The Çukurova Football League (Turkish: Çukurova Futbol Ligi), also known as the Adana Football League (Turkish: Adana Futbol Ligi), was founded as a regional football league for Adana and Mersin based clubs in 1924. The name of the league comes from Çukurova region. In some years clubs from Maraş and Malatya also participated in the league.[1] In Adana, the football game was played during the 1910s. Adana Türk Gücü were the first club in Adana founded in 1913. The league was played within a year until 1936.
In the period from 1924 to 1935, the winners of the Çukurova League qualified for the former Turkish Football Championship. Later from 1940 to 1951, they qualified for the qualifying stages of the national championship. In 1955 professionalism was introduced in the league, hence the name officially became Adana Profesyonel Ligi (Adana Professional League). After the introduction of the professional nationwide league in 1959, known as Süper Lig today, the league lost its first level status. Adana Demirspor are the most successful club in the history of the league, having won a record 16 championship titles.
^Yüce, Mehmet (2015). İdmancı Ruhlar: Futbol Tarihimizin Klasik Devreleri: 1923–1952. Türkiye Futbol Tarihi (in Turkish). Vol. 2. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları. p. 380. ISBN9789750516955.
Sources
Arıpınar, Erdoğan; et al. (June 1992). Türk Futbol Tarihi 1904–1991 (in Turkish). Vol. 1. Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu Yayınları. pp. 76–77.
