Marked for Christopher Opéri
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Basaksehir
A 1‑4 beating by Genclerbirligi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Basaksehir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jerome Opoku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Basaksehir know it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yusuf Sarı, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Basaksehir dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Luccas Claro wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Basaksehir now know that too.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Basaksehir may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Eren Elmalı 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davie Selke is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Sariyer to sit and watch. I want to come back to Basaksehir and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Doğan Alemdar
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Basaksehir know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Trabzonspor next, and one man in the Basaksehir dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aleksandar Jovanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Yusuf Sarı wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Basaksehir have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Basaksehir and Antalyaspor have settled on $3.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 16 in, 4 out at Basaksehir
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jerome Opoku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Olivier Kemen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abbosbek Fayzullayev, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Eren Elmalı moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Basaksehir than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.