Fenerbahçe, one of Turkey’s largest football clubs, has signed a historic sponsorship agreement with US-based yogurt giant Chobani in a deal worth at least €120 million over 10 years, marking the most lucrative partnership in Turkish sports history.
The deal, which comes amid Turkey’s ongoing peace efforts with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), went forward despite a wave of nationalist backlash targeting Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya’s Kurdish identity.
According to the agreement, announced at a signing ceremony held at the club’s stadium on Wednesday, Chobani is granted naming rights for Fenerbahçe’s stadium as well as jersey sponsorship for the club’s European matches. Starting from the 2025–2026 season, the partnership will see the stadium renamed as “Chobani Stadium Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Sports Complex,” while the company’s logo will appear on the front of Fenerbahçe’s European competition kits.
Kulübümüzün uluslararası vizyonunu güçlendirmesi açısından tarihi bir önem taşıyan bu iş birliği kapsamında 2025-2026 sezonundan itibaren stadımızın yeni ismi ‘Chobani Stadyumu Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Spor Kompleksi’ olurken; sponsorluk, Fenerbahçe’nin uzun soluklu ve yüksek… pic.twitter.com/90pZTm62yG
— Fenerbahçe SK (@Fenerbahce) July 30, 2025
Under the terms of the deal, Chobani will pay €10 million annually for stadium naming rights over a 5+5-year term and at least €4 million per season for a 2+3-year jersey sponsorship, depending on Fenerbahçe’s participation in UEFA competitions. The club expects to receive a minimum of €14 million per year, totalling at least €120 million over the course of the agreement.
Fenerbahçe Chairman Ali Koç said that the club was approaching financial independence. “This is one of the highest sponsorship deals in Europe,” he added.
Ulukaya also expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, saying, “We are companions on the same path with Fenerbahçe fans. … Chobani won’t just be on the signage. We’ll be with you at every step.”
According to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also met with Ulukaya in a closed-door meeting at the presidential palace on Wednesday, following the announcement of the deal.
Cumhurbaşkanımız Sayın Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stadyum isim hakkı ve Futbol A Takımımızın Avrupa maçlarında forma göğüs sponsorumuz olan Chobani'nin Kurucusu ve CEO’su Hamdi Ulukaya'yı makamında kabul etti.
Hamdi Ulukaya, ziyaretin sonunda Cumhurbaşkanımız Sayın Recep Tayyip… pic.twitter.com/nxPkvzVPnj
— Fenerbahçe SK (@Fenerbahce) July 30, 2025
Chobani CEO’s Kurdish background, resurfaced interview spark criticism
The controversy regarding Ulukaya, who is widely recognized for building Chobani into a leading global Greek yogurt brand and for his philanthropic initiatives, began on July 10, following the club’s announcement of the upcoming partnership.
Several fan accounts affiliated with Fenerbahçe took to social media to denounce the deal, citing Ulukaya’s 2015 interview with CNN in which he said he left Turkey due to political pressures and alleged displacement of Kurdish villagers.
In the interview, he said, “I left Turkey because I was Kurdish and I was very serious about Kurdish rights,” a statement that has resurfaced on Turkish platforms in recent weeks.
Online users also pointed to his $2 million donation to Kurdish refugees from the Syrian town of Kobane during a siege by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2014. Critics argued that the donation was indirectly linked to groups affiliated with the outlawed PKK.
Fans have further criticized the use of the term “Greek yogurt” to market Chobani’s strained yogurt, a style widely produced and consumed in Turkey.
The backlash quickly drew political attention, with Ümit Özdağ, leader of the far-right Victory Party (ZP), saying on X that partnering with Ulukaya was “unbecoming” of a club embraced by those who take pride in being Turkish.
“This person, who marketed Turkish yogurt in the US as Greek yogurt and slandered Turkey using PKK rhetoric, is now going to sponsor Fenerbahçe. … Before implementing this decision, hold a vote including all Fenerbahçe fans,” he added.
Türk yoğurdunu ABD’de Yunan yoğurdu diyerek pazarlayan, Türkiye’ye PKK ağzı ile iftiralar atan bu kişi Fenerbahçe’nin sponsoru olacakmış.
Fenerbahçe kökleri İstiklal Harbinde olan Atatürk’ten taviz vermeyen, “Ne mutlu Türk’üm diyene” diyerek gurur duyanların takımıdır.
Ben… pic.twitter.com/xlFK4KcNv7— Ümit Özdağ (@umitozdag) July 10, 2025
Ulukaya was born in 1972 in the eastern Turkish province of Erzincan. He moved to the US in 1994 and founded Chobani in 2005. He also serves as chair of the US-Turkey Business Council (USTBC), where he has been recognized for his efforts to create new investment opportunities for global businesses and to promote economic growth in both countries, positioning Turkey as a strategic hub for access to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.
Ulukaya is known as the ‘Yogurt King’ in the US, generating over $2 billion in annual revenue and having a 20 percent share of the US yogurt market. According to Forbes, he ranks as the 11th richest Turkish individual, with a net worth exceeding $2 billion.
The deal comes amid Turkey’s ongoing peace efforts with the outlawed PKK. The renewed process was initiated in October 2024 by far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, a key government ally who is also known to have close ties with Ali Koç. Bahçeli publicly called on PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to urge the militant group to lay down its arms. Öcalan responded in February with a message calling for an end to the insurgency.
On July 11, a group of 30 PKK fighters held a high-profile ceremony in Sulaymaniyah, where they publicly destroyed their weapons in what was billed as the first step toward ending the group’s four-decade armed conflict against the Turkish state.
Turkish government is now forming a 51-member parliamentary commission, which includes lawmakers from across the political spectrum, tasked with advancing efforts to end PKK’s armed campaign and support a transition toward legal and political reconciliation.