07.08.2026 09:51
Göztepe, which is the only representative of Izmir and the Aegean in the Super League in football and has made a great breakthrough in Olympic sports in recent years while continuing its facility development initiatives, received good news for the Olympic sports facility it will build in Inciralti. Approval came from the relevant ministries and municipalities for the project prepared for the approximately 32,000 square meters of land in Balcova Inciralti, allocated in 2023 to the yellow-red club for building a facility for Olympic sports.
The conservation-oriented master and implementation zoning plan for creating an "Indoor Sports Facility Area," approved by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and put on display by the İzmir Provincial Directorate of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, will remain on display until September 2.
If no objections are raised during the display period, Göztepe will break ground on the facility it has planned for athletes in Olympic branches. The facility to be built in İnciraltı is designed not only for athletes but also as a social area that will touch the daily lives of families and the local community. Göztepe, which operates in many branches, will bring its Olympic sports schools under one roof with the İnciraltı project. Training areas will be established for children and young people in padel, tennis, swimming, gymnastics, fitness, ballet, archery, and many other Olympic branches. The facility will also be a living space open to the neighborhood, with social areas where families who drop off their children or wait for training can spend time and meet their own sports needs. Once the facility is completed, many more children and athletes will have the opportunity to do sports under better conditions.
THERE WILL BE BRANCHES OTHER THAN FOOTBALL With this facility, Göztepe aims both to increase its athlete development capacity and to establish an ecosystem that can keep athletes raised in İzmir in İzmir. The facility, which will not have a football field, will include handball and basketball halls, a volleyball hall, an indoor semi-Olympic pool, a gymnastics hall, tennis and padel courts for the infrastructure teams. In addition, there will be table tennis, chess, archery, athletics, judo, taekwondo and fencing work areas, fitness, pilates, social activity areas, and food and beverage units. This facility, where athletes will carry out their training, will be built as a living space aiming to serve the entire society, especially athletes and their families. Göz-Göz, which currently continues sports training in different branches in many areas, as well as in the halls and pool under Gürsel Aksel Stadium, will strengthen its infrastructure move when the project is completed.
MEHMET SEPİL IS COUNTING THE DAYS Mehmet Sepil, Honorary President of Göztepe and President of Olympic Branches, who previously brought Gürsel Aksel Stadium and completed Urla Adnan Süvari Facilities, is counting the days for the İnciraltı Facilities, which he has personally overseen from the very beginning. Göztepe is also in the final stage for the opening of the football academy and the commercial areas at Gürsel Aksel Stadium. Mehmet Sepil, stating that they want to implement the İnciraltı project immediately, said, "We have reached an important stage in the İnciraltı project we started 3 years ago. We received the approval of the planning from the ministries. After obtaining the necessary permits, our goal is to start the project within 3-4 months. Hopefully, we will lay the foundation for the İnciraltı project. We have talked about this a lot before. The entire İnciraltı project will be a project created for Olympic branches and sports schools." Sepil said, "Here there will be padel, tennis, swimming pools, and also areas to train our young people and children in all Olympic branches you can think of, such as gymnastics, ballet, archery. Most importantly, we want to provide areas where families, when they bring their children, can also do sports themselves or spend time while waiting for their children. The first start of Göztepe's biggest goal, the project of taking players and athletes to the Olympics with the Göztepe emblem, would be the İnciraltı project from now on. There are also many projects related to the Olympic infrastructure. We will open new areas. Together with the Ministry of Sports, we will bring new areas to our Olympic branches in the existing areas at the stadium. Therefore, we want to create an ecosystem where İzmir can keep the athletes it raises within İzmir, rather than sending them out, and contribute to İzmir," he said.
PLANS ON DISPLAY The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change approved the conservation-oriented master and implementation zoning plan proposals for creating an "Indoor Sports Facility Area" on the 31,977 square meter area allocated to Göztepe Sports Club in Balçova İnciraltı, and the plans will remain on display until September 2. The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change approved on July 24, 2026, the 1/5000 scale Conservation-Oriented Master Zoning Plan and the 1/1000 scale Conservation-Oriented Implementation Zoning Plan proposals for the "Indoor Sports Facility Area" prepared for parcel 99, block 2289, located in İnciraltı Neighborhood, Balçova district. According to the announcement made by the İzmir Provincial Directorate of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, the plan proposals were put on display for one month between August 4 and September 2, 2026. The plan change covers the 31,977 square meter area in Balçova İnciraltı, which is entirely of land status. The preliminary allocation of the ownership of the said parcel was given to Göztepe for two years. After the completion of the zoning works, it is envisaged that the area will be left to the club's use free of charge for 20 years, in line with the authorization of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. In the plan explanation report, it was stated that Göztepe Sports Club conducts activities in 16 Olympic branches, primarily volleyball, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, archery, handball, fencing, taekwondo, sailing, and chess, and serves more than 5,000 athletes. The report stated that the club, especially due to the lack of halls, has to rent different facilities in many branches, training and match programs are shaped according to the availability of halls, which negatively affects the development of athletes. In the plan report, it was noted that in the region covering the districts of Balçova, Bayraklı, Bornova, Buca, Çiğli, Gaziemir, Güzelbahçe, Karabağlar, Karşıyaka, Konak, and Narlıdere, there are only 18 sports facilities of similar nature to the proposed facility. In the same report, it was stated that to meet the sports area needs of 747,611 people aged 5-24 living in these 11 districts, more than 1 million square meters of sports area is needed.