History
Elazığspor was founded in 1967 when three clubs (Merkez Gençlik, Güvenspor and Harputspor) were united to form a strong team for the city of Elâzığ. The club's emblem refers to a famous local dance called Çayda Çıra. This dance is performed with candles in the hands. Elazığspor's main rivals are Malatyaspor. The cities Elazig and Malatya, were Malatyaspor play, are neighboring cities.[5] Due to the rivalry meaning a lot to those fan bases, extra security is almost a necessity to make sure of safety. Due to the fan bases dislike for each other, sometimes the visiting team's fans will not be allowed to attend the game due to security reasons.[5] Usually, there will be around 30 journalists from Malatya to attend the game whenever the rivalry is being hosted by Elazigspor.[5] The “Doğunun derbisi” has become one of the biggest soccer rivalries in Turkey. One friendly match that Elazigspor played versus Diyarbakırspor on September 5, 2011 turned tragic. Fans of both teams threw stones and hard objects at each other.[6] One lieutenant and 1 expert sergeant died to the fan’s behaviors.[6] A total of 6 people were injured.[6] These events happened during the middle of the match, as the game had to be delayed until the events that were going on came down. The club has played in the Second and Third Leagues for several years. Finally in 2002, the club was promoted to the Turkish First Football League. However, in 2004, they were relegated to the TFF First League again. They were relegated to the TFF Second League in 2008 after finishing in 16th place. In the 2017-2018 season, Elazigspor is currently in 9th place in the Turkish Football Federation’s 1st league.[7] They have 19 points so far this season with 14 matches played.[7] Elazigspor has 5 wins and 5 losses to go along with 4 draws.[7] They have scored 20 goals while conceding 18 goals during those matches played, leaving them with a goal difference of 2.[7]
League participation
- Turkish Super League: 2002–04, 2012–2014
- TFF First League: 1974–82, 1983–85, 1986–87, 1990–92, 1995–02, 2004–08, 2011–12, 2014–
- TFF Second League: 1968–75, 1985–86, 1987–90, 1992–95, 2008–11
- TFF Third League: 1982–83
Current squad
- As of 1 September 2018[8][9]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Managers
- Faruk Omer (1984)
Güvenç Kurtar (Oct 31, 2003–??)- Erol Tok (Aug 22, 2007 – Feb 19, 2008)
- Serafettin Tutas (Aug 29, 2008–??)
- Osman Özköylü (June 10, 2010 – Oct 10, 2011)
- Hüsnü Özkara (Oct 14, 2011 – March 29, 2012)
- Bülent Uygun (March 30, 2012 – Oct 8, 2012)
- Yılmaz Vural (Oct 10, 2012 – May 20, 2013)
Trond Sollied (June 24, 2013 – Oct 27, 2013)- Okan Buruk (Oct 31, 2013– Jun 2, 2014)
- Ümit Özat (Aug 8, 2014– Apr 30, 2015)
- Bayram Bektas (Apr 30, 2015- Nov 12, 2015)
- Ibrahim Üzülmez (Nov 19, 2015- Dec 31, 2015)
- Kemal Özdes (Jan 4, 2016- Jan 15, 2016)
- Coskun Demirbakan (Jan 21, 2016- March 4, 2016)
- Ogün Temizkanoglu (March 4, 2016- Nov 10, 2016)
- Bayram Bektas (Nov 11, 2016- May 20, 2017)
- Mehmet Altiparmak (July 2, 2017- Nov 2, 2017)
- Hüseyin Kalpar (Nov 7, 2017-)
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