FIFA President Sepp Blatter condemns Turkish football's match fixing debacle

By Andrew Warshaw in Istanbul

March 22 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has stepped into the match fixing scandal that has plagued Turkish football in recent months here today at the UEFA Congress.

Despite the Congress taking place here in Istanbul, Blatter did not shy away from commenting on the biggest single issue undermining the game.

FIFA’s “early warning system” which monitors suspicious betting patterns, plus the work of Interpol, were helping but more had to be done, he said.

“There is something that is new and also concerns the region where we are and that is illegal betting and this leads to match rigging,” Blatter said.

“FIFA, UEFA and all the other confederations are not responsible for all the evils besetting our world but we must see to it that we stay alert.”

Deliberately timed to cause maximum embarrassment, on the morning of the Congress Turkish newspapers carried an open letter to UEFA President Michel Platini (pictured left with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) calling on European football’s governing body to sanction the Turkish football authorities.

“Turkish football is corrupted,” said the letter, published in three languages by the so-called Turkish Fair Play Platform with numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes.

“For the last eight months, Turkish football federations has blocked the applications of disciplinary actions against match fixing.

“We are witnessing the creation of an environment where match fixing is fully tolerated.

“Remember UEFA ethics.

“Save Turkish football.”

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