Amed S.K.

Amed SK,[1] formerly Diyarbakır Büyükşehir Belediyespor, is a Turkish sports club based in Diyarbakır. The football club plays in the TFF Second League. It is the football club of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality.[2]

For the women's football team, see Amed S.K. (women).
Amed SK
Full nameAmed Sportif Faaliyetler Kulübü
Founded1990 (1990), as Diyarbakır Büyükşehir Belediyespor
GroundDiyarbakır Stadium, Diyarbakır
Capacity33,000
PresidentVechettin Alsaç
ManagerAykan Atik
LeagueTFF Second League
2019–20TFF Second League, White, 16th
WebsiteClub website

In October 2014, they changed their name to Amedspor without official approval, and therefore have been fined by the Turkish Football Federation.[3]

In early 2016, Amedspor pulled off an upset win over Bursaspor to make it into quarterfinals of the Turkish Cup.[4] After this victory their fans were banned from the following match against Fenerbahçe S.K. by the Turkish Football Federation. The TFF also suspended their midfielder Deniz Naki an unprecedented 12 games for Tweets and fined him with about 7000$. Also the police raided the club's offices taking their computers on suspicion that a politically controversial Tweet might possibly have originated from there.[5] The club is appealing these heavy handed measures and if their appeal fails with the TFF they will likely take that appeal to the UEFA.

Season Manufacture Kit Colours
-2013 Umbro Red-Green
2013-2016 Lotto Red-Green, White, Black
2016-2017 Nike[6] White, Red, Black
2018-2019 Nike Red-Green, White, Green, Red

According to an interview which the German newspaper Die Zeit held with their representatives, the club has some difficulties for being seen as a symbol of Kurdish identity by the Turkish Football Federation and Turkish authorities. Flags in Kurdish language are banned to be shown in the stadiums and since December 2015 the fans of Amedspor are banned to watch the away games in the regular season. After the ban about 500 fans went to watch their team without showing the colors of their team, but as they showed their emotions for their team when it scored a goal, they had trouble with the fans from the opposite team and the police and they had to leave before the end of the match.[7] From January 2016 to February 2019 the fans were banned to watch away games from the male football team for 64 games. Fans of the Amed S. K. women's team were not allowed to watch away games from 2018 to February 2019.[8] Also merchandise articles of the fans are also often seized by the police.[7] Amedspor also has a Women Volleyball Team.[9]

References
  1. "Diyarbakır Büyükşehir BLD'nin adı değişti".
  2. "Turkey Kurds: The bitter politics of the football pitch". 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  3. "Turkish Football Federation fines Diyarbakır club for giving itself city's Kurdish name". Hürriyet Daily News.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2016-02-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Amed Store - Amed Spor Resmi Forma ve Aksesuar Satış Sitesi". amedstore.com.tr. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  7. Lopez, Edgar (2019-02-05). "Fußball in der Türkei: "Unsere Spieler werden sogar von Balljungen bepöbelt"". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  8. "Amedspor spielt wieder mit Fans". ANF News (in German). Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  9. "Kadın Voleybol – Amed SFK" (in Turkish). Retrieved 2019-02-09.


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