Fenerbahçe S.K. (women's football)

Fenerbahçe was founded in 1907 in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, by Ziya Songülen, Ayetullah Bey and Necip Okaner. The club's name comes from Fenerbahçe, a neighbourhood in Istanbul. The name literally means "lighthouse garden" in Turkish (from fener, meaning "lighthouse", and bahçe, meaning "garden"), referring to a historic lighthouse located at Fenerbahçe Cape.

Women's football in Turkey saw the establishment of the Women's League in 1994 with the participation of 12 clubs.[4][5]

On 4 April 1995, Fenerbahçe S.K. formed their women's football team under the leadershipo of board member Mehmet Ali Aydınlar. The team, managed by Saffet Aktarı and coached by Ziya Özgür, participated at the 1994-95 Women's League. After playing 12 matches, they finished the season with eight wins, two draws and two losses.

To strengthen the team, more players were transferred, such as one from Dinarsuspor, three from Acarlar Spor, one from Yenidünya Spor and two expatriates from Romania. The team finished the 95-96 season playing six matches with five wins and one loss. They scored in total 46 goals, and saw four goals in their net.[1] Some of the more significant matches were when the team played against Ankara Dedeoğlu, winning 20-0,[6] and won against Mersin Camspor with 4-0.[7] The squad consisted of Pervin Sanlı, Zerrin Koldamca, Nevra Selışık, Aycan Çağlar, Pınar Çimdik, Yeter Bayrak, Ana Rosca (ROM), Rebeka Fırıncıyan, Ayşe Oktay, Canan Oğuz, Leyla Ersan, Emine Akyüz, Sibel Cımbız, Seda Tamkan, Sevgi Özder, Füsun Öcal, Adriana Grigore (ROM), Nurdan Bekdemir.[1] Later, the women's branch was shut down for economic reasons.

The re-establishment of the women's football branch of Fenerbahçe was announced on 26 August 2021, with the note:

As Fenerbahçe Sports Club, we have accepted it as one of our duties to add value to the society we belong to. Now, as Fenerbahçe, we are taking another important step with this awareness and approach; We are announcing that we will take part in women's football. As Fenerbahce Sports Club, which joined forces with HeForShe to ensure equality between men and women and increase the participation of women and girls in all areas of society, we believe that our Women's Football Team will make our Club proud with championships and will set a good example for future generations.

— Fenerbahçe, [2]

With a joint statement they made on 2 December 2021, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, the two archrivals, announced that they will hold two friendly matches between women's football teams in order to raise social awareness about violence against women.[8] Any match between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray is one of the biggest events in the country, called the Intercontinental Derby.

The first match was held on 7 December 2021 at Galatasaray's Nef Stadium and was broadcast live all over Turkey. Fenerbahçe left the match with a convincing 7–0 win.[9] After the match, Fenerbahçe vice president Erol Bilecik, who congratulated the Fenerbahçe players in the dressing room, cited the historical 6–0 win of the men's team against Galatasaray on 6 November 2002. His speech sparked controversy, as Galatasaray fans started insulting Bilecik and Fenerbahçe female players and soon announcements were made from both clubs calling for the events to calm down.[9][10][11] The second match was cancelled after Galatasaray backed down.

After the re-establishment, Fenerbahçe took part in Group A of the 2021-22 Women's Super League in its first season. The team completed its group as the leader and participated in the play-offs with the first 4 teams in the group and eliminated Hakkarigücü SK in the play-off quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, the team was eliminated by Fatih Karagümrük.

As a result of the name sponsorship agreement made with Petrol Ofisi before the 2022-2023 season, the name of the team was changed to Fenerbahçe Petrol Ofisi Women's Football Team.