Galatasaray go host Amed Sportif for Süper Lig clash on Saturday, 7 November, as the league leaders face the second-placed side for a match wey fit change the title race. Kick-off na 11:00 for Istanbul.
Galatasaray under coach Okan Buruk dey in strong form. Dem win five matches in a row, including 2-0 victory over VfB Stuttgart for Champions League and 2-1 derby win against Fenerbahçe. For that five-match run, dem score nine goals and concede six.
Amed Sportif no dey come to make up numbers. Coach Besnik Hasi side get four wins and one draw from last five matches. Their latest result na 5-1 win over Eyupspor. For those five games, dem score twelve goals and concede six.
Amedspor, as dem dey call the club, dey in first season for top-flight after successive promotions. Dem dey second for Süper Lig after 10 games. If dem beat Galatasaray, dem go move top.
Nigerian striker Gift Orban na key man for Amed Sportif. E don score nine goals in 10 games. For Galatasaray, Victor Osimhen na top scorer with nine goals.
The match get bigger meaning. Amedspor na Kurdish club from Diyarbakir, biggest Kurdish-majority city for Turkiye. Ten years ago, club face fines, bans, and attacks as fighting between state and PKK rage. Now, peace process dey under way between government and PKK. Vahap Coskun, academic from Diyarbakir, talk say Amedspor success nobody expect. E talk say experienced coach Besnik Hasi and mostly new squad dey perform above expectations. E also talk say ‘softening political climate’ dey affect everything from treatment for away matches to refereeing.
Reha Ruhavioglu, director of Kurdish Studies Center and former member of club advisory board, tell Al Jazeera say Amedspor matches become ‘weekly barometer’ of whether Turkish society and state can accept club as part of country ‘with its own colours, culture, language and identity’.
Amedspor formed as Melikahmet Turanspor in 1972. Diyarbakir municipality take over in 1990. Dem gain promotion to third tier in 2013. Next year, dem rename themselves with Kurdish word for Diyarbakir, ‘Amed’, and adopt red, green, and yellow of Kurdish tricolour.
