Mersin İdman Yurdu

Mersin İdman Yurdu

Full name	Mersin İdman Yurdu Spor Kulübü Derneği[1]
Nickname(s)	Kırmızı Şeytanlar (The Red Devils)
Founded	16 August 1925 (1925-08-16)
Ground	Mersin Arena, Mersin, Turkey
Capacity	25,534
President	Mahmut Karak
Manager	Nasır Belci
League	Turkish Regional Amateur League
2017–18	TFF Second League, 18th (relegated)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Mersin İdman Yurdu or Mersin İdmanyurdu (abbreviated as Mersin İY or MİY) is a Turkish sports club from Mersin, Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean Region. The team played in the Turkish first division for 11 seasons, and after the 1983–84 season the football team played in the Turkish second and third divisions. The team was promoted to the Turkish second level division after the 2008–09 season. MİY became the champions of the Turkish second division during the 2010–11 season and earned promotion to the Turkish Süper Lig during the 2011–12 season. Previous ground of the team was 10,125 capacity Tevfik Sırrı Gür Stadium.^[2] In 2013, their new 25,534 person capacity stadium, New Mersin Stadium, was inaugurated on 23 March 2013 with a TFF First League match against Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor. Their main rivals are Adana Demirspor, Adanaspor and Tarsus İdmanyurdu, and are friendly with Bucaspor.

Name

The name "Mersin İdman Yurdu" was originated as Turkish equivalent of "Mersin Sports Club". In the beginning of the Republic, many of the sports clubs carried the names as such. Later, most of those clubs, either by merging or renaming, changed their names. The "İdman Yurdu" name remained for some clubs throughout the country. Later it has lost its meaning. Therefore, "İdman Yurdu" has become a particular name for the club. Then, the club adopted the name "Mersin İdmanyurdu Sports Club". In its original form, the club's name is written separately. However, because of the norm that noun phrases which have lost their meaning are written contiguously, the team's name has become "Mersin İdmanyurdu". Today, both depictions are common in Turkish for MİY: Some write it separately (In Turkish, abbreviations are possible, even if the words had been conjunct). Club website has shown divergent interests.

Their nickname is Şeytanlar (meaning "Devils") or Kırmızı Şeytanlar ("Red Devils").^[3] Their song is "Şampiyon yap bizi / Cehennemde yak bizi" ("Make us the champs / Burn us in hellfire").^[3]

History

Club logo in the 1960s

Club logo in the 1970s

Mersin İdman Yurdu park, a part of Mersin coastal park reserved for Mersin İdman Yurdu, with view to Muğdat Mosque

Tevfik Sırrı Gür Stadium

Mersin İdman Yurdu is one of the oldest clubs of the Mediterranean region. The club was founded on 16 August 1925 as Mersin Gençlerbirliği (English: Mersin Youth Union) during a meeting between Edip Buran and his friends İbrahim Yekta, Fevzi Serdengeçti, Asım Güler, Muhip Batıbeki, Necati Salim, Lütfi Resimci, Sami İstanbullu, Hayri Güntekin, Hakkı Cemal Üçer, Hasan Tahsin, and Mustafa Lütfi. Their aim was to provide Mersin's youth with activities to fill their spare time with sports during long, hot summer days in Mersin. Later, the club obtained a license with the participation of other founders, namely İbrahim Bigam, İhsan Dağıstan, Hamit Abey, Rauf Süleymaniyeli, Semih Can, Ömer, Cevdet Türkmenli, Kazım Kırzade, and Muharrem Yeğin.^[4]

The first colors of the team were red and white. The club changed its name to Mersin İdman Yurdu in 1926, and their colors were changed to red and dark blue.^[5] The logo was established as three connected circles, the center circle in red and the left and right circles in dark blue.

Mersin İdman Yurdu had won the regional title every year since its foundation until 1964, except during the 1949–50 season when Mersin Demirspor captured the title. In 1944, the team reached the third place in the Turkish Football Championship. In 1952, the club inaugurated their new stadium, Tevfik Sırrı Gür Stadyumu,^[6] by playing an opening match that was tied 3–3 with Galatasaray.^[7]

In 1957, the club became sponsored by the Çukurova Group and adopted the name Çukurova İdmanyurdu. The team again finished third in the Turkish Amateur Championship.^[7] Çukurova İdmanyurdu, as "a rather well-known amateur club from the city of Mersin",^[8] turned professional and was promoted to Turkey's first second level league founded in 1963. Çukurova İdmanyurdu again became the amateur champions of Turkey in 1963. When they became a part of the Turkish second division they were one of only three clubs that came from outside of the major cities of Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir, the other clubs being Adana Demirspor and Bursaspor.

On June 1966 the club changed its name to Mersin İdman Yurdu after three seasons and became champions of the Turkish second division in the 1966–67 season. At the end of that season they won the Prime Minister's Cup by defeating the Amateur League champions. Beginning in the 1967–68 season they played in the Turkish top level division (Süper Lig) for 7 consecutive years and 11 years in total.

After the 1982–83 season, MİY was relegated from the Süper Lig. They played in the second division until the formation of a one-group second level division in 2001–02. Because of their place in the 2000–01 season they were automatically relegated to third level formed under the name of "Second League, Category B". They spent one season there and were promoted to the second division (Second League, Category A). After the 2005–06 season, they were relegated to the third division again.

In 2008, Ali Kahramanlı was elected president of the club. They finished the 2008–09 season in the TFF Second League playoffs in second place and advanced to the second division, now with the name TFF First League, also known as Bank Asya 1. Lig. After spending two seasons in the TFF First League, MİY became the champions of 2010–11 Bank Asya 1. Lig and were promoted to 2011–12 Süper Lig after being absent from the Süper Lig for 28 years. Their championship was widely attributed to coach Nurullah Sağlam, who took over the team after the 9th week during that season. They finished Süper Lig as 12th in the 2011–12 season but relegated again to First League after finishing 18th or last in the 2012–13 season. MİY finished the First League as 6th and qualified for the promotion play-offs in the 2013–14 season. They beat Orduspor 3–0 on aggregate and 2–0 Samsunspor and returned to top level at the first attempt. MİY finished the 2014-15 season as seventh. However, next season was a disaster for MİY due to financial problems. Eventually MİY relegated to second level after a 2-0 defeat to Çaykur Rizespor on 29 April 2016.

After the city of Mersin hosted the 2013 Mediterranean Games, there was an urgent need to build a modern stadium in the city. After the games were over, the club started to use the stadium for their league games. The stadium has a capacity of 25,534 people and it is one of the most modern stadiums in Turkey.^[9]

Support

The club have a passionate fanbase, despite spending most of their history in the lower divisions. The team's fan club is currently led by Aynalı Reis (Murat Bulut).^[3] The club is also renowned for having the country's only female only fan club, called Dişi Şeytanlar (Female Devils). They have been given the nickname Melek Yüzlü Şeytanlar (Angel-faced devils) and fill the home stands as well as traveling to away games. Their numbers have been swelling recently and their presence makes a change to the typically male dominated football crowds.^[3]

Honours

League participations

Before 2001

• First Level: First League: 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83.
• Second Level: Second League: 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01.

After 2001

• First Level: Süper Lig: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16
• Second Level: Lig A/TFF First League: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2016–17.
• Third Level: Lig B/TFF Second League: 2001–02, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09.

Turkish Cup participations

Participated in the Turkish Cup since 1962.

• Runners-up: 1982–83
• Eliminated at Quarter Finals: 1980–81
• Eliminated at Sixth Round: 1981–82
• Eliminated at Fourth Round: 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1983–84, 1997–98
• Eliminated at Third Round: 1963–64, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1977–78, 1979–80, 1991–92, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2005–06 (group stage), 2009–10, 2010–11
• Eliminated at Second Round: 1962–63, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1993–94, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2003–04, 2004–05
• Eliminated at First Round: 1968–69, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1992–93, 2002–03, 2006–07

European participations

European Cup Winners' Cup

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1983–84	1R	Spartak Varna	0–0	0–1	0–1

Current squad

As of 1 September 2016^[11]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 2 DF Ahmet Taner Cukadar 4 DF Mehmet Sığırcı 5 MF Tekin Oğrak 6 DF Serol Demirhan 7 MF Mahmut Metin 10 MF Tolga Sahin 11 FW Ahmet Bener 17 MF Emre Can Dönmez 19 DF Abdulkadir Korkut

No. Position Player 23 GK Hasan Daş 24 DF Hakan Olkan 25 GK Furkan Güzel 32 DF Mesut Aggül 33 MF Nurullah Kaya 46 FW Mehmet Ali Kacar 65 MF Emrah Özyaylaz 66 DF Gökhan Akkan 77 FW Güven Varol 81 FW Sinan Kaloğlu 86 FW Tita 99 MF Furkan Aydemir

Presidents

• Current President: Mahmut Karak since 25 February 2017.

Former presidents

President	Period
Reşit Galip Bey
Hakkı Cemal Üçer
Edip Buran
Halil Zaloğlu
Muharrem Hilmi Yeğin
Sait Arif Akıncı
Enver Ali Gernaz
Fuat Morel
Rıza Kurtuluş
Mitat Toroğlu	1930–1940
Fahri Merzeci
Tarık Özergin
Muhittin Aynaz
Anvi Gürsel
Şadi Eliyeşil

President	Period
Mehmet Karamehmet
Sadık Eliyeşil
Mehmet Karamehmet	1963–1965
Halit Gazioğlu	1965–1966
Nevzat Emrealp	1966–1967
Faruk Miskavi	1967–1968
Mehmet Karamehmet	1968–1974
Kaya Mutlu	1974–1976
Burhan Kanun	1976–1977
Salih Turhan Lokmanoğlu	1977–1978
Atilla Perşembe	1978–1979
Hadi Doğan	1979–1980
Aslan Çevirgen	1980–1981
Mehmet Fatih Deveci	1981–1983
Haluk Ulusoy	1983–1987

President	Period
H. Okan Merzeci	1987–26.03.1989
Kaya Mutlu	27.03.1989–26.03.1994
H. Okan Merzeci	27.03.1994–20.10.1997
Mehmet Küver	21.10.1997–18.04.1999
Macit Özcan	19.04.1999–22.05.2004
Hasan Ahi	24.05.2004–15.01.2006
Erol Ertan	16.01.2006–08.01.2007
Hamit İzol	09.01.2007–12.12.2007
Hüseyin Çalışkan	13.12.2007–23.09.2008
Ali Kahramanlı	24.09.2008–11.01.2016
Hüseyin Çalışkan	11.01.2016–27.09.2016
Ali Tekin	28.09.2016–25.02.2017
Mahmut Karak	25.02.2017–present

Sources: Club history^[12]

Coaches

• Head coach: Levent Eriş since 3 March 2017.

Former coaches^[13]

Head coach	Period
İlhan Taşucu	01.08.1963–31.05.1965
Fahrettin Cansever	01.08.1965–20.01.1966
Lefter Küçükandonyadis	20.01.1966–31.05.1967
Cihat Arman	01.08.1967–28.04.1968
Turgay Şeren	15.06.1968–25.03.1969
Bülent Giz	27.08.1969–31.05.1971
Dumitru Teodorescu	01.07.1971–29.08.1971
Turgay Şeren	31.08.1971–11.02.1973
Ion Motroc	09.09.1973–23.09.1973
Nazım Koka	30.09.1973–10.03.1974
Tomislav Kaloperović	23.03.1974–31.05.1974
Bülent Giz	01.08.1974–31.05.1975
Kadri Aytaç	01.08.1975–31.05.1977
Turgut Kafkas	01.08.1977–31.12.1977
Orhan Yüksel	01.01.1978–31.05.1978
Octavian Popescu	01.08.1978–31.05.1979
Suat Mamat	01.08.1979–31.05.1980
İsmet Arıkan	02.06.1980–31.05.1981
Candan Dumanlı	01.08.1981–31.05.1982
Gündüz Tekin Onay	01.08.1982–31.05.1983
Kahraman Karataş	01.08.1983–31.05.1985
Aydın Tohumcu	01.08.1985–31.05.1986
Kahraman Karataş	01.08.1986–31.05.1987
Aydın Tohumcu	01.08.1987–31.05.1988
İsmet Arıkan	01.08.1988–31.05.1989

Head coach	Period
Ali Hoşfikirer	01.08.1988–31.05.1989
Aydın Tohumcu	01.08.1989–04.01.1990
Ger Blok	04.01.1990–31.05.1990
Kadri Aytaç	01.08.1990–31.05.1991
Adnan Dinçer	01.06.1991–31.05.1992
Kadri Aytaç	22.06.1992–20.12.1992
Fevzi Zemzem	24.12.1992–25.04.1993
Nasır Belci	05.05.1993–31.05.1993
Aydın Tohumcu	01.07.1993–25.10.1993
Battal Toktay	01.11.1993–31.05.1994
Kahraman Karataş	09.06.1994–20.10.1994
Levent Arıkdoğan	01.04.1995–28.02.1996
Candan Dumanlı	28.02.1996–31.05.1996
Kasım Gündüz	08.07.1996–31.05.1997
Zafer Bilgetay	03.07.1997–18.09.1997
Kasım Gündüz	30.10.1997–12.02.1998
Zafer Göncüler	12.02.1998–31.07.1998
Müjdat Yalman	01.08.1998–14.12.1999
Kahraman Karataş	11.02.1999–31.05.1999
Ali Gültiken	01.07.1999–09.09.1999
Müjdat Yalman	30.09.1999–13.03.2000
Levent Arıkdoğan	01.07.2000–18.10.2000
Nasır Belci	06.07.2001–27.01.2003
Yücel İldiz	30.01.2003–19.09.2003
Mehmet Şahan	19.09.2003–28.12.2003

Head coach	Period
Levent Eriş	22.01.2004–31.05.2004
Levent Arıkdoğan	26.08.2004–01.11.2005
Engin Korukır	18.11.2005–17.03.2006
Nasır Belci	17.03.2006–26.09.2006
İlyas Tüfekçi	02.10.2006–08.03.2007
Kahraman Karataş	13.03.2007–31.05.2007
Abdülkerim Durmaz	17.07.2007–31.05.2008
Ercan Albay	14.08.2008–31.05.2009
Serhat Güller	19.08.2009–31.01.2010
Ergün Penbe	05.02.2010–31.05.2010
Yüksel Yeşilova	03.06.2010–17.10.2010
Nurullah Sağlam	22.10.2010–18.12.2012
Giray Bulak	20.12.2012–06.03.2013
Hakan Kutlu	08.03.2013–06.03.2014
Yılmaz Vural	06.03.2014–16.05.2014
Hakan Kutlu	16.05.2013–31.05.2014
Rıza Çalımbay	03.06.2014–31.05.2015
Mesut Bakkal	03.07.2015–18.09.2015
Bülent Korkmaz	22.09.2015–04.01.2016
Ümit Özat	19.01.2016–06.05.2016
Levent Arıkdoğan	21.07.2016–28.10.2016
Yusuf Şimşek	28.10.2016–19.01.2017
Memduh Özbalta	09.02.2017–02.03.2017
Levent Eriş	03.03.2017–present

See also

• Football in Turkey

References

External links

• Official website
• Mersinidmanyurdu.com fansite
• Mersin sports news
• TFF (Turkish Football Federation) team page