Capturing the Galatasaray stands in full voice is one of those experiences that stays with you. The sheer intensity of the crowd — the flags, the flares, the wall of noise — is unlike anything else in European football, and this image was made during one of the club’s most charged Champions League nights at Rams Park, with Liverpool as the visitors.
The Athletic chose this photograph to accompany their feature revisiting one of football’s most iconic moments: Graeme Souness planting a Galatasaray flag in the centre circle of Fenerbahçe’s pitch after the 1996 Turkish Cup final. Thirty years on, that act of defiance still defines how the two cities of Istanbul see each other through football. A photograph of the Galatasaray faithful — passionate, unified, undeniable — speaks directly to the culture that made that moment possible and that keeps the Eternal Rivalry burning today.
This placement in The Athletic is part of a growing body of editorial work I produce covering top-level football from Istanbul. Based in the city and accredited for UEFA competitions, I photograph matches across the Turkish Süper Lig, UEFA Champions League, and UEFA Europa League, working with international media outlets including ESPN, CNN, The Mirror, and Ouest-France.
Link to the publication : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7101425/2026/03/10/graeme-souness-galatasaray-flag-fenerbahce/
