football already was played in ottoman turkey before 1900, albeit only by a non-muslim minority; mainly brits and italians in selânik (now thessaloniki), izmir and istanbul. on october 26, 1901, a turkish team („black stocking“) became the first to play a football match against a greek team. the match was stopped in the second half by the police of sultan abdülhamit. the turkish players fled, but some were caught, arrested and severely punished. thus the only football clubs and teams in turkey were foreign at the time. in 1904 they played out their first competition, the constantinople football league, which was entered by the istanbul teams imogene, moda fc, cadikeuy fc (kadıköy) and elips (a greek team).
it was only after the mesrutiyet [constituent government] passed a ruling in 1908 that turks were allowed to found clubs and associations under official patronage. however, galatasary (istanbul) - the football club of students at galatasaray mekteb-i sultanisi [galatasaray school of sultans, a gymnasium] - already was founded on october 20, 1905. the istanbul club finished the 1906/07 season in 4th place, and won this competition in the following season. in 1907 fenerbahçe was founded in the istanbul district kadıköy (on the town's asian side, across the bosporus), and first played in the league during the 1909/10 season. the number of turks playing football rose sharply following a government ruling in 1908, and football clubs were also founded in anatolia (eastern turkey). many years would pass, however, until a national fa was set up and a national championship held. in the meantime, there were only regional competitions, of which those in istanbul and izmir were the most important.
