By David Gold
July 22 – Fenerbahçe chairman Aziz Yıldırım has denied to a court any involvement in the match fixing scandal engulfing Turkish football and has also told the club’s fans that he would be stepping down from his post after the conclusion of the issue.
The Turkish Football Federation this week suspended the Super Cup final between Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş, who are also implicated in the scandal.
The new league season, set to start in a fortnight, will go ahead as planned, the Association confirmed to insideworldfootball, though a final decision is now likely to be made on July 29.
Turkey is the home of Europe’s most serious match fixing scandal, with other investigations taking place across the world, including in South Korea, Malaysia, Greece and Italy.
The scandal has seen the arrest of officials at last season’s champions Fenerbahçe, who are alleged to have fixed the result of their last day of the season clash with Sivasspor last season
Fener won the game 4-3, allowing them to pip Trabzonspor to the league title on goal difference, who themselves are also implicated in the scandal.
Among other officials held include a former head of the football federation.
Yet last week Turkey said that last season’s results would stand and teams qualifying for Europe would be allowed to participate in the Champions and Europa Leagues, UEFA confirmed.
However, if Fenerbahçe are found guilty, they may lose their title from last season, and possibly face relegation.
It poses an intriguing dilemma for both the Turkish Football Federation, whose President Mehmet Ali Aydinlar used to work for Fenerbahçe.
Neither UEFA or FIFA can comment directly on the match fixing investigation as it is ongoing, but it would seem unlikely that Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş or Trabzonspor could continue to play in Europe if found guilty.
It is possible that world football’s governing body could even sanction the Turkish Football Federation if they deem any punishments handed out to be insufficient.
FIFA has a range of sanctions at its disposal, including the suspension of associations, though this would seem unlikely at this stage.
The scandal has severely impacted on Fenerbahçe’s finances, with the club’s value on the stock market plummeting by 35 per cent since it erupted, with Istanbul rivals Galatasaray and Beşiktaş also seeing their shares taking a hit.
And Fenerbahçe’s friendly against Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk was postponed earlier this week after fans ran onto the pitch and attacked media personnel.
FIFA this week said that it had found evidence of match fixing in Turkey.
Chris Eaton, FIFA’s head of security, told Turkish TV station A Haber that proof of match fixing linked with other cases around the world had been discovered.
Eaton said: “I would like to share those connections with Turkish authorities.
“I want to work with the Turkish Football Federation and the Turkish Police on the case after I make the evidence clear.”
Meanwhile, UEFA President Michel Platini will be in Greece next week to discuss the match fixing investigation being carried out by the government with Prime Minister George Papandreou.
Sixty eight people are alleged to have been involved in various fraud, money laundering, illegal gambling and other match fixing related charges, which prompted judicial authorities in Greece to launch their investigation, with 41 games under suspicion.
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