Sports
Rolling Fenerbahçe face acid test as Beşiktaş step into Cup opener
Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş will renew one of Turkish football’s fiercest rivalries Tuesday night when they collide in the opening match of the Ziraat Turkish Cup C Group, with both sides eager to make an early statement in a competition that carries history, pressure and little margin for error.
The derby kicks off at 8:30 p.m. local time at Chobani Stadium, marking the first group-stage test for two clubs that enter the cup directly at this phase under the revamped format.
A derby shaped by form, belief and unfinished business
While cup openers are often approached cautiously, this one arrives heavy with context.
Fenerbahçe step into the night carrying momentum built over months, while Beşiktaş arrive driven by the need to redefine their season against elite opposition.
The Yellow Canaries closed the first half of the Süper Lig unbeaten, a consistency that has translated across competitions.
Under Domenico Tedesco, Fenerbahçe have not lost in their last 16 official matches – a stretch that includes 11 wins and five draws – turning them into one of the most stable and mentally resilient teams in Türkiye.
Beşiktaş’s path has been less linear but no less revealing.
Since their dramatic 3-2 collapse against Fenerbahçe in the league, the black-and-whites have rebuilt quietly, stringing together six unbeaten matches.
Yet that run has also exposed a lingering issue: closing games against top-tier rivals.
Match that still lingers
The league derby earlier this season remains a reference point for both sides.
Beşiktaş surged into a 2-0 lead at home, only to unravel after a red card, allowing Fenerbahçe to flip the match and escape with a 3-2 win.
For Fenerbahçe, it reinforced a defining trait of this campaign – composure under stress.
For Beşiktaş, it added another entry to a growing list of matches in which leads against elite opponents slipped away.
They also dropped points from winning positions against Galatasaray and Trabzonspor, leaving the sense that progress has not yet translated into authority.
Fenerbahçe’s surge
Beyond the unbeaten run, Fenerbahçe’s numbers underline their form.
They have conceded just once in their last four Europa League matches and have kept clean sheets in their last three games overall, dismantling Brann, Konyaspor and Eyüpspor by a combined score of 11-0.
The backbone of that run has been defensive balance rather than relentless pressing.
Fenerbahçe have been patient in buildup, ruthless when momentum swings, and increasingly comfortable absorbing pressure – a trait that often defines successful cup teams.
They have also delivered in big domestic moments, collecting seven points from league matches against Trabzonspor, Beşiktaş and Galatasaray.
That return has helped keep them firmly in the title conversation and adds weight to their status as cup favorites.
Depletion tests depth
Yet Tuesday’s derby will also test Fenerbahçe’s squad depth as much as their form. Nine players are unavailable, leaving Tedesco to improvise across multiple lines.
Fred is suspended, Youssef En-Nesyri and Dorgeles Nene are away at the Africa Cup of Nations, while injuries have sidelined Edson Alvarez, Anderson Talisca, Nelson Semedo and Archie Brown.
Ederson and Jhon Duran are absent with special permission.
Those absences force a reshuffle that could hand rare opportunities to younger players.
Goalkeeper Tarık Çetin is expected to start, while Yiğit Efe Demir, Haydar Karataş and Bartuğ Elmaz are all in line for their first Fenerbahçe-Beşiktaş derby appearance if selected – a reminder that cup nights often accelerate careers.
Stability back, doubts linger
Beşiktaş arrive with fewer absences but similar uncertainty.
Injuries rule out Cengiz Ünder, Jota Silva and Mustafa Erhan Hekimoğlu, while Wilfred Ndidi and El Bilal Touré remain on international duty.
Rafa Silva, recently included in the squad again, is not expected to feature heavily.
What Beşiktaş bring is the momentum of a quieter kind.
Since early November, they have steadied defensively and avoided defeat, taking wins against Antalyaspor, Fatih Karagümrük and Rizespor, while drawing against Samsunspor, Gaziantep FK and Trabzonspor.
Still, the defining victory against a top rival has yet to arrive – and the cup provides a clean slate.
New faces in an old rivalry
Tuesday may also mark a symbolic transition for Beşiktaş.
Six players could make their first appearance in a Fenerbahçe derby, including Tiago Djalo, David Jurasek and Taylan Bulut, along with academy graduates Demir Ege Tıknaz, Kartal Kayra Yılmaz and Devrim Şahin.
For head coach Sergen Yalçın, the challenge is blending youthful energy with derby discipline – a balance that often decides cup ties before tactics do.
This will be the 363rd meeting between the clubs in all competitions and their 23rd clash in the Turkish Cup.
Beşiktaş hold the edge in cup history, with 11 wins to Fenerbahçe’s five, and they have triumphed in all three cup finals contested between the rivals.
Overall, Fenerbahçe lead the all-time series narrowly, 136 wins to 129, with 97 draws – a statistical reflection of a rivalry defined by thin margins.
Recent league history offers no clear favorite either: the last 10 Süper Lig derbies have produced three wins apiece and four draws, with both sides recently claiming victories on rival turf.
With Beyoğlu Yeni Çarşı, Erzurumspor FK and Gaziantep FK also in Group C, three points on opening night would offer early control and reduce room for error later.
Cristiano Ronaldo still waits for his first major trophy in Saudi Arabia, and Al-Nassr hope their longest-running drought ends with his return to the pitch this week in continental competition.
The Riyadh club faces Arkadag of Turkmenistan on Wednesday in the first leg of the AFC Champions League Two round of 16, a two-match tie that offers Al-Nassr a clear path toward silverware.
The return leg will be played in Saudi Arabia next week, with a quarterfinal place at stake.
Ronaldo, now 41, has missed Al-Nassr’s last two Saudi Pro League matches amid reports of frustration over the club’s transfer strategy and funding structure.
Those concerns surfaced after rivals Al-Hilal signed Karim Benzema during the January window, reigniting debate over how Saudi football’s biggest clubs are backed despite all four being majority owned by the Public Investment Fund.
The Saudi Pro League moved quickly to address the issue, stressing that clubs operate independently within a shared framework.
In a statement, the league said Ronaldo has played an important role in Al-Nassr’s growth but emphasized that no player holds influence beyond their own club.
Transfer funding, the league added, comes from a centralized acquisition pool and individual club resources, not personal preference.
Despite the noise, Al-Nassr have shown resilience without their marquee name.
They beat defending league champions Al-Ittihad 2-0 on Friday, their second straight win without Ronaldo, easing immediate pressure ahead of the Arkadag trip.
Al-Nassr’s continental campaign unfolds as Saudi clubs continue to dominate the top-tier AFC Champions League Elite.
Al-Hilal sit comfortably atop the West Zone with six wins from six matches, allowing coach Simone Inzaghi room to rotate his squad.
Al-Ahli have also secured progression after claiming their first continental title earlier this year.
Al-Ittihad remain the only Saudi side yet to confirm a place in the knockout stage.
Sixth in the standings with two matches left, they can secure advancement by defeating Al-Gharafa of Qatar on Tuesday, even after losing Benzema to Al-Hilal.
Elsewhere in Asia, Vissel Kobe are the only East Zone team already through, while Japan could send three clubs into the round of 16 if Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Machida Zelvia deliver wins this week.
Chinese teams face mounting pressure, with Shanghai Port rooted to the bottom and Chengdu Rongcheng and Shanghai Shenhua clinging to qualification hopes.
For Al-Nassr, however, the focus is narrower and more urgent. Ronaldo has elevated the club’s profile since arriving in January 2023, but a major trophy remains missing from his Saudi chapter.
Turkish center Alperen Şengün of the Houston Rockets on Sunday was named an NBA All-Star for the second time in his career.
“Houston Rockets center Alperen Şengün has been named by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to replace injured Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Team World for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game (Sunday, 2/15 on NBC & Peacock),” the NBA said in a statement on Sunday.
Canadian star Gilgeous-Alexander has been sidelined by an abdominal strain but was voted a starter in taking his fourth All-Star selection in a row.
The 75th NBA All-Star Game will be played next Sunday at Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Şengün was named an All-Star for the first time last year. In his fifth NBA campaign, Şengün is averaging 20.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 6.3 assists over 44 games.
Şengün has helped the Rockets to a 32-19 record, sharing fourth place in the Western Conference.
In a revamped All-Star format, the World squad will face two teams of American players, USA Stars and USA Stripes, in a round-robin mini-tournament with three 12-minute games deciding which two sides advance to the 12-minute final.
England survived a major scare to beat Nepal in its T20 World Cup Group C opener in Mumbai on Sunday, despite Lokesh Bam’s blistering 39 not out off 20 balls.
Sam Curran held his nerve at the iconic Wankhede Stadium and defended just 10 off the last six balls as Nepal was restricted to 180-6 in 20 overs, replying to England’s 184-7 (20 overs).
Bam hit two sixes and four fours to raise the possibility of an improbable and stunning upset, but Curran bowled an exceptional final over to get England across the finish line.
Earlier, England had won the toss and opted to bat. Jacob Bethell hit 55 off 35 balls, including four sixes. Skipper Harry Brook added 53 off 32 balls with three sixes.
Will Jacks provided the finishing touch with 39 not out off 18 balls, hitting four sixes, and took England to a more defendable target from a precarious 137-5 in 15.3 overs.
In the morning game at Chennai, Tim Seifert’s 65 off 42 balls helped New Zealand get off to a winning start in the tournament and beat Afghanistan by five wickets in Group D.
It is expected to be the toughest group that also includes 2024 finalists South Africa.
New Zealand cruised to 183-5 – its highest ever chase at the T20 World Cup – with two overs to spare. Afghanistan scored 182-6 after winning the toss.
Curran took 1-27 in four overs, while left-arm spinner Liam Dawson picked up 2-21. For Nepal, skipper Rohit Paudel hit 39 off 34 balls, and Dipendra Singh top-scored with 44 off 29 balls.
Group C also includes West Indies, Italy and Scotland. Two-time champions West Indies beat Scotland by 35 runs Saturday.
England were 57-3 after 6.1 overs, when Bethell and Brook came together. They added 71 off 45 balls for the fourth wicket.
Bethell scored 50 off 28 balls, while Brook hit 50 off 31. Bethell fell in the 14th over and England slipped further before Jacks came to the rescue.
Jacks was named player of the match for his all-round showing. He helped England to reach a par score, and then picked up 1-17 in two overs.
He dismissed opener Kushal Bhurtel, who hit 29 off 17 balls and provided Nepal with a quick start as England searched for a breakthrough.
Dawson picked up two wickets as slower deliveries hit Nepal batters. Paudel and Singh added 82 off 54 balls for the third wicket, setting up a base for the finish.
Adil Rasheed proved expensive – 0-42 in three overs – but Curran dismissed Singh in the 15th over, in what was a crucial moment for the game. Bam’s heroics fell short in the end.
Gulbadin Naib, batting at No. 3 for the first time in T20s since the 2024 World Cup when Afghanistan knocked out the Black Caps from the race to the semis with an 84-run win at Guyana, smashed 63 off 35 balls.
But opening batter Seifert (65) raised his maiden T20 World Cup half-century to overcome Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s twin strike that had rattled New Zealand to 2-14 inside the first two overs.
Mujeeb clean bowled Finn Allen and Rachin Ravindra off successive balls before Glenn Phillips (42) dealt with the hat-trick ball and then put the chase back on track by putting on an aggressive 74-run partnership with Seifert.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan (1-36) also couldn’t stem the flow of runs as New Zealand continued to accelerate in the middle overs against the experienced leg-spinner.
Rashid broke the stand in the 10th over when Phillips dragged it back onto his stumps.
Seifert completed his fifty in style by smacking off-spinner Mohammad Nabi for two successive sixes and followed it with a boundary before he was caught at deep square leg.
Mark Chapman (28 off 17 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (25 not out) then accelerated to get Black Caps home in the team’s first game of the tournament.
Earlier, Naib struck four sixes and three boundaries and laid a platform for Afghanistan’s strong finish with a 79-run partnership with Sediqullah Atal (29).
Naib took his time, scoring 14 off 16 balls but needed only another 13 deliveries to raise his half-century as New Zealand struggled with their fifth bowler.
Express bowler Lockie Ferguson (2-40) had struck twice when he was introduced in the last over of the power play and removed both openers, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (27) and Ibrahim Zadran (10).
World champion Breezy Johnson won the women’s downhill at the Milano Cortina Olympics on Sunday in a race overshadowed by U.S. teammate Lindsey Vonn’s heavy crash that halted the event and sent her to the hospital.
Vonn lost control over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and was spun around in the air.
She was heard screaming out after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away by a helicopter, possibly ending the skier’s storied career.
Her condition was not immediately known, with the U.S. Ski Team saying simply she would be evaluated.
Johnson, Vonn’s teammate, with her win, became only the second American woman to clinch the Olympic downhill title after Vonn did it 16 years ago. The 30-year-old Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italy’s Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for Team USA.
Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated after just 13 seconds on the course.
Others in the crowd, including rapper Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course she knows so well and holds a record 12 World Cup wins.
Vonn’s crash was “tragic, but it’s ski racing,” said Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
“I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport,” he said, “because this race has been the talk of the games and it’s put our sport in the best possible light.”
All eyes had been on Vonn, the feel-good story heading into the Olympics. She had returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years, a remarkable decision given her age, but she also had a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee, too. Many wondered how she would fare as she sought a gold medal to join the one she won in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
The four-time overall World Cup champion stunned everyone by being a contender almost immediately. She came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland nine days ago, when she suffered her latest knee injury. In addition to a ruptured ACL, she also had a bone bruise and meniscus damage.
Still, no one counted her out even then. In truth, she has skied through injuries for three decades at the top of the sport. In 2006, ahead of the Turin Olympics, Vonn took a bad fall during downhill training and went to the hospital. She competed less than 48 hours later, racing in all four events she’d planned, with a top result of seventh in the super-G.
“It’s definitely weird,” she said then, “going from the hospital bed to the start gate.”
Cortina has always had many treasured memories for Vonn beyond the record wins. She is called the queen of Cortina, and the Olympia delle Tofana is a course that had always suited Vonn.
She tested out the knee twice in downhill training runs over the past three days before the awful crash on Sunday in clear, sunny conditions.
“This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far,” Vonn said before the race. “Definitely the most dramatic.”
After the crash, the celebration for the medalists was held and fellow skiers thought about Vonn’s legacy.
“She has been my idol since I started watching ski racing,” said Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway. “We still have a World Cup to do after Olympics … I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly shows up on the start gate, but the crash didn’t look good.”
Juventus moved to secure one of their brightest young talents by extending Turkish midfielder Kenan Yıldız’s contract through June 2030, the club announced Saturday.
“Kenan embodies leadership, sacrifice and the constant pursuit of improvement. He is the personification of Juventus’ values, and he carries them onto the pitch in every game he plays,” the club said in a statement announcing the extension.
The 20-year-old, since joining the Old Lady from Bayern Munich’s youth system in 2022, has rapidly risen from the club’s under-19 team to become a first-team regular and a symbol of the club’s next generation.
He scored on his senior debut against Frosinone in December 2023, later inherited Juventus’ iconic No. 10 jersey and last year became the youngest player to captain the team.
The German-born winger has delivered consistently since breaking into the senior squad. Across two and a half seasons, Yıldız has scored 25 goals and provided 19 assists in 115 appearances in all competitions.
This season, he has eight goals and five assists in Serie A, underlining his growing influence in the attack.
Juventus emphasized the symbolic importance of the deal in a separate announcement, saying: “Kenan Yıldız’s story with Juventus is continuing – the No. 10 has renewed his contract to keep him in bianconero until June 30, 2030.”
Media reports in Italy suggested the new agreement makes Yıldız one of the highest-paid players in the squad, reflecting both his performances and the club’s determination to fend off interest from abroad.
Several European clubs had been monitoring his progress as Juventus worked to finalize the extension.
Yıldız, who represents Türkiye at the international level, expressed his attachment to the club after signing the new deal.
“I’m very happy to renew here, as this club is a family to me,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll do great things together. I love Juventus. I’m sure that I will always have the fans and my family behind me.”
Last season, Yıldız scored nine goals in 31 matches across competitions and played a role in Juventus’ 2023-24 Italian Cup triumph, further cementing his status as a key contributor despite his age.
N’Golo Kante’s return to European football on Wednesday was supposed to be a moment of unfiltered celebration for Fenerbahçe.
Instead, the French midfielder’s arrival in Istanbul exposed how quickly transfer euphoria can curdle in a global game that no longer tolerates cultural blind spots.
Thousands of supporters gathered at Sabiha Gökçen International Airport to welcome the World Cup-winning midfielder following his free transfer from Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad.
Chants, flares and club colors filled the terminal in a familiar scene of Turkish football excess.
Amid the crowd, however, a small group of fans painted their faces entirely black, a gesture that instantly went viral and sparked international condemnation.
What many of those involved appeared to see as admiration for Kante quickly became the defining image of his arrival.
From transfer fever to backlash
Images circulated rapidly across X, Instagram and Reddit, drawing criticism from anti-racism advocates and football figures outside Türkiye.
The act was widely labeled as blackface, a practice historically tied to racist caricature and mockery and now considered unacceptable in modern sport, regardless of intent.
The backlash shifted attention away from the significance of Kante’s signing, a major coup for the Süper Lig and toward a familiar debate over intent versus impact.
Critics argued that reducing a player to skin color, even in celebration, strips away dignity and echoes a history football has repeatedly vowed to leave behind.
Cultural disconnect
Within Türkiye, reaction was more fragmented.
Some fans defended the display as a misguided but harmless expression of passion, rooted in a local supporter culture that prizes extreme identification with players.
In that context, painting one’s face was framed as inclusion, becoming “one of us.”
International observers rejected that framing.
In a sport consumed across borders, they argued, symbols do not belong to one culture alone. What feels like devotion locally can read as dehumanizing globally.
This tension is not new to Turkish football.
The league has faced repeated scrutiny over racism-related incidents, even as clubs and supporters have also mobilized strongly against explicit discrimination, most notably following the 2020 Champions League incident involving Başakşehir assistant coach Pierre Webo.
Club and player response
Fenerbahçe did not issue an immediate public statement addressing the face-painting and no disciplinary measures were announced against the individuals involved.
The club instead emphasized the footballing value of Kante, who signed a 2.5-year deal as part of its push for domestic and European success.
Kante, known for his reserved demeanor, did not comment on the controversy.
He marked his arrival with a brief, upbeat message on social media welcoming “a new challenge” in Fenerbahçe colors.
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