By David Gold
January 31 – Turkish Football Federation (TFF) chairman Mehmet Ali Aydınlar (pictured) and two of his deputies, Göksel Gümüşdağ and Lütfi Arıboğan, have resigned from their posts as a result of the ongoing match fixing investigation in the country.
The scandal has led to the indictment of 93 officials and players in the country, and implicates the champions Fenerbahçe, as well as a number of other teams.
Fenerbahçe have already been kicked out of Europe as a result and an investigation by the TFF is ongoing, but has been beset by political interference.
The country’s politicians have already voted to reduce the maximum term that can be served by an individual found guilty of involvement in match fixing.
The TFF last week failed in its attempt to change its disciplinary code to prevent clubs found guilty of involvement in the match fixing scandal from being relegated.
That left Aydınlar and senior officials under pressure, and the TFF had met last night and decided to retain the services of its Executive Board.
No reason was given for the trio’s resignations, but a statement on the TFF website said that the election of their replacements would take place on February 27, and that Hosni Güreli would stand in for Aydınlar in the interim.
The Union of Clubs, which supported the failed TFF attempt to change the rules on match fixing penalties, had given its support for the management of the federation prior to the resignations.
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