Vefa Stadı (also named Karagümrük Stadı/Arena) is a football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 stadium, home ground of Turkish Regional Amateur League teams Fatih Karagümrük

Fatih Karagümrük

Fatih Karagümrük is a football club in Turkey. The side currently plays in the TFF Third League, having been relegated in the 2007–2008 season....

, located in Karagümrük

Karagumruk

Karagümrük is a neighborhood in Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. The neighborhood also has a famous soccer team in Turkish Superleague Karagümrük Spor Kulübü. In 1958, the team qualified for the first division. However their professional performance did not last long and eventually they got...

, Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

.

Vefa Stadı is occasionally in use for the promotional play-off enocunters in lower tier leagues, other sports including American Football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 and for public holiday ceremonies

Public holidays in Turkey

The official holidays in Turkey are established by the Act 2429 of March 19, 1981 that replaced the Act 2739 of May 27, 1935. These holidays can be grouped in national religious holidays.Public HolidaysDateEnglish NameLocal NameRemarksJanuary 1...

.

History

Karagümrük Stadium was initially used as a football home ground in 1926, in the middle of a dip garden waves from Byzantium Era

Byzantium

Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...

, called Çukurbostan in Çukurbostan district of Fatih. Stadium is constructed in Aetius Cistern, on Fevzi Paşa Caddesi (Fevzi Paşa Avenue), heading to Edirnekapı (Adrionople) district of Fatih. Due to the Byzantium references, the cistern is built in A.D. 420, by praetorian prefect Aetius

Aetius (praetorian prefect)

Aetius was a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire, praefectus urbi of Constantinople and praetorian prefect of the East.- Life :Aetius was praefectus urbi of Constantinople...

 during the rule of Theodosius II

Theodosius II

Theodosius II , commonly surnamed Theodosius the Younger, or Theodosius the Calligrapher, was Byzantine Emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople...

 (reigned between 408 – 450). The cistern is 244x84 m. and 15 m. deeper than surface, surrounded by 15 m. high walls. Due to the archeological importance of the cistern, the walls had been protected at the initial stadium project.

The conversion had been started in 1926. In 1945, when the stadium construction was finalized, the tenant rights were taken over by Hasan Âli Yücel

Hasan Âli Yücel

Hasan Âli Yücel was the former minister of education of Turkey, who served from December 1938 to August 1946. He is well known for his reforms in the education system, and the foundation of Village Institutes...

, an alumnus of Vefa Lisesi and former Minister of National Education

Ministry of National Education (Turkey)

The Ministry of National Education is a government ministry of the Republic of Turkey, responsible for the supervision of public and private educational system, agreements and authorizations under a national curriculum....

, and given to by Vefa SK

Vefa SK

Vefa SK is a football club in Vefa, neighborhood of the Fatih district of İstanbul.-History:The club was founded in 1908 when Turkish football was legalized...

,an other football club of the district; as Stadium also was renamed Vefa Stadı.

Renovation

The renovation of stadium has begun to be conducted in 2007, with 30.000.000 TRY grand cost, consisting 11.722 seated 3 all-covered stands (including 7.648 behind the goal, 1.024 for away side and 24 seats for visitors), one 66m2 VIP lodge, 6 normal lodges, and a 682 seats capacity VIP stand. The project also indludes basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

, and martial arts

Martial arts

Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

 facilities.

External links

• Stadium Profile at TFF
  Turkish Football Federation
  The Turkish Football Federation , also called the Turkish Football Association, is the governing body of football in Turkey. It was formed on 23 April 1923. It organizes the Turkish national teams and the Turkish football league. By 2004, there were 4,956 football clubs organized in Turkey, and a...