilo Maicon William Vainqueur Abdelaziz Barrada
Beşiktaş	Adriano	Atiba Hutchinson	Cyle Larin	Enzo Roco	Gary Medel	Domagoj Vida	Nicolas Isimat-Mirin	Loris Karius	Shinji Kagawa	Jeremain Lens	Ricardo Quaresma	Adem Ljajić			Vágner Love Ryan Babel Pepe Álvaro Negredo
Bursaspor	Santiago Vergini	Allano	Aurélien Chedjou	Jirès Kembo Ekoko	Shehu Abdullahi	Jani Atanasov	Iasmin Latovlevici	Diafra Sakho	Henri Saivet						Tomáš Necid Paschal Okoli William Troost-Ekong Bogdan Stancu
Çaykur Rizespor	Fernando Boldrin	Préjuce Nakoulma	Dario Melnjak	Davide Petrucci	Aatif Chahechouhe	Marwane Saâdane	Mohamed Abarhoun	Aminu Umar	Azubuike Okechukwu	Chidozie Awaziem	Braian Samudio	Montassar Talbi	Mykola Morozyuk		Jakub Brabec Samir Ujkani Jarosław Jach Armand Traoré Matic Fink Oleksandr Hladkyi
Erzurum BB	Ibrahim Šehić	Jasmin Šćuk	Gabriel Obertan	Léo Schwechlen	Rashad Muhammed	Pierre Kanstrup	Moussa Koné	Samuel Eduok	Kristian Opseth	Siphiwe Tshabalala	Ridge Munsy	Gilles Sunu			Auremir Lennart Thy Stephane Acka Arsen Khubulov Jasmin Trtovac
Fenerbahçe	Islam Slimani	Yassine Benzia	Jailson	Carlos Kameni	Mauricio Isla	Mathieu Valbuena	André Ayew	Nabil Dirar	Victor Moses	Roman Neustädter	Martin Škrtel	Miha Zajc	Roberto Soldado	Michael Frey	Giuliano Souza Diego Reyes Aatif Chahechouhe
Galatasaray	Sofiane Feghouli	Fernando	Marcão	Mariano	Christian Luyindama	Kostas Mitroglou	Yuto Nagatomo	Younès Belhanda	Ryan Donk	Henry Onyekuru	Martin Linnes	Badou Ndiaye	Mbaye Diagne	Fernando Muslera	Maicon Garry Rodrigues Bafétimbi Gomis
Göztepe	Nabil Ghilas	Kadu	Titi	Wallace	Celso Borges	Cameron Jerome	Axel Ngando	Yoan Gouffran	André Poko	Lumor Agbenyenu	Adama Traoré	André Castro	Beto	Lamine Gassama	Sokol Cikalleshi
İstanbul Başakşehir	Edin Višća	Riad Bajić	Júnior Caiçara	Márcio Mossoró	Robinho	Gaël Clichy	Joseph Attamah	Stefano Napoleoni	Alexandru Epureanu	Eljero Elia	Fyodor Kudryashov	Demba Ba	Miloš Jojić	Emmanuel Adebayor	Karim Hafez Manuel da Costa
Kasımpaşa	Haris Hajradinović	Strahil Popov	Stipe Perica	David Pavelka	Karim Hafez	Trézéguet	Olivier Veigneau	Bengali-Fodé Koita	Simone Scuffet	Loret Sadiku	Tobias Heintz	Josué Sá	Abdul Khalili	Syam Ben Youssef	Samuel Eduok Mbaye Diagne
Kayserispor	Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik	Asamoah Gyan	Bernard Mensah	Tjaronn Chery	Tiago Lopes	Varela	Cristian Săpunaru	Silviu Lung Jr.	Artem Kravets	Oleksandr Kucher					Rajko Rotman
Konyaspor	Amir Hadžiahmetović	Deni Milošević	Abdou Traoré	Jens Jønsson	Petar Filipović	Moryké Fofana	Mustapha Yatabaré	Adis Jahović	Leonard Zuta	Paolo Hurtado	Fallou Diagne	Marko Jevtović	Nejc Skubic	Yevhen Opanasenko	Wilfred Moke
Sivasspor	David Braz	Douglas	Arouna Koné	Fousseni Diabaté	Hugo Vieira	Delvin N'Dinga	Gabriel Torje	Paul Papp	Mattias Bjärsmyr	Serhiy Rybalka	Sergio Rochet				Carl Medjani Robinho Cyriac
Trabzonspor	José Sosa	Luis Ibáñez	Hugo Rodallega	Filip Novák	Caleb Ekuban	Majid Hosseini	Vahid Amiri	Anthony Nwakaeme	Ogenyi Onazi	João Pereira	Zargo Touré	Juraj Kucka			Esteban Alvarado
Yeni Malatyaspor	Fabien Farnolle	Guilherme	Arturo Mina	Michaël Pereira	Aboubakar Kamara	Issam Chebake	Mitchell Donald	Seth Sincere	Thievy Bifouma	Issiar Dia	Danijel Aleksić				Sulley Muniru Khalid Boutaïb

Positions by round

The following table represents the teams' positions after each round in the competition.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

News: Süper Lig Top Goalscorers . TFF .

Pos.	Player	Team	Goals
1	Mbaye Diagne	Kasımpaşa/Galatasaray	30
2	Vedat Muriqi	Çaykur Rizespor	17
3	Burak Yılmaz	Trabzonspor/Beşiktaş	16
Papiss Cissé	Alanyaspor
5	Hugo Rodallega	Trabzonspor	15
6	Henry Onyekuru	Galatasaray	14
7	Edin Višća	Başakşehir	12
Robinho	Sivasspor/Başakşehir
Mevlüt Erdinç	Antalyaspor
10	Anthony Nwakaeme	Trabzonspor	10
Danijel Aleksić	Yeni Malatyaspor
Souleymane Doukara	Antalyaspor
Arouna Koné	Sivasspor

Hat-tricks

Date	Player	For	Against	Result
19 January 2019	Henry Onyekuru	Galatasaray	Ankaragücü	6–0
17 February 2019	Sofiane Feghouli	Galatasaray	Kasımpaşa	4–1
1 March 2019	Dever Orgill	Ankaragücü	Antalyaspor	2–4
6 April 2019	Mbaye Diagne	Galatasaray	Yeni Malatyaspor	3–0
8 April 2019	Güven Yalçın	Beşiktaş	Çaykur Rizespor	2–7
24 May 2019	Güven Yalçın	Beşiktaş	Kasımpaşa	3–2

Awards

Annual awards

Award^[34]	Winner	Club
Player of the Season		Başakşehir
Goalkeeper of the Season	Mert Günok	Başakşehir
Defender of the Season	Alexandru Epureanu	Başakşehir
Midfielder of the Season	Edin Višća	Başakşehir
Forward of the Season	Burak Yılmaz	Beşiktaş
Young Player of the Season	Dorukhan Tokoz	Beşiktaş
Manager of the Season	Abdullah Avcı	Başakşehir

Team of the Season^[35]
Goalkeeper	Mert Günok (Başakşehir)
Defence	Gökhan Gönül (Beşiktaş)	Domagoj Vida (Beşiktaş)		Alexandru Epureanu (Başakşehir)		Hasan Ali Kaldırım (Fenerbahçe)
Midfield	Emre Belözoğlu(Başakşehir)		Adem Ljajic (Beşiktaş)		Dorukhan Toköz (Beşiktaş)
Attack	Edin Visca (Başakşehir)		Burak Yılmaz (Beşiktaş)		Trézéguet (Kasımpaşa)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Spor Toto Süper Lig'de Lefter Küçükandonyadis sezonu. tff.org. Turkish Football Federation. 3 August 2018. tr. https://web.archive.org/web/20180715235619/http://www.tff.org/default.aspx?pageID=285&ftxtID=29576. 2018-07-15. live.
2. Web site: Rıza Çalımbay Trabzonspor'a veda etti. . 17 May 2018.
3. Web site: TRABZONSPOR'DA ÜNAL KARAMAN DÖNEMİ . 30 May 2018. tr.
4. Web site: Mustafa Er, Bursaspor'un Futbol Direktörü oldu. tr.
5. Web site: Bursaspor'da Samet Aybaba dönemi . 29 May 2018.
6. Web site: Samet Aybaba istifa etti . 19 May 2018.
7. Web site: Son dakika! Tamer Tuna, Sivasspor'da! . 29 May 2018 .
8. Web site: Son dakika Antalyaspor'da Hamza Hamzaoğlu dönemi bitti . 21 May 2018 . tr.
9. Web site: Antalyaspor'da Bülent Korkmaz dönemi.. 9 June 2018. fotomac.com.tr. 9 June 2018. tr.
10. Web site: Göztepe Tamer Tuna ile yolları ayırdı . 22 May 2018. tr.
11. Web site: Göztepe'de Bayram Bektaş dönemi . tr.
12. Web site: Akhisarspor ve Okan Buruk'un yolları ayrıldı!. 17 June 2018. sporx.com. 14 June 2018. tr.
13. Web site: Akhisarspor'da Safet Susiç dönemi. 21 June 2018. hurriyet.com.tr. 20 June 2018. tr.
14. http://www.fenerbahce.org/detay.asp?ContentID=60746 EN İÇTEN TEŞEKKÜRLERİMİZLE
15. Web site: Phillip Cocu, Fenerbahçe'nin yeni teknik direktörü!. 22 June 2018. birgun.net. 22 June 2018. tr.
16. Web site: ÇAYKUR RİZESPOR BASIN BÜLTENİ (21 EYLÜL 2018 CUMA). tr.
17. Web site: Çaykur Rizespor, Okan Buruk'u Takımın Başına Getirdi. tr.
18. Web site: Kasımpaşa'da Kemal Özdeş dönemi sona erdi!. tr.
19. Web site: Kasımpaşa'da Mustafa Denizli dönemi başladı. tr.
20. Web site: Fenerbahce gets Ersun Yanal as new coach. 14 December 2018.
21. Web site: Son dakika: Sivasspor'da Tamer Tuna istifa etti. tr.
22. Web site: Demir Grup Sivasspor'un yeni hocası Hakan Keleş!. tr.
23. Web site: Aytemiz Alanyaspor agreed with Yalçın in principle. . 21 November 2018.
24. Web site: Sergen Yalçın bir kez daha Süper Lig'de. tr.
25. Web site: Konyaspor'da Rıza Çalımbay ile yollar ayrıldı. tr.
26. Web site: Aykut Kocaman'dan Konyaspor'a 2,5 yıllık imza. tr.
27. Web site: Kayserispor'da Ertuğrul Sağlam dönemi sona erdi. tr.
28. Web site: BASIN AÇIKLAMASI. tr. 5 December 2018.
29. Web site: Kamuoyunun Bilgisine. tr. 9 December 2018.
30. Web site: Kemal Özdeş ile sözleşme imzaladık. tr. 10 December 2018.
31. Web site: İsmail Kartal'ın görevine son verildi. tr. 15 December 2018.
32. Web site: Akhisarspor’da Kavçak dönemi. tr. 15 February 2019.
33. Web site: Kasımpaşa, Öztürk ve Çoker’e emanet. tr. 14 May 2019.
34. Web site: Aslan . Erkan . 2019-05-03 . 2018-2019 Sezonunun Enleri "Futbolun Süperleri" Töreniyle Ödüllerine Kavuştu . 2022-12-31 . ListeList . tr.
35. Web site: 2018-2019 Sezonunun Enleri "Futbolun Süperleri" Töreniyle Ödüllerine Kavuştu. 3 May 2019.