Istanbul Matchday Experiences

5 (8 reviews)  •  Europe, Istanbul

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Hosted by: Ogulcan

English 5 (32 reviews)

What's included

Local Guide

Short Side ticket

Pre-match Experience

What we will do

Football is a portion of food for your soul in Turkey. And football’s heart is beating mostly in Istanbul. There are 8 different Istanbul teams in the Turkish League now and all of them have different stories and football cultures. We will discover their differences and their amazing stadiums.

This event contains 6 different Istanbul teams’ home game matchday tours: Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş, Galatasaray, Başakşehir, Kasımpaşa and Eyüpspor.

Some stadiums are at the center of the city but some are far. When it is needed for a ride to the stadium outskirts of Istanbul, I will personally drive us all together there 🙂

We will gather where the fans gather before the game. Warm-up and drink up together with them and listen to some chants. We will enjoy the game and hope to have a good challenging game with multiple goals!

To be able to enter a sports event in Turkey you are going to have to have an ID card called Pasolig. I will handle this and the tickets for you. All Pasolig progress and tickets are included in the price you pay for the tour. The only thing you need to do is send me the personal info that I asked from you for your registration 🙂

I was born and raised in Istanbul. I have been going to football games in and out of the city for the last 20 years. Thanks to my experience with these games, I can guarantee you that I exactly know what a fan needs before, during, and after the game. I personally will be your guide during the whole experience. I will be next to you the whole game giving you hints for making your experience better. You don’t have to worry about tickets, logistics, security, or anything else: just enjoy the game! I will be providing a ticket and the information needed about that specific game we will attend to. So feel free to ask anything about the clubs, history, players, or football in general.

Important things to consider:

*Even though smoking in stadiums is forbidden this law does not apply and there is heavy smoking and secondhand smoke in all seats of the stadium

*Seats are behind the goal and we stand during the entire match

*It might get very loud in the stadium please bring earmuffs if you think it would disturb you.

*Galatasaray matchday experiences only include prematch + pasolig registration + ticket + assistance until stadium gates. Since i have a Fenerbahce Passolig card assigned to my national ID, I cannot enter Galatasaray matches as Galatasaray fan due Pasolig rules and regulations.

*Due to fixture regulations of Turkish Football Federation matchday times can change or some Istanbul teams matches can be named on same day. I am opening tours weeks before the exact dates are announced so if the matches overlap your booked tour might be canceled or changed to other game same day.

*For Istanbul Derbies between the big three ticket rules and regulations changed harshly in order to fight the black market. This means finding tickets for these games(FBvsBJK, FBvsGS, GSvsBJK) is hard and risky. So your reservation could be canceled and you can get a refund in cases in which I cannot find tickets.

Istanbul Matchday Experiences Additional Information

The prices you see here for Istanbul Derbies and UEFA European League games of Istanbul are determined when/if the host could provide the ticket from general sale. The host might not provide tickets for these games due high demand or Passolig system malfunctions. Tickets for these games cannot be provided from other channels than general sale because of the big price gap in Turkey. If the host cannot find tickets from the general sale for these matches, your money will be refunded and the tour will be cancelled. For detailed information, please contact your host.

 

Meet your host

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Ogulcan

Host since 2020

  • 5 (32 reviews)
  • English
From £69 9 / person
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From £69 9 / person

5 (8 reviews)

Mario Rosenmayer

5.0  •  03/12/2024

We tried to get tickets for Besiktas against Göztepe but no chance thanks to complicated Passolig registration. So on the evening before the game I contacted homefans and OG made everything possible on very short notice. He did registration and got tickets for us. We met next day close to a place where the home fans gathered had a drink and received a Besiktas scarf, went to a park where more fans gathered where we had another drink and some mussels with rice. We had excellent seats close to the home fans atmosphere was good and we saw a 2:4, passion of turkish fans unique and we really enjoyed it. OG is a great guy and when I'll get back to Istanbul for more games, what I'll definitely do I'll contact OG to organize everything for me/us. I can highly recommend homefans and OG!!

Sokratis Konstantinidis

5.0  •  08/11/2024

Ogulcan made the matchday experience great. Lucky enough to witness a massive clash, Galatasaray against Besiktas and with Ogulcan’s input it became even better. From experiencing pre-match vibes in the streets, to football chats over local beer and of course the seamless organisation of Passolig formalities. Overall incredible match, stadium, fans and atmosphere.

Tomáš Drobný

5.0  •  02/11/2024

In a word - amazing. We don't regret anything. I took my son and experienced an amazing atmosphere not only at the stadium, but also in the bars with home fans. Within two days Ogulcan provided us with two matches-Fenerbahce-Bodrum and finally the Derby Gala-Besiktas. Neither of them was a mistake and in both cases we became a briefly supporters of the home team. Not only knowledge of narrow streets with bars, where fans go before matches, but also how to deal with the acquisition of the necessary passolig card. These are things for which it is worth using great Ogulcana services. An experience for a lifetime ... p.s. We have to return to see Besiktas at home :)

Ruud Beens

5.0  •  30/10/2024

Due to high demand we knew it wouldn't be easy for OG to get three seats in the same section behind the goal. Because of his honest and pro active communication, he managed our expectations really well and came through with the tickets in the end. We really had an amazing time drinking beers in the streets near the stadium and learning about Fenerbahce and Turkish football. The support from the fans was massive, from an hour before kick off until the final whistle. Fenerbahce now has three more Dutch fans. VURA VURA VURA!

BING YAP

5.0  •  25/09/2024

OG was amazing from start to finish. He got in touch with us moments after we booked our experience to get everything organised for us. He got our passolig registration sorted with minimal fuss, and was able to secure two precious tickets to the biggest game in the Turkish league (Fenerbahce vs Galatasaray). Communication with him was extremely easy and he was very quick to respond to all our questions and concerns. The pre game atmosphere was incredible and OG gave us a detailed rundown of the history of the clubs. He went above and beyond to ensure that we got to our seats without too much hassle. The atmosphere at the game was next level and it was truly an amazing experience for us! I would highly recommend this experience and would definitely have OG as my host again.

Adam

5.0  •  13/12/2023

OG is an absolutely great guy who went over and above to ensure we had the best time in Istanbul. He secured derby tickets for Besiktas v Fenerbahce and tickets for Galatasaray, and a third game in the second tier. Took total care of everything, even took me on a stadium tour of Fenerbahce and out for lunch. Great guy who cares about his guests from way before you even arrive in Istanbul. Takes time to explain everything and ensure you understand about how difficult getting tickets to football in Turkey is. Can’t recommend him highly enough, made my trip.

M Akiens

5.0  •  13/11/2023

Great weekend for me and my friends, Ogulcan Y (O.G.) was a great help, got us through the difficulties of getting tickets for Turkish football without any major problems. We gave O.G. some difficult problems to solve as their were 8 of us, very pleased with his help, a good man, tells you the potential problems in advance and how he will try to solve. We also went to see Galatasaray on the Friday evening. I doubt very much that we would be have been able to get tickets to these 'sold out' games without the wonderful help of O.G. Fenerbahce in particular was a great experience, we had the recent history of the club, met in a bar near to the ground in a lively area where we could soak up the atmosphere. The atmosphere inside the ground was fantastic and we had a really good experience. We went as neutrals and came away as Fenerbahce supporters in Turkey.

Ryan

5.0  •  17/01/2023

We came for the big one, Fenerbahce v Galatasaray (Sunday), but the football fixture Gods were with us and we had not one but two bonus matches (saturday and Monday). The Besiktas market place was alive and the party started hours before kick off, and with our host Ogulcar, we joined the party. The atmosphere was superb, there were Turkish street bands and plenty of singing and flares. The local scarf sellers were even selling flares. The stadium is impressive and Besiktas were 2-1 winners so everyone was happy!! On the Monday we headed for what seemed like hours/miles across Istanbul to Istanbul Basaksehir v Adana Demispor. The crowd was small due to a Monday 5pm kick off, but the stadium and football were impressive, as was the fighting in the Director's seats, with the home and away Directors having to be seperated by riot police and stewards. OG once again was the perfect host. Turkish football really does have it all.....

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What's included in your experience

  • Local Guide

    Bilingual local fan of the club

  • Short Side ticket


  • Pre-match Experience


  • Passolig Registration


FAQ

Can the experience be customized to my preferences?
How will the host get in touch?
I can just get a ticket why should I book a matchday experience?
Is transportation included?
Is the match date confirmed?