VakıfBank S.K.
Turkish women's volleyball club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
VakıfBank Sports Club (Turkish: VakıfBank Spor Kulübü) is a Turkish professional volleyball club based in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded in 1986, VakıfBank SK is currently one of the best women's volleyball teams in the world, having won the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship a record four times and the European Champions League seven times to date.[1][2]
(Capacity: 2,900)
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| Full name | VakıfBank Spor Kulübü | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short name | VakıfBank | ||
| Founded | 1986 | ||
| Ground | VakıfBank Sports Palace (Capacity: 2,900) | ||
| Chairman | Osman Arslan | ||
| Manager |  Giovanni Guidetti | ||
| Captain |  Zehra Güneş | ||
| League | Sultanlar Ligi CEV Champions League | ||
| 2025–26 | Champions | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
| Championships | 4 World Championships 7 European Championships 1 CEV Cup 1 CEV Challenge Cup 1 Top Volley International 15 Turkish Championships 10 Turkish Cups 5 Turkish Super Cups | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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From 23 October 2012 to 22 January 2014, the team held a 73-game winning streak in all official domestic and international competitions, which was acknowledged as a world record by Guinness World Records.[3][4] The club won all 52 official games played during the 2012–13 season[5] and all 51 official games played in 2013.[6] VakıfBank collected all five championship trophies unbeaten in the 2012–13 season, being the only club in volleyball history to have achieved this unparalleled feat.[3]
History
The team was established following a merger between two separate teams: VakıfBank and Güneş Sigorta.[1] VakıfBank were originally an Ankara-based team but moved to Istanbul after the merger. Their name changed to VakıfBank Güneş Sigorta, VakıfBank Güneş Sigorta Türk Telekom (VGSTT), VakıfBank Türk Telekom and VakıfBank respectively.[7]
VakıfBank won three unbeaten[citation needed] CEV Champions League championships in 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2018, and are the only unbeaten champions in European Champions League history. They also placed second in 1998 and 1999 in this competition. They won the 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2021 Club World Championship, the CEV Top Teams Cup in 2004 and CEV Challenge Cup in 2008 while finishing second in the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship in 2011 and third in the European Confederation Cup of 2000.[8]
The team is coached by Italian Giovanni Guidetti since 2008. VakıfBank won 47 games of 47 in the 2012–13 season in all competitions including the European Champions League (12 games), Turkish League (29 games), and Turkish Cup (6 games). After that season, they kept most of the players and coaching staff for the 2013–14 season with little changes: Jelena Nikolic, who took a break volleyball for one year, came back to the team[citation needed] and Italian international Carolina Costagrande transfers from Chinese club Guangdong Evergrande V.C. instead of Polish spiker Malgorzata Glinka and Japanese Saori Kimura.[citation needed] Glinka left the team after three great seasons and moved to her home country for familial reasons.[citation needed]
From 23 October 2012 to 22 January 2014, VakıfBank won 73 consecutive victories in all official competitions, which was acknowledged as a world record by Guinness World Records. During this feat the team won an unprecedented 5 trophies including the Club World Championship, European Champions League, and the domestic treble consisting of the Turkish National League, Turkish Cup and Turkish Super Cup. Their streak was finally ended on 27 January 2014 in a game against rivals Fenerbahçe.[3]
Venue
Since 2016, the club has played home matches at the VakıfBank Sports Palace (Turkish: VakıfBank Spor Sarayı) in Istanbul. The venue has a capacity of 2,900 spectators.[9]
Current roster
VakifBank S.K. for season 2026/2027.
| No. | Player | Date of birth | Height (m) | Position | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Héléna Cazaute | 17 December 1997 | 1.84 | Outside hitter |  France |
| 3 | Cansu Özbay | 17 October 1996 | 1.82 | Setter | Turkey |
| 5 | Eylül Yatgın | 1 October 1999 | 1.73 | Libero | Turkey |
| 6 | Berka Buse Özden | 16 April 2004 | 1.87 | Middle Blocker | Turkey |
| 9 | Emily Maglio | 13 November 1996 | 1.91 | Middle Blocker |  Canada |
| 10 | Aylin Uysalcan | 13 July 2009 | 1.96 | Opposite | Turkey |
| 11 | Naz Aydemir Akyol | 14 August 1990 | 1.86 | Setter | Turkey |
| 15 | Deniz Uyanık | 25 June 2001 | 1.95 | Middle blocker | Turkey |
| 16 | Aylin Sarıoğlu | 21 July 1995 | 1.68 | Libero | Turkey |
| 18 | Zehra Güneş (c) | 7 July 1999 | 1.98 | Middle blocker | Turkey |
| 19 | Tijana Bošković | 8 March 1997 | 1.94 | Opposite |  Serbia |
| 23 | Marina Markova | 27 January 2001 | 1.99 | Outside hitter |  Russia |
| 24 | Katarina Dangubić | 12 September 1999 | 1.85 | Outside hitter | Serbia |
| Vanja İvanovic | 22 October 2004 | 1.85 | Outside hitter | Serbia | |
Honours
International competitions
FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship
CEV Champions League
- CEV Cup
- Winners (1): 2004
- CEV Challenge Cup
- Winners (1): 2008
- Women's Top Volley International
- Winners (1): 2008
Domestic competitions
- Turkish Women's Volleyball League
- Turkish Cup
- Winners (10): 1995, 1997, 1998, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2026
- Turkish Super Cup
- Winners (5): 2013, 2014, 2017, 2021, 2023
- Runners-up (7): 2010, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2025
Season by season
| Season | League | Pos. | Turkish Cup | Turkish Super Cup | European competitions | Worldwide competitions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | TWVL | 1st | RU | CEV Champions League | RU | FIVB Women's CWC | ||
| 2016–17 | TWVL | 3rd | RU | CEV Champions League | C | FIVB Women's CWC | 3rd | |
| 2017–18 | TWVL | 1st | C | C | CEV Champions League | C | FIVB Women's CWC | C |
| 2018–19 | TWVL | 1st | 3rd | RU | CEV Champions League | 3rd | FIVB Women's CWC | C |
| 2019–20 | TWVL | RU | CEV Champions League | FIVB Women's CWC | C | |||
| 2020–21 | TWVL | 1st | C | RU | CEV Champions League | RU | ||
| 2021–22 | TWVL | 1st | C | C | CEV Champions League | C | FIVB Women's CWC | C |
| 2022–23 | TWVL | 3rd | C | RU | CEV Champions League | C | FIVB Women's CWC | RU |
| 2023–24 | TWVL | 3rd | C | CEV Champions League | FIVB Women's CWC | RU | ||
| 2024–25 | TWVL | 1st | 3rd | CEV Champions League | 4th | |||
| 2025–26 | TWVL | 1st | C | RU | CEV Champions League | C | ||
Previous names
- 1986–1999: Güneş Sigorta
- 1999–2009: VakıfBank Güneş Sigorta
- 2009–2011: VakıfBank Güneş Sigorta Türk Telekom
- 2011–2012: VakıfBank Türk Telekom
- 2012–present: VakıfBank
Notable players
| Criteria |
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To appear in this section a player must have either:
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Domestic Players
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Non-Domestic European Players
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Non-European Players
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Players written in italic still play for the club.