Mersin İdman Yurdu


Mersin İdman Yurdu or Mersin İdmanyurdu was a Turkish sports club from Mersin, Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean Region. The team played in the Turkish first division for 11 seasons, and after the 1983–84 season the football team played in the Turkish second and third divisions. The team was promoted to the Turkish second level division after the 2008–09 season. MİY became the champions of the Turkish second division during the 2010–11 season and earned promotion to the Turkish Süper Lig during the 2011–12 season. Previous ground of the team was 10,125 capacity Tevfik Sırrı Gür Stadium. In 2013, their new 25,534 person capacity stadium, Mersin Arena, was inaugurated on 23 March 2013 with a TFF First League match against Gaziantep Büyükşehir Belediyespor. Their main rivals were Adana Demirspor, Adanaspor and Tarsus İdmanyurdu, and were friendly with Bucaspor.

Name

The name "Mersin İdman Yurdu" was originated as Turkish equivalent of "Mersin Sports Club". In the beginning of the Republic, many of the sports clubs carried the names as such. Later, most of those clubs, either by merging or renaming, changed their names. The "İdman Yurdu" name remained for some clubs throughout the country. Later it has lost its meaning. Therefore, "İdman Yurdu" has become a particular name for the club. Then, the club adopted the name "Mersin İdmanyurdu Sports Club". In its original form, the club's name is written separately. However, because of the norm that noun phrases which have lost their meaning are written contiguously, the team's name has become "Mersin İdmanyurdu". Today, both depictions are common in Turkish for MİY: Some write it separately. Club website has shown divergent interests.
Their nickname is Şeytanlar or Kırmızı Şeytanlar.
Their song is "Şampiyon yap bizi / Cehennemde yak bizi" ''.

History

Mersin İdman Yurdu is one of the oldest clubs of the Mediterranean region. The club was founded on 16 August 1925 as Mersin Gençlerbirliği during a meeting between Edip Buran and his friends İbrahim Yekta, Fevzi Serdengeçti, Asım Güler, Muhip Batıbeki, Necati Salim, Lütfi Resimci, Sami İstanbullu, Hayri Güntekin, Hakkı Cemal Üçer, Hasan Tahsin, and Mustafa Lütfi. Their aim was to provide Mersin's youth with activities to fill their spare time with sports during long, hot summer days in Mersin. Later, the club obtained a license with the participation of other founders, namely İbrahim Bigam, İhsan Dağıstan, Hamit Abey, Rauf Süleymaniyeli, Semih Can, Ömer, Cevdet Türkmenli, Kazım Kırzade, and Muharrem Yeğin.
The first colors of the team were red and white. The club changed its name to Mersin İdman Yurdu in 1926, and their colors were changed to red and dark blue. The logo was established as three connected circles, the center circle in red and the left and right circles in dark blue.
Mersin İdman Yurdu had won the regional title every year since its foundation until 1964, except during the 1949–50 season when Mersin Demirspor captured the title. In 1944, the team reached the third place in the Turkish Football Championship. In 1952, the club inaugurated their new stadium, Tevfik Sırrı Gür Stadyumu, by playing an opening match that was tied 3–3 with Galatasaray.
In 1957, the club became sponsored by the Çukurova Group and adopted the name Çukurova İdmanyurdu. The team again finished third in the Turkish Amateur Championship. Çukurova İdmanyurdu, as "a rather well-known amateur club from the city of Mersin", turned professional and was promoted to Turkey's first second level league founded in 1963. Çukurova İdmanyurdu again became the amateur champions of Turkey in 1963. When they became a part of the Turkish second division they were one of only three clubs that came from outside of the major cities of Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir, the other clubs being Adana Demirspor and Bursaspor.
On June 1966 the club changed its name to Mersin İdman Yurdu after three seasons and became champions of the Turkish second division in the 1966–67 season. At the end of that season they won the Prime Minister's Cup by defeating the Amateur League champions. Beginning in the 1967–68 season they played in the Turkish top level division for 7 consecutive years and 11 years in total.
After the 1982–83 season, MİY was relegated from the Süper Lig. They played in the second division until the formation of a one-group second level division in 2001–02. Because of their place in the 2000–01 season they were automatically relegated to third level formed under the name of "Second League, Category B". They spent one season there and were promoted to the second division. After the 2005–06 season, they were relegated to the third division again.
In 2008, Ali Kahramanlı was elected president of the club. They finished the 2008–09 season in the TFF Second League playoffs in second place and advanced to the second division, now with the name TFF First League, also known as Bank Asya 1. Lig. After spending two seasons in the TFF First League, MİY became the champions of 2010–11 Bank Asya 1. Lig and were promoted to 2011–12 Süper Lig after being absent from the Süper Lig for 28 years. Their championship was widely attributed to coach Nurullah Sağlam, who took over the team after the 9th week during that season. They finished Süper Lig as 12th in the 2011–12 season but relegated again to First League after finishing 18th or last in the 2012–13 season. MİY finished the First League as 6th and qualified for the promotion play-offs in the 2013–14 season. They beat Orduspor 3–0 on aggregate and 2–0 Samsunspor and returned to top level at the first attempt. MİY finished the 2014-15 season as seventh. However, next season was a disaster for MİY due to financial problems. Eventually MİY relegated to second level after a 2-0 defeat to Çaykur Rizespor on 29 April 2016.
After the city of Mersin hosted the 2013 Mediterranean Games, there was an urgent need to build a modern stadium in the city. After the games were over, the club started to use the stadium for their league games. The stadium has a capacity of 25,534 people and it is one of the most modern stadiums in Turkey.

Support

The club have a passionate fanbase, despite spending most of their history in the lower divisions. The team's fan club is currently led by Aynalı Reis. The club is also renowned for having the country's only female only fan club, called Dişi Şeytanlar. They have been given the nickname Melek Yüzlü Şeytanlar and fill the home stands as well as traveling to away games. Their numbers have been swelling recently and their presence makes a change to the typically male dominated football crowds.

Honours

Domestic competitions

Before 2001
After 2001
PeriodLeagueSeasonPlWDLFAAvPt
Before 2001----------
Before 2001Turkish First Football League11336102104130295339−44306
Before 2001Turkish Second Football League2785838121826111528632791175
After 2001----------
After 2001Süper Lig13412616344542
After 2001TFF First League6168593970208231−23216
After 2001TFF Second League414266403619013753238
All times----------
All timesFirst division12370114110146329384−55348
All timesSecond division331026440257331136010942561391
All timesThird division414266403619013753238
All timesOverall Totals491470591394489180615412531879

Note: 2011–12 stats are not included. Play-off games are not included. Before 1987 two-points-for-a-win rule was accepted.

Seasonal league table

Mersin İdman Yurdu professional league participations by season.


Note: Classification group statistics are accumulated on normal season.
Note : The team played as "Çukurova İdmanyurdu".
League and group colors: Green: Promoted; Lighth green: Qualified; Pink: Relegated.

Play-off games

Participated in the Turkish Cup since 1962.
PeriodLeague attendedSeasonPlWDLFAAvPt
Before 2001----------
Before 2001Turkish First Football League94218101453401346
Before 2001Turkish Second Football League22582872396722472
Before 2001Turkish Amateur Football Championship132013304
After 2001----------
After 2001Süper Lig1
After 2001TFF First League6167093138−721
After 2001TFF Second League1100102−20
All-time----------
All-timeFirst division104218101453401346
All-timeSecond division2874357321271101793
All-timeThird division1100102−20
All-timeAmateur division132013304
All-timeOverall4012055174818315528143

Note: 2011–12 stats are not included. Before 1987 two-points-for-a-win rule was accepted. Serial penalties included in the match scores.

Seasonal competition statistics


SeasonCompetitionLeague attendedRounds playedPlWDLFAPt
1962–63Türkiye KupasıTurkish Amateur Football ChampionshipR1 Preliminary, R1, R23201334
1963–64Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR3 Preliminary, R32101222
1964–65Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2 P, R2, R3 P23201654
1966–67Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2 P2, R2, R3 P23201744
1967–68Türkiye KupasıTurkish First Football LeagueR1, R24211525
1968–69Türkiye KupasıTurkish First Football LeagueR12002140
1969–70Türkiye KupasıTurkish First Football LeagueR1, R2 P, R263121657
1970–71Türkiye KupasıTurkish First Football LeagueR1, R24121334
1972–73Türkiye KupasıTurkish First Football LeagueR1, R24121334
1975–76Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2 S1, R2 S2, R3, R463121067
1976–77Türkiye KupasıTurkish First Football LeagueR3, R44301966
1977–78Türkiye KupasıTurkish First Football LeagueR32101232
1978–79Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR3, R42101112
1979–80Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR31001240
1980–81Türkiye KupasıTurkish First Football LeagueR5, R6 QF6213465
1981–82Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2, R3, R4, R5, R61053213613
1982–83Federasyon KupasıTurkish First Football LeagueR5, R6, QF, SF, F1053210813
1983–84Federasyon KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2, R3, R4650113310
1984–85Federasyon KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR12020112
1985–86Federasyon KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR12011021
1986–87Federasyon KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR11001120
1989–90Federasyon KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR21001010
1990–91Federasyon KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR1, R22101833
1991–92Federasyon KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2, R32101333
1992–93Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR11001340
1993–94Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR1, R22101433
1994–95Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2, R32101223
1995–96Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2, R32101433
1996–97Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2, R32101773
1997–98Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR2, R3, R43201336
1998–99Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR21001340
1999–00Türkiye KupasıTurkish Second Football LeagueR1, R22101333
2002–03Türkiye KupasıTFF First LeagueR11001120
2003–04Türkiye KupasıTFF First LeagueR1, R22101123
2004–05Türkiye KupasıTFF First LeagueR1, R22101443
2005–06Fortis Türkiye KupasıTFF First LeagueR1, R2, R3 62048136
2006–07Fortis Türkiye KupasıTFF Second LeagueR11001020
2009–10Ziraat Türkiye KupasıTFF First LeagueR1, R2, R3 320114126
2010–11Ziraat Türkiye KupasıTFF First LeagueR2, R3 2101353
2011–12Ziraat Türkiye KupasıTFF First LeagueR3


Note: Serial penalties added to match scores. Before 1987, two points for a win rule accepted.

European participations

European Cup Winners' Cup

Current squad

Presidents

Former presidents



Sources: Club history

Coaches

Former coaches



Note: Start dates of coaches who started regularly have been shown as 1 August, before 1990, if there was no TFF records.