Historical Crests Gaziantep FK

Name: ​ Gaziantep FK

Nickname(s): Şahinler (The Falcons)

Founded: 1988

Stadium: Gaziantep Stadium

Capacity: ​33,502

Gaziantep FK Crest History

The crest of Gaziantep FK reflects the club's transformation from a municipal football team into the leading professional club representing the city of Gaziantep. The club's visual identity changed significantly during the 2010s, moving from the traditional blue-and-white municipal colours to the distinctive red, black and white identity associated with Gaziantep FK today.

Between 2011 and 2017, when the club competed as Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor, the crest featured a large blue shield outlined in white. The full municipal club name appeared prominently across the badge together with the founding year 1988. A small Turkish crescent and star appeared at the top, while decorative elements in the lower section reflected the club's connection with the municipality and the city of Gaziantep.

A major transformation took place in 2017, when the club was renamed Gazişehir Gaziantep FK as part of an effort to create a stronger football identity for the city. The traditional blue crest was replaced by a completely new red, black and white shield, colours strongly associated with football in Gaziantep.

The redesigned badge introduced a prominent black falcon, representing strength, determination and ambition. Behind the bird is a stylised geometric letter "G", referring directly to Gaziantep, while the founding year 1988 remains at the bottom of the shield. The initials at the top were subsequently adapted to GFK following the adoption of the name Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü.

Gaziantep FK Club History

Founded in 1988, Gaziantep FK is a professional football club from the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep. The club was originally established as Sankospor, representing the Sanko industrial group, before later developing close ties with the municipality and becoming Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor. It should not be confused with the historic Gaziantepspor, a separate club founded in 1969 that was for many years the city's leading football team.

The club spent much of its early history progressing through the lower levels of Turkish football. Under the name Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor, it became established in the TFF First League, regularly competing for promotion but initially falling short of reaching the Süper Lig.

A major transformation began in 2017, when the club was renamed Gazişehir Gaziantep FK. The change was intended to create a stronger football identity connected with the entire city rather than the municipality alone. A new red, black and white identity was introduced, together with the falcon crest that remains associated with the club today.

The restructuring coincided with growing ambitions on the pitch. In the 2018–19 season, Gazişehir Gaziantep finally achieved promotion to the Süper Lig, defeating Hatayspor in the promotion play-off final after a penalty shoot-out. This brought the club into Turkey's highest division for the first time.

Shortly after promotion, the name was simplified to Gaziantep Futbol Kulübü (Gaziantep FK). Under Romanian coach Marius Șumudică, the club adapted impressively to top-flight football and established itself as a competitive Süper Lig side. Gaziantep subsequently became known for being particularly difficult to defeat at home.

An important distinction in the club's history is its relationship with Gaziantepspor. Although Gaziantep FK effectively became the city's principal professional football representative as Gaziantepspor declined financially and eventually disappeared from the professional leagues, the two are not the same legal or historical club. Gaziantep FK traces its own foundation to 1988, rather than inheriting Gaziantepspor's 1969 foundation or its honours.

The club and city experienced tragedy following the devastating Turkey–Syria earthquakes of February 2023. Gaziantep was one of the severely affected areas, and the club withdrew from the remainder of the 2022–23 Süper Lig season. Gaziantep FK subsequently returned to competition for the following campaign, with football becoming part of the city's wider recovery.

The most important rivalry associated with Gaziantep FK is with Hatayspor, a regional contest between two major clubs from southern Turkey. The rivalry became particularly significant during the 2018–19 TFF First League promotion race, when the two sides met in the play-off final. Gaziantep won the match on penalties to secure its first-ever promotion to the Süper Lig, giving subsequent meetings additional competitive significance. Matches against nearby clubs such as Adana Demirspor and Adanaspor can also carry a strong regional character. Historically, however, the city's biggest rivalry was between the now-defunct Gaziantepspor and other leading southeastern and southern Turkish clubs; because Gaziantep FK is a separate club and does not legally continue Gaziantepspor's history, those older rivalries should not automatically be attributed to Gaziantep FK. Today, Hatayspor is generally one of Gaziantep FK's most notable modern regional rivals.

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