2012

2012 (MMXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (dominical letter AG) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2012th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 12th year of the 3rd millennium, the 12th year of the 21st century, and the 3rd year of the 2010s decade.

2012 was designated as:

Events

January

February

Galatasaray S.K.

Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (Turkish pronunciation: [ɡaɫatasaˈɾaj ˈspoɾ kulyˈby], Galatasaray Sports Club) is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey, most notable for its association football department. The club also consists of various other departments including basketball, wheelchair basketball, volleyball, water polo, handball, athletics, swimming, rowing, sailing, judo, bridge, motorsport, equestrian, and chess. Galatasaray S.K. is among the key members of the Galatasaray Community Cooperation Committee together with Galatasaray University and the prestigious Lycée de Galatasaray.

The football team of the club is the only European cup winner team in Turkey, holding the highest number of Turkish League Cups, TSYD Cups, Turkish Super Cups as well as Turkish Cups. Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup against Arsenal F.C. and the UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid C.F. both in 2000.

İhsan Emre Vural and his teammate Ahmet Yumrukaya became the first world-champions in the history of Turkey when they finished first in the 2004 Under 23 World Rowing Championships held in Poznań, Poland. The club's Wheelchair Basketball team won the Champions Cup in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014. They also won Kitakyushu Champions Cup and became world champion in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012.Galatasaray women's basketball team won the 2013–14 EuroLeague Women and FIBA Eurocup in 2009.

2011

2011 (MMXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (dominical letter B) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2011th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 11th year of the 3rd millennium, the 11th year of the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2010s decade.

2011 was designated as:

It was marked by a wave of revolutions in the Arab World known as the Arab Spring, including the beginnings of several unresolved protest movements and armed conflicts.

Events

January

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, GOIH (born 5 February 1985), known as Cristiano Ronaldo (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɾɨʃtiˈɐnu ʁuˈnaɫdu]), is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Portugal national team. He is a forward and serves as captain for Portugal. By the age of 22, Ronaldo had received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations. The following year, in 2008, he won his first Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He then won the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2013 and 2014. In September 2015, Ronaldo scored his 500th senior career goal for club and country.

Often ranked as the best player in the world and rated by some in the sport as the greatest of all time, in 2015 Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all time by the Portuguese Football Federation, during its 100th anniversary celebrations. He is the first player to win four European Golden Shoe awards. With Manchester United and Real Madrid, Ronaldo has won three Premier Leagues, one La Liga, one FA Cup, two Football League Cups, two Copas del Rey, two UEFA Champions Leagues, one UEFA Super Cup and two FIFA Club World Cups.

Ali Sami Yen

Ali Sami Yen (20 May 1886 – 29 July 1951) was a Turkish sports official best known as the founder of the Galatasaray Sports Club. His birth name was Ali Sami Frashëri, the son of Sami Frashëri, one of the most famous Albanian writers, philosophers and playwrights. After the enactment of law on family names in 1934, he took the surname Yen, which literally means “win” in the Turkish language.

Life

Sami Yen was born in Kandilli, Üsküdar.

He was a student at the prestigious Galatasaray High School in Istanbul. In October 1905, he decided with some of his fellow students to create a football club. At the beginning, the stated goal was “To play together like Englishmen, to have a color and a name, and to beat the other non Turkish teams” according to him.

Ali Sami Yen founded the colours of Galatasaray, stating, "We were imagining brightness of yellow-red fire over our team and thinking that it would carry us from one victory to another."

In 1905, during the era of the Ottoman Empire, there were no laws for associations so the club could not be registered officially, but, after the 1912 Law of Association, the club registered legally.