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Galatasaray and Besiktas will renew one of Turkish football’s oldest rivalries Saturday when they meet for the 359th time in a Turkish Super Lig derby at RAMS Park.
The series dates back to Aug. 22, 1924, when Besiktas claimed a 2-0 victory at Taksim Stadium. Since then, Galatasaray have won 128 meetings, Besiktas 116, and 114 have ended in draws. Galatasaray holds the edge in goals, outscoring their rival 499 to 472.
In 134 league encounters, Galatasaray has 51 wins to Besiktas’ 40, with 43 draws. The yellow-reds have scored 165 goals compared with Besiktas' 143.
At RAMS Park, opened in 2011, Galatasaray has dominated, winning 11 of 15 derbies. They are unbeaten in their last eight at home against Besiktas', taking seven wins and a draw. Besiktas' last away victory came in the 2016–17 season, when Anderson Talisca scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win.
The first derby goal was scored by Besiktas' Refik Osman Top in 1924, while Galatasaray’s first came from Mehmet Leblebi in a 6-2 win in 1925.
Besiktas legend Hakki “Baba” Yeten leads all scorers with 29 goals in 61 matches, followed by teammate Seref Gorkey with 26. For Galatasaray, Gunduz Kilic netted 21 goals in 31 appearances. Kilic also holds the record for most goals in a single derby, scoring five in a 9-2 Galatasaray victory on June 30, 1940.
The biggest wins include Galatasaray’s 9-2 triumph in 1940 and Besiktas' 5-0 victories in 1933, 1940 and, most recently, in August 2024 in the Turkcell Super Cup.
Besiktas' Seref Gorkey holds the appearance record with 63 matches, while the highest attendance for a Turkish Super Lig derby was set in 2013 when 76,127 fans—all Besiktas supporters due to an away ban—packed Ataturk Olympic Stadium. That same match was abandoned after crowd trouble, with the federation awarding Galatasaray a 3-0 victory.
Several players have worn both jerseys over the years, including Sergen Yalcin, Okan Buruk, Burak Yilmaz, Caner Erkin, Gedson Fernandes, and Michy Batshuayi.
This weekend’s focus will be on the forwards. Galatasaray, unbeaten with seven wins in seven league matches, leads the Turkish Super Lig in scoring with 19 goals. Mauro Icardi has five, while Baris Alper Yilmaz and Eren Elmali have three each. Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen has two league goals and one in the Champions League.
Icardi has scored five goals in six matches against Besiktas, though he has been held scoreless in the last three. Osimhen has one goal in two meetings.
Besiktas sits fifth with 12 points from six matches. Their attack has leaned heavily on wingers, with Rafa Silva scoring five of the team’s 11 league goals. Tammy Abraham has struggled in domestic play with two goals in six appearances, though he scored five times in European qualifiers. Rafa Silva has scored twice against Galatasaray, once in the league and once in the Super Cup.
The rivalry has produced high-scoring classics, including Galatasaray’s 9-2 victory in 1940 and 5-4 results for both clubs in the 1940s and 1950s. Five derbies have ended 4-4, most recently in 1968.
Besiktas endured a 17-match winless stretch against Galatasaray between 1975 and 1979, while Galatasaray went 15 without a win between 1931 and 1936.
The latest chapter will be written Saturday at RAMS Park, where Galatasaray seeks to extend their unbeaten home run in the derby to nine matches.
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