Kocaelispor

The following post is 100% inspired by the superb podcast @_footyheritage. I typed this out while stuck in a traffic jam, listening to their excellent interview with two members of the Kocaelispor fan group. So all the research — minus a little extra online digging for some historical context — is down to those guys. Please, if you like this sort of content, give their podcast a follow.

So, without further ado...

Kocaelispor — Kocaeli Sports Club — was founded in 1966. The team has worn its iconic green and black kits for nearly six decades and today plays at the 34,829-seat Kocaeli Stadium, competing once again in the Turkish Süper Lig.

Known locally as Körfez (“The Gulf”), the club takes its identity from the Gulf of İzmit — the inlet that defines the city’s geography and features on its badge. The three stars recall the three founding clubs that merged to form Kocaelispor, while the sun marks İzmit’s exact position on the map. The name itself refers to the province of Kocaeli, while the city is called İzmit.

As a club, they have had moments of glory in the 1990s, briefly breaking the monopoly on Turkish football held by the big three Istanbul teams.

Kocaelispor’s best league finish came in 1992–93, when they placed fourth, and they have twice lifted the Turkish Cup — in 1997 and 2002. They have experienced several spells in the top flight, from the early 1980s through to the early 2000s, before financial problems led to successive relegations.

After years in the lower divisions, and even the amateur leagues, the club began a fan-led rebuilding process. Successive promotions eventually brought them back to the Süper Lig in 2024–25, ending a sixteen-year absence.

İzmit has long been one of Turkey’s main industrial centres. In the early twentieth century, it was known for textiles — producing fez hats, linen, army uniforms, and carpets. Today, it houses major automotive plants (Ford builds all its European Transit vans there) along with Turkey’s largest chemical and oil refineries.

İzmit is ideally located for business. Turkey is part of the EU Customs Union, allowing tariff-free exports to the large EU market while still maintaining relatively low costs compared to the rest of Europe. İzmit’s port and rail links make it perfect for building and exporting vehicles into Europe.

As a result, İzmit has attracted large numbers of workers from across Turkey, creating a diverse population which may otherwise have little in common — but Kocaelispor offers that population a shared identity and a sense of belonging that extends beyond the workplace.

As proof of its central role in the community, we can look at what happened after the devastating 1999 Marmara earthquake. Around 17,000 people lost their lives, and half a million were made homeless. Kocaelispor’s stadium became a temporary hospital and relief centre, turning the club into an essential part of the city’s response. The memory of that tragedy continues to shape how the community sees itself — the fans have been through it all, on and off the pitch.

Historically, İzmit was once known as Nicomedia, and under Diocletian it served as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. It remained an important seat of power until Constantine founded Nova Roma (Constantinople). Later centuries saw it change hands during the Crusades before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire.

The city still carries traces of that past. The Saat Kulesi (Clock Tower), built in 1902 to mark Sultan Abdülhamid II’s 25th year of rule, stands as one of many identical towers across former Ottoman cities such as Sarajevo and Belgrade. Down by the coast, the TCG Gayret — once the USS Eversole, a Korean War destroyer escort — is preserved as a museum ship, linking local industry, national history, and the sea.

Kocaelispor’s return to the top division mirrors the endurance of the city itself. It is a club supported by factory workers, engineers, and families who see football as their essential community glue.

The green and black of Kocaelispor are woven into İzmit’s industrial fabric. Despite all that it has had to endure, this team and this city always work hard to bounce back.