By David Gold
May 31 – Turkish outfits Beşiktaş and Bursaspor have been suspended from European competitions for a year by UEFA due to financial difficulties.
A third team, Gaziantepspor, were also handed a one-year ban from European competition.
UEFA has scrutinised the 2011 accounts and has ruled they were misled over the clubs’ actual financial state.
However, these rules are different from the new Financial Fair Play (FFP) rulings which came into effect from the start of this season, which limits the amount of money a club can lose in a single season.
It is a further blow to Turkish football following the match-fixing scandal which was uncovered following the end of last season.
A number of teams, players and officials were investigated and indicted as a result.
On the eve of the draw for this season’s Champions League group stage, Fenerbahçe were kicked out of the competition as a result of being implicated in the scandal.
UEFA confirmed that the decisions regarding Beşiktaş (fans pictured above) and Bursaspor were subject to an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Beşiktaş has pledged to appeal to CAS, with board member and lawyer Levent Erdoğan telling Turkish news agency Dogan they would fight the ruling.
“We will defend the club’s rights until the end, and will appeal to CAS as the first step,” he said.
“I think it’s a dramatic decision, and it will hit us pretty badly, but there’s nothing we can do.”
Beşiktaş have been fined €100,000 (£80,000/$124,000), and shares in the club have fallen by over nine per cent.
They will also be banned for a further year if they breach rulings regarding finances again in the next five years, as well as facing a similar fine.
They finished fourth in the Turkish league and subsequent Championship play off, meaning they had qualified for the Europa League.
Bursaspor had qualified for the pre-qualifying round of the Europa League, and in addition to the suspension were fined €50,000 (£40,000/$62,000).
İbrahim Yazıcı (pictured above), the chairman of Bursaspor, told the Anatolia News Agency: “It’s impossible for us to receive such a suspension, it would be a murder of justice.”
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