Galatasaray (S.K.) fans

 

Galatasaray Spor Kulubu (S.K.) are a football club based in Turkey, and have the biggest fan base of any club in Turkey whilst also being the most successful club and remaining the only Turkish team to have won a major European competition. Their supporter group is often recognised as having the largest amount of active members of any ultra group, Known as ultrAslan which was founded in 2001 by fan and leader Alparslan Dikmen due to the success the team was having on the pitch at that current time.

The ultrAslan group are responsible for producing creative displays around the stadium particularly with their use of pyrotechnics of which they brought 3,000 to a match against Fenerbahçe in 2001, the group don’t operate with a political stance contrary to most fan groups around the world and in Europe especially, they are more so about creating a loud atmosphere to support the team on the pitch and showing their support with tifo displays to encourage the players and intimidate the away team.

The Galatasaray fans and more specifically the ultrAslan group are unique for creating a cauldron type atmosphere when the team plays at the Turk Telekom Arena or as the old stadium was referred to the ‘Galatasaray Stadium of hell’ due to the amount of flares they bring to games. Despite many fans in football claiming their club has the loudest atmosphere in the world, Galatasaray actually do have this record as in 2011 their fans set the record for the loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium reaching 131 decibels. A record which lets onlooking fans see just how noisy they can be, this immensely loud noise is what holds them in high regard among many football fans particularly those who have witnessed it first-hand and is a key factor also as to why they are so successful with the number of major honours they have won.