Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium
The "priest's meadow" where Ottoman-era sportsmen carved Turkey's first football pitch from the Sultan's private estate in 1908 — and where the UEFA Cup took its final bow 101 years later.
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Opened on 17 September 1908 in Kadıköy, this ground predates the Turkish Republic and was the first venue in the Ottoman Empire built for mass sporting events. Fenerbahçe has played here ever since, and in 2009 it hosted the last-ever UEFA Cup Final before the competition was rebranded as the Europa League.
What to look for
- The namesake: Şükrü Saracoğlu held the Foreign Minister post (1938–42) and Prime Minister post (1942–46) before serving as the club's longest-running president
- Three visible renovation layers — 1929–32, 1965–82, and 1999–2006 — compressing over a century of stadium-building history into one structure
- The Kadıköy site itself, once called Papazın Çayırı ('the priest's meadow') and part of the Sultan's estate until 1908
On Istanbul's Asian side in Kadıköy; the district fills quickly on Fenerbahçe match days, so check the club's fixture list before you go.
Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Istanbul, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Istanbul pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Istanbul
- Hagia SophiaCompleted in 537, it held the title of world's largest church for over 500 years — then a mosque, a museum, and a mosque again.
- Constantinople (Istanbul)One peninsula that served as the throne of four empires for sixteen centuries straight.
- Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)Ahmed I placed it directly opposite Hagia Sophia in 1609 and gave it six minarets — a deliberate challenge to the city's greatest building.
- Topkapı PalaceFor nearly four centuries, the sultans who ruled the Ottoman Empire lived and governed from here — until the court finally moved to Dolmabahçe in 1856.
- ByzantiumGreeks from Megara planted a colony here in the 7th century BC — and the name they gave it eventually became the word for an entire empire.
- Rams Park (Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex)Galatasaray's 53,978-seat fortress on the European side of Istanbul — and the second most eco-friendly stadium on the planet.