Altay

Altay Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Karaman, in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. The club competes in the Turkish First Division. The team’s colors are blue and black.

Altay, founded on February 22, 1924, is one of the most successful football clubs in Turkey. Altay’s heyday was in the 1960s and 1970s when the club won four domestic championships and reached the Turkish Cup finals twice. Altay’s fortunes changed in the 1980s, when financial problems forced the club to abandon its traditional strong rivalry with Şanlıurfası SK and to focus solely on domestic football. Nevertheless, Altay continued to achieve respectable results in the lower divisions of the Turkish football league system. The club’s most recent success came in the 2003–04 season when it won the Second Division championship.

After twenty years of absence, Altay Football Club returned to the top flight of Turkish football, the Turkish First Division, in the 2009–10 season. The club finished the season in 6th place, just one point shy of qualifying for the UEFA Europa League. Altay then reached the Turkish Cup quarterfinals, losing to Gaziantep BSK.

In the following year, 2010–11, Altay finished in 4th place in the Turkish First Division and qualified for the UEFA Europa League for the first time in club history. In the first qualifying round, Altay was drawn against Scottish side Morton. The first leg in Turkey ended in a 1–1 draw, with Altay managing to take the lead in the second leg, only to lose 4–2 on aggregate. In the next round, Altay met Romanian side FC Basel. After a 2–2 draw in Switzerland, Basel won the second leg 4–0, thereby qualifying for the Europa League for the fourth time in the club’s history.

On February 28, 2013, Altay played its 1,000th official match in a 2–1 away victory against Konyaspor. Altay finished the 2013–14 season in 5th place, just one point behind Erzurumspor, who won the championship. The following season, 2014–15, Altay finished the season in 9th place, qualifying for the UEFA Europa League for the fifth time in club history. In the first qualifying round, Altay was drawn against Dutch side Excelsior Rotterdam. The first leg in Turkey ended in a 2–2 draw, with Altay coming back from down 2–0 to win the second leg 4–2 on aggregate. In the next round, Altay met Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad. After a 1–1 draw in Bulgaria, Ludogorets won the second leg 3–1, thereby qualifying for the Europa League for the sixth time in the club’s history.

Altay’s most successful period came in the