Football would be nothing without its fans. These fans have helped to make the Premier League as successful as it is today and contribute to the intimidating atmospheres you find up and down the country. Each Premiership club would argue they have the best fans and although followers of Liverpool, Newcastle and more and renowned for their love of the game, they struggle to stand up against the Carsi Group.

Turkey’s Besiktas Carsi Group is one of the largest and most historic soccer fan clubs in the world. In 2008, in a Champions League match against Liverpool, Besiktas fans clocked what is the loudest support ever recorded in human history. Fans were recorded at producing an average 132 decibels for 90 minutes. To put that into perspective, that’s about as loud as a gunshot or a jet engine running at 100mph. The fans were led by Alen Markaryan, a soccer devotee who is essentially the lead-fan and hype man for the Besiktas supporters. Think of him as the conductor of the loudest orchestra in the world. On this trip, we traveled to Istanbul where we met with Alen, spent time in his kabob shop, met fellow Besiktas supporters, and watched a game while he told us about all things Besiktas.

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For an insight into the We Are Eleven series check out our interview with producer Santiago Stelley.