By David Gold
January 27 – The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has failed in its attempts to amend Article 58 of its disciplinary code, which would relegate any teams found guilty of match fixing, after the clubs rejected the proposed change.
Those teams guilty of match fixing would have been given points deductions, fines and European bans under the new proposal.
Mehmet Ali Aydınlar (pictured), chairman of the TFF, had said before the vote on the amendment: “We have made all efforts so that Turkish football is not harmed or loses prestige abroad.”
Aydınlar also said that Turkish football was going through the biggest crisis in its history.
Aziz Yıldırım, the imprisoned chairman of champions Fenerbahçe, who is facing indictment, described the proposal as “a black stain on the history of Turkish football”.
Galatasaray, the highest profile team not implicated, also attacked the motion, with their chairman Ünal Aysal saying that they could not change the rules “when the game is being played”.
At the meeting in Ankara, the vast majority of the delegates present voted against the amendment.
Already Turkey’s Parliament has voted to reduce the maximum jail term for those found guilty in court of match fixing from 12 years to three.
The TFF, as well as coming under fire from clubs for the proposal, has also been criticised by UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino this week.
Infantino was critical of the pace of the TFF investigation into match fixing and implied that UEFA could ban some of the country’s clubs from its competitions next year.
“Disciplinary proceedings on the sporting side need to go faster,” Infantino said. ”It will be an important question in terms of next season’s UEFA competitions.”
As well as the TFF investigation, 93 officials and players are awaiting indictment by Turkish courts, with the first trial taking place on February 14.
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