FIRST QUALIFICATION FOR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

In 1996 again, our National Team achieved a first in their history and qualified for the European Championship which was to be held in England.

The young generation, which played in the 1991 Mediterranean Games final under the management of Fatih Terim, undersigned a first in Turkish football history. When Fatih Terim took Sepp Piontek's place to coach our National Team, the young squad that he compiled beginning from 1991 achieved historic successes. Our National Team were drawn to play Switzerland, Sweden, Hungary and Iceland in Group 3 in the 1996 European Championship Qualifiers and won 4 games, drew 3 and lost one in a total of 8 matches, ranking second behind Switzerland, leaving Sweden behind, and went to the finals as the "best second ranking team" in the qualifying stage.

However, our National Team's performance was really poor in the tournament. Their good play was not paid off. They lost their first two games 1-0 to Croatia and Portugal in Nottingham and the last one 3-0 to Denmark played in Sheffield, and did not even manage to score a goal or receive a point. However, the road to big finals were already paved.

In 1997, as ?enes Erzik left his office of President, which was held by Abdullah Ki??l? for a short period of time, Haluk Ulusoy was elected President of TFF in December. In 1998, TFF opened its "European Football Office" in Germany in order to explore and obtain young Turkish talents living in Europe. By the way, ?enes Erzik, the Honorary President of TFF, was elected to UEFA's Executive Committee and as FIFA's Referee Committee Chairman at the meeting held in Dublin.

The early 2000s of TFF under the management of Haluk Ulusoy could be named as Turkish football's golden years. The investments made in footballing infrastructure, training and facilities started to pay off and the achievements of our National Team and clubs started to become a classic.

The most remarkable international success of Turkish football at club level was achieved in 2000. Galatasaray, which held the title at the end of the 1998-99 season, qualified for the Champions League on 11 August by beating Rapid Wien 3-0 and 1-0 in both playoff games. Galatasaray was drawn to play Chelsea, Hertha Berlin and Milan in their group, and finished the group stage in the third place above Milan and continued their route to the UEFA Cup. The sorrow of being eliminated from the Champions League was the starting point of a historic victory achieved in the UEFA Cup. Eliminating Bologna of Italy, Borussia Dortmund of Germany, Real Mallorca of Spain and Leeds United of England without losing any one, and winning 5, out of these 8 matches, Galatasaray played Arsenal of England in the final.

Parken Stadium of Copenhagen, Denmark, witnessed a historic success achieved by a Turkish team on 17 May 2000. Fatih Terim's squad of Taffarel, Capone, Popescu, Bülent, Okan, Ümit, Hagi, Hakan Ünsal, Ergün, Arif, Hasan ?a?, Ahmet Y?ld?r?m, Suat and Hakan ?ükür won the UEFA Cup when the final whistle was blown in the game which, including the extra time, ended with no scoring. However, Galatasaray defeated Arsenal on penalties 4-1 and won the UEFA Cup.

The date of 28 August 2000 was also a milestone in Turkish football history. The UEFA Cup champion Galatasaray played Real Madrid, which won the Champions League title in the same year, for the Super Cup at Louis the Second Stadium in Monaco. This time the team was coached by Mircea Lucescu instead of Fatih Terim. Galatasaray, composed of Taffarel, Capone (Fatih), Bülent, Popescu, Hakan Ünsal, Ümit, Okan (Hasan), Suat, Emre, Hagi (Bülent Ak?n) and Jardel, and Real Madrid were level at the end of 90 minutes and Galatasaray won the game 2-1 at the end of the extra time, with goals scored by Jardel at 41 and 103 minutes. Real Madrid's goal which was scored by Raul at 79 min. was not enough.