By David Gold
May 16 – Angry Fenerbahçe fans were involved with clashes with police following their crucial title decider with champions Galatasaray on the last day of the Turkish season.
Fenerbahçe (pictured below, in blue and yellow stripes) drew 0-0 to miss out on the championship in the end of season league playoffs, which were brought in this season for the first time.
Police reportedly used pepper spray to fend off hundreds of rioting fans (pictured top), many of whom threw chairs, at the end of the game and protect Galatasaray players at the club’s Sükrü Saracoğlu stadium in Istanbul.
Tensions between the two traditional giants of the Turkish game are usually fierce, especially so this year following last term’s much publicised match-fixing scandal.
Fenerbahçe were the highest profile team implicated in the furore, and were kicked out of the Champions League at the start of the season as a result.
They were, however, cleared by a Turkish Football Federation (TFF) investigation earlier this month.
Galatasaray, by contrast, were the best-known team not implicated and had called for tough sanctions for any team found guilty of match-fixing.
The after-match violence echoed the scenes on the pitch where several players were booked and two sent off during the stalemate.
The violence continued outside the stadium as rioters left nearby streets in chaos with debris strewn everywhere.
The Anatolia news agency reported that, far away from the scenes of violence, a 29-year-old man wearing a Galatasaray shirt was allegedly stabbed by Fenerbahçe fans.
It is not the image Istanbul, bidding to host the Olympics and Paralympics in 2020, would wish to project to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), just over a week before shortlisted candidates are confirmed.
Turkey is also bidding to host the European Championship in the same year, and so the violence will undoubtedly concern UEFA.
Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1734829791labto1734829791ofdlr1734829791owedi1734829791sni@d1734829791log.d1734829791ivad1734829791
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