Futbol-u Alîye-i Osmânîye: The Sublime Ottoman Football

[Godescalco]

Galatasaray managed to win the title, two points clear ahead of Basaksehir. Besiktas, Trabzonspor and Malatyaspor, by this order, finished in the last remaining spots for Europa League football next year.

Fenerbahçe recovered from that disastrous first half of the season to finish in 6th position, just 1 point short of 5th position that would have qualified them for the EL. Bittersweet.

Bursaspor, Erzurum and Akhisar were relegated.

[Covenant]

I remember that Bursaspor played against Man Utd in CL and now they are relegated...

I think that Trabzonspor cannot play the Europa League.

[Godescalco]

Behind The Scenes At The Fenerbahçe Revolution – The Damien Comolli Role Explained



Fenerbahçe sporting director Damien Comolli has come under fire from sections of the Turkish media recently with rumors ranging from a rift building with head coach Ersun Yanal to the Frenchman having a diminishing role at the club. A source close to Fenerbahçe has informed Turkish-Football that these reports circulating in the Turkish press are false. The 47-year-old's role at the club has been subject to misinformation since his appointment over the summer.

Comolli remains Fenerbahçe sporting director, his position has not changed, he has the backing of the leadership and remains in charge of all football decisions, recruitment, the academy and training grounds. Contrary to speculation claiming otherwise he works closely with Yanal. The former Tottenham and Liverpool sporting director has made it clear he would ask to leave the club without any compensation if his role were to be changed.

Fenerbahce's longest-serving president Aziz Yildirim was been replaced by Ali Koç over the summer. The scion of the wealthiest family in Turkey, KocHolding. The new man in charge made it his duty to sort out the spiraling debt crisis, currently standing at a staggering €621m. Koç appointed Comolli as director of football to usher in the new era. Fenerbahçe were expected to go through a transitional period but nobody envisioned a relegation battle. But there could be light at the end of the tunnel.

Academy Revolution

Comolli has been in charge of bringing in sweeping changes to the Yellow Canaries footballing structure. The academy and scouting system has gone through a complete overhaul with Comolli recruiting a team of carefully selected scouts and technical staff for the project. Former Barcelona youth coach was appointed Fenerbahçe Football Academy Coordinator. Meanwhile, Serhat Pekmezci was brought in from Altinordu as Head Of Academy Recruitment. Pekmezci played an important role in Altinordu's youth recruitment process over the past six years. The Izmir based side are currently the poster boys of domestic player development in Turkey after first identifying Roma winger Cengiz Ünder and £20m Leicester City signing Caglar Soyuncu.

The current target is to add 30-40 new players to the academy by the end of the season. Fenerbahçe have already added highly-rated youngsters Efekan Karayazı, Ali Efe Katırcı and Arda Güler to their ranks. 15-year-old sensation Omer Faruk Beyaz was among 15 players given pro-contracts or signed to the academy this season. This marks a major change to the previous leadership's approach to youth players and development. Let's be frank: Fenerbahçe was one of the worst places for young players. The club opted for experience over youth. Fenerbahçe plan to promote their brightest prospects to the first-team and make greater use of homegrown players.

New Recruitment Policy

Comolli brought in former Crystal Palace Head of First Team Recruitment Analyst Beri Pardo as Head of Performance Analysis. Data analysis plays an important role in Comolli's player recruitment policy as was also the case at Tottenham and Liverpool. Change can be met with resistance and teething problems. Implementing a new scouting network, technical division and academy is not an overnight process.

It is worth underlining that the first transfers undertaken under the new system did not take place until January. Miha Zajc and Sadik Ciftpinar were the first players signed using what we can call the Comolli method. Both were initially identified by scouts and targetted following detailed data analysis. Comolli and his technical team presented Yanal with their findings. And then the board was approached before the decision was taken to push ahead with the transfer. Negotiations were led by Comolli and his transfer team in contrast to talks usually being conducted through intermediaries. The latest signings mark a shift in transfer policy away from being at the mercy of football agents. Fenerbahçe plan to sign undervalued players unearthed by data analysis and scouting.

What does the future hold?

Comolli plans to expand his scouting network nationwide and outside of Turkey to discover talent. The analytics team will also be strengthened and make greater use of data in expanding their search for players with potential. Yellow Canaries fans can expect to see between 8-10 new signings over the summer as the club continue efforts to overhaul the squad.

Fenerbahçe will however, have their hands tied in the transfer market over the summer. Free transfers and loan players will be the primary targets. The Yellow-Navy Blues are in a transition from targeting overpriced, over-the-hill footballers to discovering young, undervalued footballers with resale value. Short-termism has been endemic in Turkish football. Club presidents feel they do not have the time for a long term youth programme. Quick results are a necessity and many hope to find a quick fix through paying for proven players rather than take a risk on a good talent who may never reach his potential.

Ali Koç is bucking the trend. Fenerbahçe have a long-term vision but are in need of time. And time is the scarcest commodity in Turkish football.

[Godescalco]

Behind the Scenes at Fenerbahçe – Meet Serhat Pekmezci: Revolutionising Youth Football at Fenerbahce After Putting Altınordu on the Map

In Turkish Football.



Fenerbahçe are in transition. The Yellow Canaries longest-serving president Aziz Yildirim was replaced by Ali Koç over the summer – the scion of the wealthiest family in Turkey, KocHolding. The new man in charge made it his duty to sort out the spiraling debt crisis, currently standing at a staggering €621m and modernize the club.

Koç appointed Damien Comolli as director of football but perhaps his most important signing was bringing in Serhat Pekmezci as Head of Academy Recruitment to usher in the new era. Pekmezci was brought in from Altınordu as Head Of Academy Recruitment. The academy and scouting system has gone through a complete overhaul with recruiting a team of carefully selected scouts and technical staff for the project.



Pekmezci played an important role in Altınordu's youth recruitment process over the past six years. The Izmir based side are currently the poster boys of domestic player development in Turkey after first identifying Roma winger Cengiz Ünder and £20m Leicester City signing Çağlar Söyüncü. The current target is to add 120 new players to the academy. Fenerbahçe have already added highly-rated youngsters Efekan Karayazı, Ali Efe Katırcı and Arda Güler to their ranks. 15-year-old sensation Ömer Faruk Beyaz was among 15 players given pro-contracts or who signed to the academy this season.

This marks a major change to the previous leadership's approach to youth players and development. Let's be frank. Fenerbahçe has in recent years been one of the worst places for young players. The club opted for experience over youth. But that should change fairly soon under the new president. Fenerbahçe plan to promote their brightest prospects to the first-team and make greater use of homegrown players.

Pekmezci is a proponent of using data, technology, analysis and data. He has scouted over 450,000 players, 22,000 games and found 60 players who have been selected for the national team – at various age levels. It is easy to see why Pekmezci attracted the attention of Ali Koç. He has been using data to track players, record their progress and analyze statistics for years building a nationwide network earning himself as a reputation as one of the best in the business in Turkey.

He also understands the need for a personal touch and makes effort with players families and advises players to develop off the field as well, encouraging them to pursue their education. One of his more recent discoveries U17 Turkey international Tayfun Tatlı told us the following: "He told me to stay away from television and read books, he always encouraged me to focus on educating and developing myself off the pitch. And told me how much it would benefit me on and off the pitch."

Pekmezci was responsible for finding some of the brightest to emerge in Turkish football over the past few years at the highly acclaimed Altınordu academy. The Izmir based side have setup a project to develop talent that acted as the catalyst in the recent surge of talent emerging from Turkey. Turkish clubs had neglected developing players for years despite having a population of 80 million with the youngest average age in the UEFA zone.

Altınordu set out to change the culture and make use of the millions of kids that had been ignored and neglected for over a decade. Pekmezci was at the heart of the football revolution that has been taking place in Western Turkey. He set up a scouting network that scoured the pool across the nation focusing on regions that had pretty much been forgotten.

The first major success story was Cengiz Ünder. The 21-year-old was discovered in rural Balıkesir before moving to Izmir followed by Başakşehir before becoming the most expensive Turkish international to leave the Süper Lig for Roma on a €13m fee.

Next up was Çağlar Söyüncü who was snapped up by Freiburg before Leicester City shelled out €20m for the young defender last summer. Söyüncü was followed by the Turkish Donarruma Berke Özer and Barış Alıcı being signed by Fenerbahçe.



Pekmezci left Altınordu for Fenerbahçe last season but his greatest gift to his former club look set to come. The U17 side is looking like one of the most talented generation Altınordu has seen. Perhaps eclipsing the side that gave birth to Ünder and Söyüncü.

Pekmezci built close ties with the players he unearthed, acting as a mentor to many of them. There is an emphasis at Altınordu for academy players to develop themselves academically as well as on the field. The academy has an extensive library and players are expected to spend at least an hour a day reading.

Pekmezci played an important role in installing the club philosophy in the young players he brought to the academy.

Fifteen-year-old Altınordu winger Polat Albay said: "He helped me settle in at Altinordu and worked with me on improving my technique. One thing he would always go on about was reading books. And he always encouraged me to dream big."

Football can be cutthroat at times. Altınordu found that out the hard way after losing two star names from youth sides in 18-year-old captain Atakan and 17-year-old wonderkid Salih Kavrazlı to Trabzonspor. The Black Sea based side gave both players a professional contract.

There are two sides to every argument. Altınordu were responsible for developing both players and felt hard done by to see two of their biggest talents leave. But on the flip side it could have been avoided had they given pro-contracts. It seems like Altınordu have learned their lesson as they have given pretty much every prospect from the U17 generation as well as U15 rising star Burak İnce pro-deals.

Pekmezci has left Altınordu with a golden generation and inadvertently helped Trabzonspor. Kavrazlı, in particular, is an outstanding talent. He was the pearl of the academy scoring 159 goals in 122 games. Despite being aged just 17 he may end up finding himself given first-team action at Trabzonspor. The Black Sea side have not been shy to give young talent a shot. Abdülkadir Ömür has been a first-team star since the age of 18.

"He was the one who first spotted my talent and changed my life. He was my mentor and I learned to always stay positive in life and never give up thanks to him. He has been a great role model," Kavrazlı said.

Pekmezci played an integral role in the getting the Altınordu project on its feet. It will be interesting to see how he fares at Fenerbahçe. Don't be surprised to see Pekmezci become a sporting director in the near future either in Turkey or in a top five league in Europe.

[Covenant]

Turkish league is wild this year.

Besiktas in big trouble.

[Covenant]

Basaksehir is the champion. Too bad that they don't have supporters.