Beyoğlu S.K.

Beyoğluspor

Full name	Beyoğlu Sports Club Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Πέραν (ΑΣΠ)
Sports	Volleyball Basketball Football
Founded	1914 (1914) (as Greek football team) 1923 (as Beyoğlu SK)
Colours	Yellow and Black
Chairman	Dimitri Kocias
Website	www.beyogluspor.org

Beyoğluspor (Greek: Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Πέρα Pera Sports Club) is a sports club in Istanbul, Turkey. It fields teams in volleyball, basketball and football at the amateur level.

History

Pera Club, 1922.

Since the second half of the 19th century the Greek community of Istanbul founded several sports clubs and organized sports activities such as the Pan-Constantinopolitan Games. The latter were the most famous soccer games in the city that period.

The club claims it was founded in Beyoğlu in 1884, under the name Pera and was formally registered in 1923 as "Beyoğlu Spor Kulübü". Other sources report that Beyoğluspor was founded in 1914 under the name Greek Football Team and with the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 was renamed to "Pera Sports Club" and, later that year, to Beyoğluspor.

Until 1926, the club's activities were housed in the deserted gym of Hermes S.C.. However, after 1926 the club moved to the building of the "Ladies Charity Fraternity of Pera", also located in the region of Beyoğlu. Initially, Beyoğluspor maintained two departments, football and gymnastics. Later, there were established departments of wrestling and boxing and in 1926 of basketball and volleyball.

During its history, many of the club's departments had been awarded in a variety of competitions. The Volleyball department of Beyoğluspor was one of the most distinguished teams in Turkey during the 1940s and 1950s, while it also won the Turkish championship for some years that period. The football team managed to capture the 5th place at the Istanbul Football League in 1945, while in the early 1960s it competed in the First League. The efforts of the club managers and presidents, such as G. Chalkousis, S. Kanakis, G. Mouzakis, A. Tripos, played a determining part in these successes. On the other hand, several athletes were distinguished both in Greek but also in international level, like the World Champion in weightlifting and latter coach of the Greek weightlifting team, Christos Iakovou. Beyoğluspor didn't field senior team from late 90s to 2014 due to money shortage. Finally Beyoğluspor joined 6th Group of Istanbul 2nd Amateur League, lowest amateur level for İstanbul teams in 2014–15 season. They finished this group as 6th.

Popularity

The majority of the fans were among the Greek community of the city. However, Beyoğluspor witnessed a dramatic decrease of its supporters for a period when Lefter Küçükandonyadis, a Turkish national football team player of Greek descent and one of the best players in Turkey in 1950s and 1960s, played for Fenerbahçe, turning most of the local Greeks to change temporarily their support to Fenerbahçe.

Present situation

Today, Beyoğluspor is one of the few surviving Greek foundations of the city and fields teams in volleyball, basketball and football at the amateur level.

League participation for football branch

• First League: 1962–1964
• Second League: 1964–1967
• Third League: 1967–1973, 1984–1987
• Amateur League: 1973–1984, 1987–

Notable athletes

• Christos Iakovou, weightlifter and former coach of Greek National Weightlifting Team
• Kadri Aytaç, football pleayer
• Şükrü Gülesin, football player
• Kostas Negrepontis, football player
• Koço Kasapoğlu, football player
• Alekos Sofianidis, football player
• Ahmet Sapansüren, Volleyball player

See also

• Kurtuluş SK, another still existing sports club in Istanbul founded by local Greeks.