ABSTRACT
The Turkish football market has been able to solidify its firm standing in the larger European football industry as the sixth-largest market through recent business agreements. In 2016, Turkey’s pay-tv operator Digiturk (currently owned by Qatar’s beIN Group) acquired broadcasting rights of the top two divisions of Turkish football (Super League and TFF 1. Division) for a five-year period at $500 million/year. However, internal factors such as the match-fixing scandal in 2013 and political discrepancies, and the external factors such as UEFA Financial Fair Play system, create pressure on the clubs and the federation, making Turkish football hard and complex to manage. Many teams are burdened with debts as a result of overpaid players and opaque ownership structures. The purpose of this chapter, divided into three sections, is to evaluate Turkish football from different angles. The first section looks at Turkish football from the socio-political perspective, shedding light on the historical development of the game. The second section focuses on the present management structure, while the last section evaluates the commercial potential and structure of the football sector as a business field.
