Marked for Taşkın İlter
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 2027
Sariyer come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Eyupspor did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Eyupspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Eyupspor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Prince Ampem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gilbert Mendy and Eyupspor agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Taşkın İlter
“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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The name of Lucas Calegari keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Eyupspor say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Lenny Pintor has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Eyupspor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Josip Vuković has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Jul 2027
Supporters organise against the Eyupspor board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Mateusz Łęgowski 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Eyupspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Prince Ampem 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ömer Ali Şahiner and Eyupspor agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market19 Jul 2027
Experience through the door at Eyupspor
Ömer Ali Şahiner arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erdem Gökçe, and the manager let it.
Market19 Jul 2027
The Umut Bozok talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Eyupspor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market19 Jul 2027
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Eyupspor have gone and got theirs early.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$9.4M on the table at Galatasaray. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market7 Jun 2027
Sariyer come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Eyupspor did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$4.7M on the table at Trabzonspor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market7 Jun 2027
Taşkın İlter hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Eyupspor can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jun 2027
The paperwork is done: Mert Müldür joins from Fenerbahce in a deal worth $1.8M. Now comes the harder part.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Eyupspor still without a manager
37 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $10.4M — a club that wants Eren Elmalı enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Manisa FK, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Eyupspor
Mateusz Łęgowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match17 Apr 2027
5 matches without a win for Eyupspor
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Eyupspor are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Mateusz Łęgowski 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Eyupspor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Calegari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
The afternoon belonged to Umut Bozok
A mark of 7.94, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market19 Apr 2027
Luccas Claro is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Eyupspor has been clear about where Luccas Claro stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Fethi Özer
“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.
Match17 Apr 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Hakan Turuc chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Hakan Turuc has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market8 Mar 2027
Luccas Claro hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Eyupspor can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Jankat Yılmaz is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match6 Mar 2027
Whatever happens, Eyupspor do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Mateusz Łęgowski 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Three points for Eyupspor, 2‑1 the final word against Samsunspor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Horaţiu Moldovan, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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 Eyupspor know it.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Ninety minutes of Aliou Traoré at his very best
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Eyupspor.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Eyupspor — 7.80
1 for Abdulsamet Burak, marked 7.80, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Eyupspor
Melih Bostan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Eyupspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateusz Łęgowski 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Julio González
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Taşkın İlter wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Eyupspor know now that the thought has arrived.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Hakan Turuc chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
A promise honoured at Eyupspor
Something was said to Gilbert Mendy and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 16 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match23 Jan 2027
Chastening afternoon for Eyupspor
A 0‑3 beating by Fenerbahce was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Lucas Calegari 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad25 Jan 2027
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Eyupspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Vuković 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Josip Vuković
“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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
The drought breaks for Eyupspor
13 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Kasimpasa were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market14 Dec 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 Eyupspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Eyupspor
Lucas Calegari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jankat Yılmaz is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match12 Dec 2026
Kasimpasa made Eyupspor work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Eyupspor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Vuković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Umut Meraş and Eyupspor agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcos Felipe, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Player ratings
The afternoon belonged to Melih Bostan
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Gilbert Mendy
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Nov 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 Eyupspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Eyupspor may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Eyupspor
Mateusz Łęgowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Eyupspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Calegari 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Marcos Felipe
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Eyupspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market16 Nov 2026
Fethi Özer told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Fethi Özer has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Eyupspor.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Josip Vuković asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Emre Akbaba’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Eyupspor needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Eyupspor
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Eyupspor are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mateusz Łęgowski 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Hamza Akman is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Josip Vuković commits to Eyupspor for another 1 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Eyupspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Calegari 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Konyaspor left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Taşkın İlter 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.
Market5 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Eyupspor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.