Kocaelispor

The roots of Kocaelispor go back to the late 1950s. In 1957, representatives of local side Baçspor petitioned the İzmit municipality for a dedicated training ground. Then-mayor Osman Gencal, himself a former athlete and Baçspor member, supported the project and oversaw the allocation of a 28-acre municipal plot in Baç for sporting use.

By the early 1960s Baçspor had redeveloped the area and in 1964 proposed forming a fully professional team to apply to the national second tier (2. Lig). At the time the federation’s regulations required a composite club structure with adequate facilities and staff, and encouraged local mergers to concentrate resources. In 1966 three İzmit clubs—Baçspor, İzmit Gençlik and Doğanspor—agreed to unite under a single umbrella; at a joint congress the name Kocaelispor was adopted and green–black were chosen as the club colours. The new board launched a subscription campaign that raised an initial budget reportedly around 175,000 lira to build the first squad and meet entry requirements for national competition.

Kocaelispor were admitted to the 1. Lig for the 1966–67 season and quickly became the region’s flagship representative in Turkish professional football. The club earned a first-ever promotion to the Süper Lig (top flight) in 1980, remaining at that level for eight consecutive seasons during the 1980s. After relegation battles and disputed disciplinary rulings in the late 1980s, Kocaelispor’s league status was the subject of appeals that culminated in a decision by the Council of State affecting relegation procedures; the club subsequently returned to the top tier during that period following the legal process.

Back in the top division after promotion in 1991–92, Kocaelispor opened the 1992–93 1. Lig at full throttle under coach Güvenç Kurtar. On opening day they beat Kayserispor 7–2 in İzmit, a result widely reported as a statement of intent. Through the autumn the “Kocaeli fırtınası” put together a long unbeaten run and finished the first half among the leaders; a spring dip cost a podium place, but the team still recorded the club’s best top-flight finish to that date (4th) and qualified for Europe. That league placing earned a berth in the 1993–94 UEFA Cup, the first European campaign in Kocaelispor history.

Kurtar’s side blended a Balkan-school defensive spine with quick, vertical transitions. In goal, former Yugoslavia international Fahrudin Omerović provided commanding shot-stopping and organization after his 1992 summer move. At centre-back, Stevica Kuzmanovski and Mirko Mirković—who later took Turkish citizenship as Mert Meriç—formed a robust pairing noted for aerial strength and tight marking.

Up front, academy product Bülent Uygun partnered Saffet Sancaklı, creating one of the league’s most direct and productive forward lines; contemporaneous reports highlighted Uygun’s second-ball finishing and Sancaklı’s runs in behind as core patterns of Kurtar’s narrow 4-4-2. Sancaklı’s subsequent moves to Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe were framed as a natural step after his İzmit breakthrough. With contributors such as Bülent Baturman, Halil İbrahim Kara, Melih Erdem and Ergun Kula, the side set club records for top-flight wins and goals at the time.

The fourth-place finish secured Europe and fixed the 1992–93 squad in local memory as the “efsane kadro” (legendary roster). The momentum carried into the following autumn’s UEFA Cup, confirming the step-change in the club’s stature.

Building on a top-five league finish in the 1995–96 campaign, Kocaelispor qualified for the summer UEFA Intertoto Cup, which—at the time offered additional paths into European competition. İzmit’s side treated the July fixtures as a continuation of their domestic momentum, drawing strong crowds at İzmit İsmetpaşa and recording competitive results against continental opposition before bowing out in the latter stages of the programme.

The club’s breakthrough arrived the following season in the national cup. Under the guidance of coach Güvenç Kurtar, Kocaelispor navigated a demanding bracket in the Turkish Cup, dispatching several top-flight opponents en route to the final and leaning on a compact defensive shape and rapid transitions that became the hallmark of the side. In the two-legged 1997 final they defeated Trabzonspor on aggregate, winning the club’s first major national trophy and earning a berth in European competition for the following season. The triumph was widely viewed as a landmark for the Green-Blacks, validating a player-recruitment strategy that blended experienced domestic names with rising talents from the Yugoslav football school already on the roster.

Five years later Kocaelispor produced an even more emphatic finale. Having again pieced together a robust cup run—this time with a deeper attacking rotation—the team lifted its second national title by defeating Beşiktaş in the 2002 Turkish Cup Final with a one-sided scoreline that remains one of the most memorable showpieces of the era. Contemporary reports highlighted both the tactical flexibility shown across two halves and the intensity of the İzmit support, underlining how the club’s provincial identity fed directly into performance on the day.

Each cup victory carried a continental dividend. The 1997 success delivered European qualification under the then-existing format, while the 2002 title secured a place in the early rounds of the UEFA competition of the following season, giving Kocaelispor fresh exposure and revenue at international level. More broadly, the twin triumphs bookended Kocaelispor’s most decorated period: they cemented the club’s reputation as one of the few sides outside the traditional Istanbul trio capable of lifting major silverware in the modern era, and they remain central to the Green-Blacks’ institutional identity and supporter culture today.

These victories remain historic milestones for the club and its supporters. However, following the 2002–03 season, Kocaelispor was relegated after finishing last in the Süper Lig. After spending five seasons in the TFF First League, they won the 2007–08 championship and earned promotion back to the Süper Lig. This return lasted only one season due to financial difficulties, and the club was relegated again after losing 3–1 at home to Trabzonspor on 9 May 2009 in Round 31, finishing 17th. The following season, after a 2–1 away defeat to Kartalspor on 4 April 2010, Kocaelispor was relegated to the TFF Second League, the third tier of Turkish football.

During the 2007–08 campaign Kocaelispor used three head coaches Fuat Yaman, Kayhan Çubuklu and Engin İpekoğlu yet still clinched the 1. Lig title and a return to the Süper Lig. A severe financial squeeze and squad turnover, however, triggered back-to-back relegations: first from the top flight in 2008–09, and then to the TFF Second League after the 2010–11 season. Finishing bottom of the Second League White Group in 2011–12 pushed the club down again — to the fourth tier — and, after protracted off-field problems, Kocaelispor fell into the Turkish Regional Amateur League in April 2014 following a 1–0 defeat to İstanbulspor with four rounds remaining.

In the 2014–15 Regional Amateur League season Kocaelispor battled promotion rivals including Tekirdağspor, Çengelköyspor and Arnavutköy Belediyespor, but despite a long spell at the summit finished 4th in Group 11. The following season brought a decisive turnaround: Kocaelispor won their group and then defeated Sultangazispor 2–0 in a neutral-venue promotion play-off at Eskişehir on 24 April 2016 — goals from Sinan Pektemek and Hamza Mutlu sealing a long-awaited rise back to the professional pyramid (TFF 3. Lig).

Promoted from the Regional Amateur League in April 2016, Kocaelispor restarted life in the 3. Lig in 2016–17. They finished 4th in their group but fell short in the promotion play-offs, remaining in the division; the following season (2017–18) brought a mid-table 13th-place finish. In 2018–19 Kocaelispor climbed to 2nd in their group but again could not secure promotion via the play-offs.

The pandemic-affected 2019–20 season was curtailed with Kocaelispor leading their 3. Lig group; the TFF confirmed group leaders would be promoted, sending the club up to the 2. Lig for 2020–21. Momentum continued in 2020–21: Kocaelispor finished 3rd in the 2. Lig Kırmızı Grup and won the promotion play-offs — defeating Sakaryaspor 4–0 in the final to return to the 1. Lig after a single year.

The step up proved difficult: in 2021–22 Kocaelispor finished 16th in the 1. Lig and were relegated back to the 2. Lig. The response was emphatic: in 2022–23 the club won their 2. Lig group to clinch immediate promotion back to the second tier. Back in the 1. Lig for 2023–24, Kocaelispor closed the season in 6th place and qualified for the promotion play-offs, where their campaign ended short of a top-flight return.

In the 2024–25 season, Kocaelispor’s long push back to the top tier finally came to fruition. Under head coach İsmet Taşdemir (appointed in late December 2024), the side put together a sustained spring run that kept them clear at the top of the Trendyol 1. Lig. On a weekend late in April, one day before Kocaelispor were due to visit Esenler Erokspor, Fatih Karagümrük’s 1–0 home defeat to Boluspor meant the İzmit club could no longer be caught, mathematically guaranteeing an automatic-promotion place with three matchdays remaining; the club confirmed promotion to the Süper Lig after a 16-year absence.

Beyond securing promotion early, season metrics published by the TFF showed Kocaelispor among the league’s top sides for goal difference and away points, while home fixtures at Kocaeli Stadium regularly drew five-figure gates during the run-in, underscoring the scale of the club’s return to the elite.