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turkish turkey world istanbul turks galatasaray european europe gala ahmet uefa trabzonspor sivasspor allegations euro fill fixing milli banned detained hiddink arrest arts classical competitions furthermore massive phone scandal submitted thin announcing aydinli columnist costs departure format provinces seriously acar awarded aziz barely careers completely conversations criticized disappointing elected escape
Turkish soccer is going through troubled times a week before the start of the Superlig.
Turkish fans are used to following the media to find out more about which soccer stars are being bought and sold by the big four (that is; Besiktas, Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor) but this summer was completely different. Fenerbahce and Besiktas were subject to match-fixing allegations.
The president of Fenerbahce , Aziz Yildirim was among three club presidents to be detained during a raid on 12 Turkish provinces. Fenerbahce vice-president Sekip Mosturoglu and the club's new signings Sezer Ozturk and Emmanuel Emenike were also taken into custody, along with more than 50 others including former player and current staff member Cemil Turan.Also detained in the operation were Besiktas's manager/coach Tayfur Havutcu, Sivasspor's president Mecnun Odyakmaz, Eskisehirspor player/coach Umit Karan, Giresunspor president Omer Ulku and former president Olgun Peker, Diyarbakirspor's former president Abdurrahman Yakut and Mersin Idmanyurdu vice-president Besir Acar.
Fenerbahce won the Turkish title last season on goal difference from Trabzonspor after both teams finished on 82 points. Their win over Sivasspor in the final week is among the matches being investigated, as well as the game against Eskisehirspor. According to the transcripts of phone conversations between a player manager and Besiktas head coach Tayfur Havutcu, Besiktas coach asked some Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediye players not to pull their weights in the Turkish Cup final game against Besiktas.
The Turkish Federation first played the three monkeys in the matter. Federation's newly elected president Aydinli declared that everything was under control and in order and that the leagues would continue as they are despite allegations and the ongoing investigation. Furthermore Turkish Federation submitted Fenerbahce as the Turkish representative for next years UEFA Champions League. However UEFA didn't choose to stay silent. Sending an envoy to Istanbul, UEFA made it clear that had Turkish Federation not take this seriously and if the allegations of match fixing came out to tbe true, Turkey would be banned 5 years from UEFA competitions. This statement persuaded the Turkish federation to pull Fenerbahce back from the competition and Trabzonspor's name was submitted for UEFA Champions League
Dilemma starts here. The federation sending Trabzonspor to UEFA Champions league meant Trabzonsport should also be awarded last years' title. Despite making solid statements, Aydinli and the Turkish Federation decided to distract the Turkish soccer world by announcing that next years competition would be in play-off format as opposed to the classical league format Turkish fans have been used to for 50 years. The decision was harshly criticized by Ahmet Cakir, Huseyin Gulerce, Engin Ardinc and many other prominent Turkish columnists. It must be noted that Aydinli was the president of Fenerbahce Volleyball Club before his position as the head of Turkish Soccer Federation. It is alleged that Aydinli decided to bring the play-off format to repair the funds lost by Lig TV, the cable channel Turks pay to watch Superlig. After the match-fixing scandal with the possibility of Fenerbahce's relegation, it became clear that Lig TV wouldn't be able to sell enough TV packages to cover their costs and play-off system would mean more games to show on TV.
After the match-fixing scandal, a massive exodus began at Fenerbahce where major foreign stars such as Mamadou Diang, Emmanuel Emmenike, Diego Lugano and Andre Santos escaped the club to protect their careers. The club still reject the allegations and maintain their innocence despite the departure of star players. Fenerbahce's deadly rivals Besiktas however decided to hand over their Turkish Cup back to the Federation until they were proven not guilty.
National team suffersThe Turkish national team surely got affected by the scandal-filled summer. National coach Guus Hiddink declared that he would resign if the match-fixing allegations turned out to be true. The national team barely beat league minnows Kazakstan thanks to a last minute goal by Arda Turan. Known as "Milli Takim", the red-whites will have to win all their remaining games in order to qualify for European Championship.
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