The Turkish sports world witnessed remarkable success stories in 2015. Turkish football took a historic step at the beginning of the year with the Turkish Football Federation's revolutionary decision to remove the limit on the number of foreign players a team is allowed to have. Teams will be allowed to have 14 foreign and 14 homegrown players in their squad and are allowed to field 11 foreign players. The former foreign player ruling stated that only five non-Turkish players were permitted to play at any one time and three foreign players were allowed on the bench. But under the new rule, a Turkish Super League team will be allowed to take the field with a team entirely composed of foreign players. Starting in the 2015-16 season, clubs are only allowed to have a 28-man squad. Fourteen domestic and 14 foreign players are permitted. Out of the 14 domestic players, four must have been raised in Turkey and two must have been developed at the club. Out of the 14 foreign players, 11 can be included in the 18-man match day squad list and all 11 can play at any one time. Players of Turkish origin that play for another national team are not counted as domestic players. Seven out of the 18-man match day squad have to be domestic players and this must include a Turkish goalkeeper.The most striking success of the year undoubtedly belongs to the Turkish national football team. According to FIFA's World Ranking, Turkey were chosen as the Best Mover of the Year thanks to the 329 points they collected over the last 12 months of football. Having last competed in a major tournament back in 2008, Turkey secured a place at the EURO 2016 in a campaign that saw them defeat the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Iceland during the crucial final stages. The Crescent-Stars are the biggest climbers of all during qualification, rising from 37th to 21st. Further big movers for 2015 include Hungary (20 places, 313 points) and Nicaragua (92 places, 295 points).The win over Iceland on Oct. 13 sealed Turkey's automatic qualification for UEFA EURO 2016 as the best third-placed side, bringing joy to a nation reeling from almost a decade of hurt in international football. Polat Kemboi Arıkan became the first Turkish athlete to take the podium in cross after coming in second at the 72nd Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza race in Jan. 25. In the male category, Eritrean Teklemariam Medhin won the race held in the Spanish city of Elgoibar with a time of 33 minutes and 2 seconds, while Polat Kemboi Arikan - finishing the race just two seconds after winner Medhin - won the silver medal. Turkish skier Samet Kartal has become the first Turkish athlete to win the gold medal at the FIS Cup. In March, Harun Erdenay was elected as the President of Turkish Basketball Federation. In May, Turkish team Eczacıbaşı VitrA beat Dinamo Krasnodar 3-1 to win the final game of the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship Zurich 2015.Turkish team Eczacıbaşı VitrA won the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship Zurich 2015.Turkish archer Yeşim Bostan set a record at the World Archery Championship in May. In June, Turkish football was proud to send a referee to Champions League for the first time. Cüneyt Çakır became the first Turkish referee to supervise a UEFA Champions League final. He conducted the UEFA Champions League final between Juventus and FC Barcelona in Berlin on June 6.Another unforgettable proud moment was Arda Turan's transfer to Barcelona. The Spanish giant agreed to sign a five-year contract with Turkish playmaker Turan from La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid in July. Turan will not be able to play until January even after the process of his transfer to the Catalans is completed, as Barca has been banned by FIFA from registering new signings until then, after they broke rules on the transfer of foreign players under-18.And the saddest news for the Turkish sports world was that the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended Turkish female distance runner Aslı Çakır Alptekin from international competitions for eight years over doping. The Olympic champion has agreed to give up her 1,500-meter title and serve an 8-year ban for doping. In October, the chairman of the Fenerbahçe football club, Aziz Yıldırım and six other suspects were acquitted of all charges on match-fixing, two years after Yıldırım was released from prison in the case he claimed was "a plot" against him by the Gülen Movement. His conviction for match-fixing in the 2011-12 season rocked the Turkish football world though Yıldırım adamantly denied the charges and blamed the "parallel structure," a name given to the Gülen Movement led by U.S-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, for his imprisonment. Fenerbahçe were banned from competing in European football events for two seasons after his conviction. Other sad news was the death of former world boxing champion Sinan Şamil Sam. Sam, who was known as the "Bull of the Bosporus," died of liver failure in Istanbul in Oct. 29. He was only 41.