Süper Lig format 2026/27: teams, relegation, European places

The Süper Lig, Türkiye's top division, is a straightforward double round-robin in 2026/27: 18 clubs play each other home and away for 34 matchweeks, the team with the most points is champion and the bottom three go down to the TFF 1. Lig. There is no title play-off and no relegation play-off. The one thing that regularly surprises newcomers is the tiebreaker: clubs level on points are separated by their head-to-head record first, not by overall goal difference.

The format at a glance

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF), which runs the league, counts this as its 69th season.

Who plays in it

The league is dominated, in titles and in attention, by three Istanbul clubs — Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş — and by Trabzonspor from the Black Sea coast. Matches among the Istanbul three are the country's great derbies, and the TFF's fixture rules treat them specially: each pair meets once at each ground, no club may face the "big four" in consecutive weeks, and derbies are kept away from certain protected matchweeks, such as those just before an international break.

The other 2026/27 clubs are İstanbul Başakşehir, Kasımpaşa and Eyüpspor (also from Istanbul), Samsunspor, Göztepe, Kocaelispor, Konyaspor, Gaziantep FK, Alanyaspor, Çaykur Rizespor and Gençlerbirliği, plus the three promoted sides: Amed Sportif Faaliyetler, Erzurumspor FK and Çorum FK.

How the season runs

Calendar

Rounds are spread from Friday to Monday, and exact kick-off times are confirmed during the season, so dates can shift. The fixture list is symmetrical: the second half of the season repeats the first in the same order with venues reversed.

Relegation and promotion

Article 3 of the league statute is short: the clubs finishing 16th, 17th and 18th are relegated to the TFF 1. Lig, the second tier. Three clubs come up to replace them. Nothing on the Süper Lig side is decided by a play-off; the 34-round table is final.

Tiebreakers: head-to-head comes first

The league statute has no tiebreak clause of its own, so the TFF's general competition regulations (Article 9) apply. What Turkish fans call ikili averaj is this head-to-head comparison.

Two clubs level on points:

1. Points won in the two matches between them
2. Goal difference in those two matches (away goals do not count extra)
3. Overall goal difference
4. Overall goals scored
5. The club with no forfeit defeat ranks higher
6. If still level, a single deciding match

Three or more clubs level on points:

1. Points in a mini-table made only of the matches among those clubs
2. Goal difference in that mini-table
3. Goals scored in that mini-table
4. Overall goal difference
5. Overall goals scored
6. The club with no forfeit defeat ranks higher
7. A match or matches arranged by the TFF

A quick illustration: Team A and Team B both finish on 60 points. A won 2-1 at home, B won the return 1-0. Head-to-head points are 3-3 and goals 2-2; B's away goal changes nothing, so overall goal difference decides. Had A won one game and drawn the other, A would finish above B no matter how the overall goal difference looked. For how this compares with other competitions, see the guide to league table tiebreakers.

Squads, substitutions and VAR

• Squad list: up to 28 players. No more than 14 may be players who are not eligible for Türkiye's national team, and if a club uses all 14 slots, at least 4 of those must have been born on or after 1 January 2003. Locally this is known as the "10+4" rule.
• Home-eligible players: at least 14 on the list must be eligible for the national team, at least 4 of them born in 2003 or later. A club may list three goalkeepers, two of whom must be home-eligible.
• Matchday squad: 21 players at most, so up to 10 substitutes on the bench.
• Substitutions: five per match, made in no more than three stoppages; half-time does not count.
• VAR: the statute requires the video assistant referee system in all Süper Lig matches. The guide to how VAR works covers which decisions can be reviewed, and yellow and red cards are explained separately.

How Turkish clubs reach Europe

For the 2026/27 European season Türkiye had five places: two in the Champions League, two in the Europa League and one in the Conference League. The TFF published the order on 24 March 2026:

If the cup winner has already earned a Champions League place, third place moves up to the Europa League play-off round, fourth takes the Europa League second qualifying round and fifth goes to the Conference League. If the cup is won by the club finishing third or fourth, that club takes the play-off round spot, the other top-four side enters the Europa League second qualifying round and fifth place goes to the Conference League.

One caution: that table describes entry to the 2026/27 European competitions. Under Article 12 of the statute, the places earned through this season's table (for Europe in 2027/28) follow the list UEFA sets, which the TFF then communicates to the clubs, so the split may change.

In practice, 2026/27 looks like this. Galatasaray went straight into the Champions League league phase; Fenerbahçe joined them by beating Lyon in the league-path play-offs (1-1, then 2-1). Beşiktaş reached the Europa League league phase by beating Kauno Žalgiris 3-1 on aggregate in the play-off round. Trabzonspor lost to Ferencváros at the same stage and dropped into the Conference League league phase. İstanbul Başakşehir was the country's entrant in Conference League qualifying. The three tournaments are explained in the guides to the Champions League format, the Europa League format and the Conference League format.

Istanbul is also a host city: the 2026 Europa League final was played at Beşiktaş's stadium on 20 May 2026 (Aston Villa 3-0 Freiburg), and the Conference League final returns there on 2 June 2027.

The cups

The Türkiye Kupası (Turkish Cup) matters for the table because its winner takes a Europa League place. From 2026/27 it is a pure knockout again, after a season with a group stage: five qualifying rounds, a round of 16, quarter-finals, two-legged semi-finals and a final, with every round except the semi-finals settled in a single match.

The Süper Kupa (Super Cup) for 2026 is a four-team event, the last in that form according to the TFF. The semi-finals are set for 4 and 5 January 2027 and the final for 9 January: Galatasaray (champions) meet Konyaspor (cup runners-up), and Trabzonspor (cup winners) meet Fenerbahçe (league runners-up). Venues are to be announced.

Following the Süper Lig on ScoreMondo

The Süper Lig table and fixtures page shows the standings and each matchweek. On matchdays, live scores update as goals and cards happen, and every match page carries events, statistics and line-ups. If you missed a round, yesterday's results are listed by day, and the all leagues page leads to other competitions. In the apps you can add a club to your favourites and switch on goal alerts.

A short history

The TFF dates the league from 1959, when it was first played in two groups of eight; Fenerbahçe were the first champions. Only six clubs appear on the federation's roll of honour:

Beşiktaş's total includes two pre-1959 titles (1956/57 and 1957/58) recognised by a TFF arbitration ruling in 2002. Galatasaray are the reigning champions and have won the last four seasons, 2022/23 to 2025/26. Trabzonspor, in 2021/22, are the most recent champions from outside Istanbul.

Frequently asked questions

How many teams are in the Süper Lig?

Eighteen in 2026/27. Each plays 34 league matches, for 306 in total.

How many teams are relegated?

Three. The clubs in 16th, 17th and 18th go down automatically; there is no relegation play-off.

What happens if two teams finish level on points?

Their two meetings decide it: first the points from those games, then the goal difference in them. Overall goal difference is used only if the head-to-head record is perfectly even, and away goals carry no extra weight.

Is there a championship play-off?

No. The champion is the club at the top after 34 rounds. A one-off deciding match exists in the regulations only as the last resort when every tiebreaker is exhausted.

How many foreign players can a club register?

Up to 14 players who are not eligible for Türkiye's national team on a 28-man list. If all 14 slots are used, at least four of those players must have been born in 2003 or later.