by Salvatore Riggio
Attacked by the Trabzonspor ultras, Bonucci and Dzeko’s Fenerbahce wanted to withdraw from the Turkish championship and move abroad. Decision postponed. But in the Super Cup we don’t play without a foreign referee
It risked upsetting European football, but in the end the great schism was avoided. At least for now. On Tuesday 2 April, Fenerbahce had called an extraordinary general meeting of members at the Skr Saracoglu stadium, broadcast live on the YouTube channel. It was the busiest ever. In fact, over 25 thousand showed up and on the agenda was the possibility of voting on a possible exit of the Istanbul club from the Turkish Super Lig and transfer to another championship. An escape from violence – which does not directly concern only this team – aimed at any other championship which, if it had really happened, would have caused a tsunami in European football.
The meeting was called after what happened on Sunday 17 March. At the end of the match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce, many fans of the home team took to the pitch and started a real manhunt against the visiting players, who had won by a narrow margin (2-3 with a goal by Batshuayi in the finale). But not only. During the meeting a video was shown showing all the wrongs suffered by the club in recent years. Just today, April 3, the Ankara Football Federation (Tff) announced that Trabzonspor will have to play their next six home matches, at Papara Park, behind closed doors. The company was also fined 3 million Turkish lira (87,000 euros).
In any case, Fenerbahce made three further decisions. First of all, the club will not play the 2023 Turkish Super Cup (postponed to December and, for now, scheduled for April 7) against Galatasaray, or field the Under 19 team if a foreign referee is not appointed. Secondly, it will not participate in the Turkish Cup for two seasons starting next season (or send the Under 19s into the field). Finally, ask Fifa and UEFA to intervene to put an end to the tense climate prevailing in Turkish football.
The danger of desertion, however, has been averted at least for now: Our players have said that they want to fight until the end to become champions, Fenerbahce with one game less second 5 points behind leaders Galatasaray and will play against Adanaspor tonight. The decision to withdraw from the League has been shelved until the next general assembly, in three months. Someone said that it would be better to field the young players in the league and the first team in the Conference League (where the Giallobl were drawn against the Greeks Olympiakos in the quarter-finals, and possibly in the semi-final against the winners of Aston Villa-Lille, ed.). We don’t have to be extras in this theater, I’m the first to say it. But we must also think carefully about the balance between not being an extra and leaving the field empty, were the words of president Ali Koc. But in three months Fenerbahce could really upset European football, with the second vote.
And again: it has been said that we should choose the formula that transmits the strongest message and causes us the least damage, so as not to be wrong where we are right. Experience once again the injustices we have suffered by establishing good relationships so as not to be held responsible in any clashes that may occur in the future. Give messages through communication campaigns. Once we get out of here, that’s when our work really begins. The real fight starts today.
Then he harshly attacked the Federation and the Turkish Football League, guilty of disadvantaging the team in which players like Bonucci, Krunic and Dzeko play.
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April 3, 2024 (modified April 3, 2024 | 2:32 pm)
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