29.10.2026 17:03
Following İsmail Kartal's remark, "You can be champion in this league without winning derbies," Fenerbahçe's derby results in past seasons drew attention.
After the derby lost 2-1 to Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe Technical Director İsmail Kartal, answering the question "Do you think you can become champions without winning the derby?" at the press conference, had said, "You can become champions in this league without winning the derby."
ONLY 2 CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 9 SEASONS
According to the research conducted after these remarks by İsmail Kartal, in the yellow-navy blues' league history, they reached a happy ending only twice in the 9 seasons in which they lost to both Galatasaray and Beşiktaş in the first half of the season.
CHAMPIONSHIP MISSED IN 7 SEASONS
Fenerbahçe could not complete the championship race at the top in 7 of the 9 seasons in which it dropped points against both of its arch-rivals in the first half in league history. The exceptional periods in which the yellow-navy team achieved victory despite this bad picture were the 1960-61 and 2004-05 seasons. In the 2004-2005 season, Fenerbahçe, which lost 2-1 to Beşiktaş and 1-0 to Galatasaray in the first half, collected 80 points at the end of the season under Christoph Daum and clinched the championship. In the 1960-1961 season, the yellow-navy blues, who lost 5-0 to Galatasaray and 3-1 to Beşiktaş in the first half, managed to finish the league as champions with the 61 points they collected throughout the season.
A DERBY WIN IN THE SECOND HALF IS ESSENTIAL
However, the common point of these two championship seasons was that derby victories were not completely absent. Fenerbahçe earned at least one derby victory in the second half of the league in both seasons in which it lost to both rivals in the first half and became champion. The yellow-navy blues had managed to beat Beşiktaş in the second half of 1960-61 and Galatasaray in the second half of 2004-05 with 1-0 scores.