Ban Turkish teams from Europe, says country's PM

By David Gold

April 2 – All Turkish teams, including those not involved in match rigging, could be banned from European competition rather than face relegation, after the suggestion from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was echoed by Yıldırım Demirören, the new Turkish Football Federation (TFF) chairman.

Erdoğan met UEFA President Michel Platini at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting and subsequent Congress in Istanbul last month, where the Frenchman was updated on the match fixing crisis in Turkey.

Fenerbahçe (pictured), the team Erdoğan supports, were banned from this season’s Champions League for their alleged role in the Turkish match fixing scandal currently being investigated, and replaced by Trabzonspor.

A number of high profile teams have been implicated in the scandal, which has rocked Turkish football and led to the prosecution of 93 players, coaches and officials, including Fenerbahçe chairman Aziz Yıldırım.

Although the Turkish giants protest their innocence, the scandal has caused significant controversy and led to the downfall of the former TFF chief Mehmet Ali Aydınlar in January.

He quit after the TFF was unsuccessful in its attempt to change the disciplinary code to ensure teams found guilty of match fixing would not be relegated.

Turkish lawmakers have already reduced the maximum term for those found guilty of match fixing from 12 years to three.

“I have for Platini the example of England,” Turkish media quoted Erdoğan (pictured) as saying, citing the example of England, whose teams were banned from Europe for five years following the Heysel disaster in 1985, when 39 Juventus fans were killed before the European Cup final against Liverpool.

“There, [Prime Minister] Thatcher banned English teams from the European games for five years due to hooligans.

“And then what happened?

“They then continued to play in their own league and became champions when they returned.”

Turkish newspaper Zaman reported that new TFF chairman Yıldırım Demirören told the Turkish Sports Writers’ Association: “As our Prime Minister said, what happened when Margaret Thatcher banned all teams from playing in the European games for five years?

“They then continued to play in their own league and became champions when they returned.

“They also boosted their brand value and became the world’s most popular league.

“I earlier made similar remarks to those of the Prime Minister.

“I was met with criticism then, but this is the reality.”

The idea is being pushed in part because of a major fear that with most of the country’s top clubs implicated in wrong doing and facing potential relegation, the Turkish top flight would be seriously undermined.

Unsurprisingly Galatasaray, the biggest team not implicated in the scandal, have come out against the idea of a European ban.

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