For years, cameras sought them out in the stands almost as often as the players. When one of them was gone, the empty seat ended up telling another story.
Mümtaz and İhsan Güngörenler were two retired mathematics teachers and lifelong Fenerbahçe fans. Match after match, they arrived together at Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, always dressed in yellow and blue, until they became two of the most beloved faces among the supporters.
Rain, cold, and the passing years made no difference. Even when Mümtaz’s health began to deteriorate, they kept showing up in the stands. Young people would come up to take photos with them, and many told them they hoped to reach their age while following the team in the same way.
When Mümtaz died, İhsan did not give up the habit they had shared for decades. İhsan returned to the stadium, this time without Mümtaz, and kept taking the same seat while the one beside it remained empty. The scene moved even those who knew nothing about Turkish football.
İhsan continued cheering on Fenerbahçe into their final years. When İhsan also died in 2020, the club decided that the couple could not simply disappear from the stands: it placed figures of them in the seats where they had watched so many matches together.
For decades, they went to watch the team they loved play. In the end, it was Fenerbahçe that decided those two places would continue to belong to them.