Turkey's Biggest Four Football Teams Reach Record High Debt Of $1.08B

Four of Turkey's biggest football teams "reached a record high amount of debt in the season" between June 1, 2016 and Feb. 28, according to Ceyhun Kuburlu of the HURRIYET DAILY NEWS. The total debt of Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor reached 3.8B Turkish lira ($1.08B) during the season, as their total income remained at 1.1B lira ($312.8M). Debts "kept increasing despite warnings sent to football teams' administrations over the amount of money spent on football player transfers during the season." Galatasaray "topped the share of the loan burden" with 1.2B lira ($341.2M) in debt, as Fenerbahçe followed it with 1.1B lira. While this year's champion, Beşiktaş, was third with 970M lira ($275.8M), Trabzonspor's debt was 520M lira ($147.9M). Beşiktaş had the highest income with 403.7M lira ($114.8M) in the nine-month period (HURRIYET DAILY NEWS, 6/11).