Home 72nd AXA Sigorta Milliyet Athlete of the Year Awards Ceremony Held in Istanbul

72nd AXA Sigorta Milliyet Athlete of the Year Awards Ceremony Held in Istanbul

Elif DemirApril 3, 20264 Mins read0

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72nd AXA Sigorta Milliyet Athlete of the Year Awards Ceremony Held in Istanbul

Istanbul, April 3 – The 72nd AXA Sigorta Milliyet Athlete of the Year Awards Ceremony, a long-standing and highly prestigious event in Turkish sports, was successfully held today. The event celebrated the most outstanding athletes and teams across seven distinct categories.

The ceremony, hosted at the Volkswagen Arena, saw the participation of numerous prominent figures from the sports, arts, and business communities. Notable attendees included Youth and Sports Minister Osman Aşkın Bak, Demirören Holding Chairman Yıldırım Demirören, Murat Oktay and Cemal Demirören from the Demirören family, Turkish Football Federation President İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu, Turkish Basketball Federation President Hidayet Türkoğlu, Turkish Volleyball Federation President Mehmet Akif Üstündağ, Demirören Media Commercial Group President Emrah Kurtoğlu, Demirören Media Human Resources Group President Elif Karacaoğlu, Demirören Media Marketing and Communications Group President Ramazan Cin, and Demirören News Agency General Manager Cemal Coşkun.

Awards Presented in Seven Categories

Awards were distributed in seven categories: Athlete of the Year, Coach of the Year, Female Athlete of the Year, Football Player of the Year, Team of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, and Paralympic/Disabled Athlete-Team of the Year.

In his speech, Yıldırım Demirören, Chairman of Demirören Holding, expressed his pride in being part of the 72nd AXA Sigorta Milliyet Athlete of the Year Awards Ceremony. He emphasized the importance of recognizing young talent, stating, “We are proud to be with you at the 72nd AXA Sigorta Milliyet Athlete of the Year Awards Ceremony. Normally, I would not have come out. I wanted the grandchildren of my late father, Murat Oktay and Cemal Demirören, to come out. We have always come out here and given these awards to those who deserve them. Now is the era of the youth, so we specifically requested them to come out.”

Youth and Sports Minister Osman Aşkın Bak Commends Turkish Sports Achievements

Youth and Sports Minister Osman Aşkın Bak highlighted the enduring tradition of the Milliyet Athlete of the Year Awards, now in its 72nd year. He reflected on his long-standing involvement with the event and the significant progress of Turkish sports.

“We are together at the 72nd AXA Sigorta Milliyet Athlete of the Year Awards Ceremony. This must be my 10th, maybe 15th time. We have been together as a federation president, during my previous term as minister, and in other processes. When I was the President of the Wrestling Federation, we organized many events among ourselves to vote for our wrestlers when they won Olympic championships. We started these endeavors with wrestling, but even before that, we all collected Milliyet coupons and put them in boxes, and our love for sports was within us then. It’s a beautiful tradition, and it’s being held for the 72nd time. We thank the Demirören family and Milliyet. We thank AXA Sigorta for the sponsorship. 2025 was a year where Turkish sports achieved significant successes, and the investments we made in sports and sports facilities gradually came to fruition. We are always proud to see the achievements of our athletes, thanks to the support given to Turkish sports by our President, who has made our country one of the biggest investors in sports facilities in the world. As a nation, we rejoice. We are a nation with high national sentiments. Again, we all experienced the joy of our National Football Team qualifying for the World Cup after 24 years. We were there, in Kosovo, and experienced a beautiful feeling with our national team. We were also with our National Basketball Team during their championship matches. We thank everyone who contributed to this. Let me continue with volleyball. We were at the final of our Women’s Volleyball Team. Although they scored more points, we lost in the final, but in our hearts, they are champions. In individual branches, a world championship in weightlifting, especially Kuzey Tunçelli’s European and world championship in swimming. All of these demonstrate the investments made in sports and the successes achieved in various branches. It is a proud process again. Fenerbahçe’s success in basketball and Galatasaray’s successes in the Champions League all make us proud. We are proud of Turkish sports. Rewarding these is very valuable. We thank everyone who contributed. We sincerely believe that Turkish sports will do better and achieve more successful processes. We wish our National Football Team success in America. We believe that we will go all the way to the cup. Because we sincerely believe in this. There is the support and prayers of 86 million people. This is very important. We thank the federation president and the technical team. Our National Basketball Team is also playing window matches for the 2027 World Championship. We wish them success. They are also doing good work. The European Championship in volleyball will be held here. Many organizations… The 2027 European Games will be held here. Turkish sports, with its facilities, athletes, coaches, and energy, will show the power of Turkey all over the world,” said Bak.