Marked for Eldor Shomurodov
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Basaksehir right now
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Three points for Basaksehir, 3‑2 the final word against Kayserispor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mert Müldür in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 9.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 238% of everything Basaksehir earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.67 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Nov 2026
7 goals and a season average of 7.39 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Oğuz Aydın gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Sivasspor, and it could have been more.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Basaksehir may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match3 Oct 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Basaksehir have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Amine Harit was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 9.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
390% of the income goes out in wages at Basaksehir
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muhammed Şengezer, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Amine Harit in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Olivier Kemen
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
Three points for Basaksehir, 2‑0 the final word against Umraniyespor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.61 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Basaksehir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Basaksehir would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Festy Ebosele was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 9.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Basaksehir, 2‑1 the final word against Alanyaspor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.93 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ousseynou Ba, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Muhammed Şengezer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Basaksehir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Shirak for Doğan Alemdar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jerome Opoku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Basaksehir will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.99 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market31 Aug 2026
Basaksehir bring in an old head
Diego Polenta is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Fenerbahce for Abbosbek Fayzullayev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market24 Aug 2026
The chase for Oğuz Aydın ended with $4.9M changing hands and Fenerbahce out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market24 Aug 2026
Basaksehir bring in an old head
Lucas Menossi is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.