Football Season Guide

Although they were not considered as one of the favourites early on last season, Istanbulspor achieved promotion to the Super League again after 17 years as they defeated Bandirmaspor in the 1st League play-off final. Most of the newly promoted teams tend to change their coaches ahead of the new season but the board decided to do the opposite and extended the contract of 40-year-old coach Osman Zeki Korkmaz, who offered a perfect achievement in his 1st year as a head-coach. In the summer they have not seen major departures but they have not been active adding new faces either. Coach Korkmaz said that “We have a young, talented and exciting squad. I do not think that we will face any problem in adapting new players as long as we manage to accord our game culture to the top level. Except at the net, they have managed to save the main structure of the team. Following Alperen’s move to Antalya, they look weak in goal. Of course, inexperience will be the biggest obstacle as they are the youngest team of the league with a 23,7 year average. In order to cope with it, the coach is looking for some experienced players. Patrick Ebert was signed in and former Rayo Vallecano & Spartak Moskova man is expected to be a potential starter. On the other hand, they managed to keep Ibrahim, Ethemi and Topalli in the team. The trio have produced 34 goals & 21 assists last season. Besides them, the midfield have very dynamic Turkish players who have also contributed a lot to the scoring last season. Some of them are expected to attract the attention of big teams this season.