1997–98 1.Lig

1.Lig
Season	1997–98
Champions	Galatasaray; 12th title
Relegated	Kayserispor; Şekerspor; Vanspor
Champions League	Galatasaray
Cup Winners' Cup	Beşiktaş
UEFA Cup	Fenerbahçe; Trabzonspor; İstanbulspor
Intertoto Cup	Samsunspor; Altay
Matches	306
Goals	861 (2.81 per match)
Top goalscorer	Hakan Şükür; (32 goals)
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Statistics of Turkish First Football League in the 1997–98 season.

Overview

It was contested by 18 teams, and Galatasaray S.K. won the championship. And demotion of Kayserispor, Şekerspor, Vanspor was decided.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Galatasaray (C)	34	23	6	5	86	43	+43	75	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Fenerbahçe	34	21	8	5	61	25	+36	71	Qualification to UEFA Cup second qualifying round
3	Trabzonspor	34	19	9	6	68	42	+26	66
4	İstanbulspor	34	14	12	8	60	42	+18	54
5	Samsunspor	34	14	7	13	42	42	0	49	Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
6	Beşiktaş	34	13	9	12	56	40	+16	48	Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round
7	Altay	34	12	11	11	45	52	−7	47	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
8	Bursaspor	34	12	9	13	46	50	−4	45
9	Kardemir Karabükspor	34	13	5	16	34	50	−16	44
10	Kocaelispor	34	12	7	15	46	46	0	43
11	Çanakkale Dardanelspor	34	10	11	13	37	40	−3	41
12	Antalyaspor	34	10	11	13	51	55	−4	41
13	MKE Ankaragücü	34	11	8	15	40	47	−7	41
14	Gençlerbirliği	34	9	11	14	41	46	−5	38
15	Gaziantepspor	34	9	11	14	39	44	−5	38
16	Kayserispor (R)	34	11	5	18	42	60	−18	38	Relegation to Turkish Second Football League
17	Şekerspor (R)	34	9	9	16	41	67	−26	36
18	Vanspor (R)	34	5	9	20	26	70	−44	24

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	ALT	ANT	BJK	BUR	ÇDA	FNB	GAL	GAZ	GEN	İST	KRB	KAY	KOC	AGÜ	SAM	ŞKR	TRA	VAN
Altay		0–3	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–2	4–5	0–0	0–0	1–3	5–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	2–5	2–0	1–1	3–2
Antalyaspor	0–0		3–3	2–2	0–0	1–1	1–3	2–1	2–1	1–3	4–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	3–3	1–1	2–0
Beşiktaş	0–1	0–1		1–1	1–2	2–2	2–1	2–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	4–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–1	3–0	4–0
Bursaspor	1–0	4–1	2–1		0–0	1–1	3–2	1–2	2–1	1–1	4–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	2–3	0–6	1–2	6–0
Çanakkale Dardanelspor	2–2	3–1	0–0	0–0		0–1	1–2	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–0	1–1	0–0	4–1	2–1	2–0
Fenerbahçe	2–0	2–1	2–0	3–0	2–1		3–1	3–0	2–1	3–0	2–0	1–2	2–0	0–0	0–0	7–0	1–3	4–1
Galatasaray	6–1	2–1	3–2	4–0	1–0	2–2		1–0	3–1	4–1	3–0	5–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	4–1	2–2	6–2
Gaziantepspor	3–0	1–3	1–1	1–2	2–2	2–0	1–1		1–1	0–0	2–2	3–2	3–0	4–2	2–0	1–1	1–3	0–0
Gençlerbirliği	1–3	0–0	2–2	1–1	3–0	3–0	3–2	0–1		1–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	3–0	0–1	1–2
İstanbulspor	2–2	5–2	1–2	1–1	3–1	0–1	2–1	4–1	3–3		2–1	1–3	0–1	1–1	4–2	4–1	0–0	6–3
Kardemir Karabükspor	1–1	3–0	0–5	2–0	0–0	1–2	2–3	0–1	1–0	0–1		3–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–1
Kayserispor	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–1	3–0	0–3	1–2	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–1		2–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	5–6	1–1
Kocaelispor	0–1	2–1	3–2	1–2	3–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–3	3–1		2–0	4–0	3–0	1–3	4–2
MKE Ankaragücü	2–3	2–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	0–2	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–5	3–2	6–3	2–0		0–1	1–1	1–3	2–0
Samsunspor	2–3	2–2	0–0	2–0	3–0	0–2	0–2	1–0	3–1	0–0	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–2		3–0	2–1	2–0
Şekerspor	0–0	2–1	2–0	3–1	1–4	1–1	2–4	4–3	0–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–1		0–2	1–1
Trabzonspor	3–0	2–2	3–1	1–0	0–2	0–0	1–1	1–0	4–5	0–3	2–0	2–0	2–2	3–1	4–0	6–3		2–0
Vanspor	0–0	0–3	1–7	1–1	3–0	0–1	0–3	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	0–2

Source: TFF, Mackolik
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Hakan Şükür	Galatasaray	32
2	Hami Mandıralı	Trabzonspor	20
3	Serkan Aykut	Samsunspor	18
4	Aykut Kocaman	İstanbulspor	16
4	Mehmet Özdilek	Beşiktaş	16
6	Majid Musisi	Çanakkale Dardanelspor	15
7	Andre Kona N'Gole	Antalyaspor	14
	Erdoğan Yılmaz	Karabükspor
	Jay-Jay Okocha	Fenerbahçe
	Uğur Dağdelen	Kayseri Erciyesspor

Milliyet newspaper report about allegations of match-fixing involving Şekerspor goalkeeper Murat Akarsu. — *Milliyet* report: Şekerspor goalkeeper Murat Akarsu alleged that he had been offered a bribe to fix a match in Fenerbahçe's favour. Following his report to club officials, a police operation resulted in the detention of Özcan Üstündaş and Ufuk Gezeroğlu.

Controversies

In 2020, former Kocaelispor goalkeeper Dumitru Stângaciu stated in an interview that Kocaelispor players had received incentive bonuses (teşvik primler) after their 2–1 victory over Fenerbahçe during the 1997–98 title race.^[1] Stângaciu claimed that he personally received US$20,000 and alleged that the money came through Romanian players associated with Galatasaray. In the interview, he described the events as taking place "shortly before the 1998 FIFA World Cup", although the match was played on 27 March 1998 and the tournament began on 10 June 1998.

Following the Şekerspor–Fenerbahçe match played on 3 May 1998, which ended in a draw, Şekerspor goalkeeper Murat Akarsu alleged that he had been offered US$100,000 intermediaries to fix the match in Fenerbahçe's favour.^[2] An investigation was subsequently launched. Football manager Özcan Üstündaş and Ufuk Gezeroğlu were detained by police in Ankara in connection with the allegations. According to later reports, the suspects were released pending trial.^[3]

Years later, Üstündaş was also mentioned in media coverage of the 2011 Turkish football match-fixing scandal involving Fenerbahçe president Aziz Yıldırım and other club officials.^[4]

Weblinks

Turkey - List of final tables (RSSSF)

References

↑ Justin Gafiuc (22 June 2020). "Dumitru Stângaciu, amintiri din cariera tumultoasă: o geantă cu bani pentru un blat cu River Plate, 20.000 $ de la Galatasaray și dezvăluiri de la CM 1998" [Dumitru Stângaciu, memories from a tumultuous career: a bag of cash for a fix against River Plate, $20,000 from Galatasaray, and revelations from the 1998 World Cup]. Gazeta Sporturilor (Online) (in Romanian). Retrieved 1 June 2026.
↑ "Başkentte şike iddiası" [Match-fixing allegations in the capital]. Milliyet, (in Turkish) 4 May 1998
↑ "Şike zanlıları tutuksuz olarak yargılanacak" [The match-fixing suspects will be tried without being detained.]. Hürriyet (Online) (in Turkish). 5 May 1998. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
↑ "Şike ve teşvik soruşturmasında 7 kişi tutuklandı" [Seven people were arrested in the match-fixing and bribery investigation]. Hürriyet (Online) (in Turkish). 6 July 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2026.

[1] Justin Gafiuc (22 June 2020). "Dumitru Stângaciu, amintiri din cariera tumultoasă: o geantă cu bani pentru un blat cu River Plate, 20.000 $ de la Galatasaray și dezvăluiri de la CM 1998" [Dumitru Stângaciu, memories from a tumultuous career: a bag of cash for a fix against River Plate, $20,000 from Galatasaray, and revelations from the 1998 World Cup]. Gazeta Sporturilor (Online) (in Romanian). Retrieved 1 June 2026.

[2] "Başkentte şike iddiası" [Match-fixing allegations in the capital]. Milliyet, (in Turkish) 4 May 1998

[3] "Şike zanlıları tutuksuz olarak yargılanacak" [The match-fixing suspects will be tried without being detained.]. Hürriyet (Online) (in Turkish). 5 May 1998. Retrieved 1 June 2026.

[4] "Şike ve teşvik soruşturmasında 7 kişi tutuklandı" [Seven people were arrested in the match-fixing and bribery investigation]. Hürriyet (Online) (in Turkish). 6 July 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2026.

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