From the Ottoman Empire to Osimhen: football in Turkiye
Soccer 101
TSS
4.9 • 853 Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2026
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Disclaimer - This is Taylor. I edited this episode. I talk A LOT. Even by my standards. But it's the first time I've gotten to talk about Turkiye in detail in a very long time, from its massive history (soccer and non-soccer), political upheaval, 3-club-dominance, Kemalism, Gulen vs Erdogan, and much much more! Plus, why Hakan Suker went from national superstar and up-and-coming politician, to living in exile and driving Uber in the United States.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome, everybody to Soccer 101. My name is Taylor Rockwell, and this week we're taking a look at the lengthy history of football in Turkey. |
| 0:23.4 | From the literal gaslit pitches of the Ottoman Empire to the thunderous Istanbul derbies, there's a lot to unpack. |
| 0:29.6 | The Super League itself is one of Europe's most passionate leagues with a long history, a big three rivalry that divides a city, and notable names from Hakkan Cholinolu |
| 0:38.1 | to Arda Gouler, now carrying those roots onto the world stage this summer. Here with me to talk |
| 0:43.6 | it all out is Graham Ruthven, Graham Ruthven, welcome to hell, which feels like an inappropriate |
| 0:48.5 | and appropriate introduction all at once. Yeah, I'm looking forward to this one, Taylor. One, because |
| 0:53.5 | there's a lot of stuff to talk about with Turkish Taylor. One, because there's a lot of stuff |
| 0:54.6 | to talk about with Turkish football. Two, because you're a Galatasaray fan and so this means something |
| 0:59.9 | to you. And three, the Turkish Super League is sort of this like kingdom on the other side of |
| 1:05.6 | Pride Rock where you kind of know what's happening. You know like some of the things that's |
| 1:09.6 | happening, but not everything. So I'm excited to shine a light on it and finally, hopefully find out some new things. |
| 1:15.7 | I'm going to start off controversial. And maybe hyenas are involved from time to time on the other |
| 1:20.1 | side. You're never quite sure. You're never quite sure how stable things are. Yeah, that feels |
| 1:24.3 | about right. It's a league much like Turkey until recently that has |
| 1:28.1 | like ups and downs, two mults and then stability and then lots of success, booming success at that, |
| 1:34.7 | and then maybe two mults again. But we're going to get into it, Mr. Ruffin. Let's start out with |
| 1:39.8 | the basics. What is the top flight in Turkey called? Turkey A, excuse me. Yeah, so the top flight |
| 1:46.3 | in Turkey, I haven't quite named that one. I didn't know that one. Is that right? Turkey A, right? |
| 1:51.3 | It's one of those, it's similar to like Chequia, where I think they wanted it to be known closer |
| 1:56.0 | to what, like, the actual language would be, but it is also a thing that Erdogan, the current, I would say |
| 2:02.9 | dictator, has kind of put in place to promote nationalism and strength and whatnot. |
| 2:09.0 | Turkey, though. |
... |
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