Galatasaray vs Kocaelispor - prediction, team news, lineups

By Joshua Ojele | 11 Sep 2026 20:30, Last updated: 11 Sep 2026 20:31

Still licking their wounds from their Champions League opening-day defeat against Sporting Lisbon, Galatasaray return to action in the Turkish Super Lig when they play host to Kocaelispor on Sunday.

It has been a brilliant start to the campaign for Kocaelispor, who find themselves just one point behind the hosts at the top of the league table, and having avoided defeat in both home and away meetings between the two teams last season, they will be backing themselves to come away with something at the Rams Park.

Galatasaray saw their winless run in the UEFA Champions League stretched to five matches on Wednesday when they fell to a 3-1 defeat against Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon in their 2026-27 curtain-raiser at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

Despite seeing over 60% of the ball possession and being in the ascendancy for most of the game, the Aslanlar saw their lead slip away in Lisbon, with Geny Catamo, Luis Javier Suarez and Rodrigo Zalazar all hitting the target to cancel out Goncalo Inacio’s early own goal and hand Sporting all three points.

While their struggles on the continental scene persist, Galatasaray return to the Super Lig, where they have flown out of the blocks this season, claiming a 3-2 victory over Istanbul Basaksehir last Friday to make it three league victories on the bounce.

Having kicked off the new league campaign with a somewhat disappointing 2-2 stalemate against newly-promoted Corum on August 14, Okan Buruk’s men have now picked up consecutive victories over Erzurumspor, Goztepe and Basaksehir to move one point clear at the top of the Super Lig standings.

While Galatasaray will look to quickly bounce back in the league, standing in their way is the challenge of an opposing side they have failed to get the better of in their most recent three attempts, including one loss and one defeat in their two league meetings last season.

Over in Izmit, Kocaelispor maintained their strong early-season form last Sunday as they held their own to see out a 1-0 victory over a wasteful Samsunspor side at the Yildiz Entegre Kocaeli Stadium.

Making his second appearance since joining from Swiss outfit Servette in the summer window, Florian Aye grabbed the headlines, with the French striker netting in the 26th minute to announce himself in front of the home supporters.

Since stumbling into the new season with a 2-0 defeat against Istanbul Basaksehir in August’s season opener, Kocaelispor have bounced back with three consecutive victories, seeing off Amed, Konyaspor and Samsunspor, while scoring five goals and keeping two clean sheets.

Despite failing to win their final nine Super Lig games last season, it was a memorable campaign for Selcuk Inan’s men, who finished 10th in the league standings on their return to the top flight since going down in 2009.

While Kocaelispor will be aiming to maintain their strong early-season form and turn it into a platform for continued domestic success, next up is the stern challenge of a Galatasaray side, who are unbeaten at home in the Super Lig in over two years, stretching back to a 1-0 loss against Fenerbahce in May 2024.

He is joined on the club’s injury table by experienced midfielder Mario Lemina, who was forced off midway through the game against Istanbul Basaksehir on August 4 due to a muscle problem.

William Singo is also set to sit out his third consecutive game after sustaining a thigh injury against Goztepe back in August, while veteran goalkeeper Gunay Guvenc has been ruled out through a muscle problem.

As for Kocaelispor, Aleksandar Jovanovic has been sidelined since January due to a severe knee injury and the Serbian goalkeeper is out of contention for the trip to Rams Park this weekend.

Bruno Petkovic is also another long-term absentee for the visitors, with the 31-year-old striker sidelined since picking up a hamstring injury against Galatasaray back in April.

Cakir; Sallai, Sanchez, Bardakci, Jakobs; Torreira, Sara; Sane, Batrakov, Akgun; Yilmaz

Oztasdelen; Dijksteel, Zoukrou, Maglica, Haidara; Show; Agyei, Yildiz, Kutlu, Sousa; Aye

Kocaelispor can take pride in what has been a solid start to the new campaign, but they face their toughest challenge yet in a star-studded Galatasaray side, who will be looking to make an immediate reaction following their UCL defeat.

Galatasaray will have to cope without star striker Osimhen this weekend, but they still boast the quality and firepower needed to get the job done, and given their dominance at Rams Park, we are backing them to come away with all three points this weekend.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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