Fenerbahçe back in Champion's League

AA Photo

Turkish football team Fenerbahçe will be allowed to compete in this year’s Champions League, UEFA announced today.

Fener fans were overjoyed by UEFA's call to allow the team to compete.

The club had been going through a rough patch over the past year as a result of a match-fixing scandal that had already seen it banned from last year’s Champions League.

Over the weekend, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor, teams also involved in legal troubles over the nationwide match-fixing cases, were cleared to play in European competitions.

Beşiktaş, Bursaspor and Gaziantepspor, was all excluded from playing in European competitions for financial misdemeanors, although the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) lifted Bursa’s ban earlier today. (Hurriyet Daily News)

Beşiktaş appeals UEFA ban

Fikret Orman, chairman of financially troubled Beşiktaş, speaks at a meeting. AA photo

Beşiktaş filed an official appeal at the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) against a suspension by European football’s governing body, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), to play in European competitions next season, the Istanbul club announced yesterday.

Last month, Beşiktaş, along with Bursaspor and Gaziantepspor, was excluded from playing in European competitions for financial misdemeanors.

Club lawyer Emin Özkurt has said “the delays in payments to players” were the biggest reason for the ban.

Over the weekend, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor were cleared to play in European competitions, but the UEFA has yet to make an announcement on Beşiktaş and Bursaspor, as well as Fenerbahçe, who was embroiled in a match-fixing scandal.

Turkish Football Federation vice chairman Ufuk Özerten said he “believed” Super League runner-up Fenerbahçe would play in the Champions League qualifiers, but that the UEFA was taking more time to decide on its case because the club’s files “were numerous.”

Last season, Fenerbgahçe had been barred from playing in the Champions League following a TFF decision upon an incentive by the UEFA. (ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News)

Russia fined for fan violence at Euro 2012 match

AFP Photo

UEFA has fined the Russian football association $150,000 after its fans attacked stadium stewards at a European Championship match.

UEFA says Russia could be deducted six points in its Euro 2016 qualifying group for a repeat offense. The probationary period expires at the end of Euro 2016 qualifying.

Russian fans were filmed fighting with stadium staff in Wroclaw after a 4-1 win over the Czech Republic last Friday. Police said violence flared when stewards tried to detain a man they believed threw a firecracker.

Russia's fine was also imposed for the thrown firework and because fans displayed nationalist flags.

UEFA rules hold football associations responsible for their fans' behavior inside stadiums.
(WARSAW, Poland - The Associated Press)

UEFA-hit Beşiktaş receives Euroleague consolation

Beşiktaş will compete in the Euroleague for the first time in its history. AFP photo

A day after suffering the exclusion from European football competitions, Beşiktaş was consoled when its basketball team was called to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.

The Turkish Airlines Euroleague added Beşiktaş Milangaz to its list of next season’s participants, meaning the team will play in the top-level continental basketball competition for the first time in its history.

Beşiktaş Milangaz will join Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahçe Ülker at the competition. Last year, Galatasaray Medical Park joined Efes and Fenerbahçe in the competition, but missed out on a chance for automatic qualification after being knocked out in the Beko Turkish Basketball League (TBL) semifinals.

Galatasaray still holds a chance of playing in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague qualifiers through a wild-card, NTV Spor reported.

Initial statements suggested that Beşiktaş Milangaz would only be accepted to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague if it won the TBL title. Beşiktaş Milangaz is currently playing against Anadolu Efes in the best-of-seven TBL final series.

“We won’t lose the final. But still of course, we are happy,” coach Ergin Ataman said to NTV Spor.

Best season
Beşiktaş is having its best season ever, having clinched the Eurochallenge, the third-tier European cup, and the Turkish Cup.

“I think we deserve to be in the Euroleague with our overall performance this season and the atmosphere at the Sinan Erdem Dome,” Ataman said. “This is important news for me, but it is a bigger gain for the Euroleague.”

Beşiktaş’s Euroleague qualification came a day after the club’s football team was suspended from playing in European competitions for one year. On May 30, UEFA announced it had banned Beşiktaş and two other Turkish clubs, Bursaspor and Gaziantepspor, due to financial misdemeanors.

Chairman Fikret Orman, who was only elected a few months ago, showed the way for getting out of the financial crisis.

“It brought me an agony to see that Beşiktaş was involved in such affairs,” Orman said in a press conference late May 30. “I promise those affairs will not happen again – at least during my term.”

“The club will act within its budget,” Orman said, in reference to the uncontrolled budget during previous chairman Yıldırım Demirören’s helm. “Instead of transfers that look nice to fans, we will act within our budget. We have to do it.” (Istanbul-Hürriyet Daily News)

Three Turkish teams banned from Europe contest

Beşiktaş winger Ricardo Quaresma looks dejected during a Spor Toto Super League game. Beşiktaş is likely to part ways with some of its stars, such as Quaresma, in order to offload its heavy wage bill in the wake of the European suspension. AA photo

Turkish football has been rocked again following last season’s rigging scandal, with three teams receiving one-year European bans for financial misdemeanors

Three Turkish football clubs were banned from European competitions over financial irregularities yesterday.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has suspended Beşiktaş, Bursaspor and Gaziantepspor from European competitions for one year.

Turkish media reported Eskişehirspor would replace Beşiktaş in the European competition, but European football’s governing body has yet to announce whether other Turkish teams would replace Bursaspor in this year’s Europa League competition or not. Beşiktaş, which was scheduled to play in this year’s Europa League qualifiers after finishing fourth in the Turkish league, was hit with a ban for failing to pay its players regularly, the club lawyer said.

“The biggest reason for the ban was stated as the delays in payments to players,” lawyer Emin Özkurt told CNN Türk.

Beşiktaş was banned for one year and fined 200,000 euros due to financial problems at the Istanbul club.

Beşiktaş chairman Fikret Orman and the club’s lawyers attended a meeting with UEFA’s disciplinary committee for a second time yesterday after the club was earlier warned about its financial status and high debt.

Beşiktaş was found guilty of unpaid debts in the first hearing held May 1, but its two-year ban was postponed under the condition it did not acquire unpaid debts in the next five years. The club was also given a fine of 500,000 euros.

Following the UEFA inspector’s appeal, a second hearing was held and Beşiktaş’s two-year ban was cut down to a one-year ban, but would be sanctioned with immediate effect.

The move came after UEFA scrutinized Beşiktaş’s accounts in the second and third quarters of 2011 and ruled that they breached articles of the ruling body’s financial fair play regulations.

Shares in Beşiktaş tumbled more than 9 percent with the news, falling to 4.29 Turkish Liras, Anatolia news agency reported.

Beşiktaş said the club would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the ban.

“We will defend the club’s rights until the end, and will appeal to CAS as the first step,” Levent Erdoğan, a lawyer and club board member, told Doğan news agency. Erdoğan said the ban was imposed because of decisions and actions that were made in the “previous administration.”

Orman was elected president of the Istanbul club earlier this year after Yıldırım Demirören left Beşiktaş to take over the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) chair.

Beşiktaş’s financial situation was ridden with debt during Demirören’s spell. The current TFF chairman spent more than 100 million liras for the club, and left the club indebted to himself when leaving the post.

“We have 17 cases at UEFA and we made all the payments for our players before that hearing, but that was still not enough” Orman said. “This is devastating. I am not sorry for myself, I am sorry this has happened to a historic club such as Beşiktaş. These kind of things will not happen again at my helm.”

Bursaspor cries foul

Bursaspor, the 2010 Turkish champion, and Gaziantepspor were also hit with one-year bans.

Bursaspor, who was also set to play in the Europa League qualifiers after finishing fifth in the league, was left out of the European competition for failure to pay the fee for Zambian forward Collins Mbesuma. Mbesuma, who was signed from Portsmouth in the 2007-2008 season, has played just six games for Bursaspor.

Bursaspor chairman İbrahim Yazıcı reacted harshly to the UEFA ban.

“We were not supposed to face a ban. This is a murder of law,” Yazıcı said to Anatolia news agency, adding that the club would also appeal at CAS. “I cannot understand how a club without debt like Bursaspor can be hit with a ban. We believe that UEFA will return from its mistake.”

Gaziantepspor, which was also banned for financial irregularities, did not win European qualification this year and its ban will be imposed in the first season that it qualifies for continental cups.
(ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News)

UEFA bans three Turkish clubs

Hürriyet photo

UEFA yesterday banned Beşiktaş from playing in all European cup competitions for one year, due to financial irregularities.

Beşiktaş was banned due to failure in payments to players. The Istanbul club has been facing several financial cases at European football's governing body.

"I am deeply sad," the club's newly-elected chairman Fikret Orman said, promising that this punishment would help the club improve in the future. "There won't be troubles like this in the future."

Bursaspor and Gaziantepspor were also banned from all European cup competitions for one year by UEFA. (ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News)

Turkey’s football boss seeks support of UEFA

TFF chief Yıldırım Demirören (R) accepts a placard from Michel Platini during last month’s UEFA Congress in Istanbul. Demirören will visit the UEFA President this week with the match-fixing scandal being the agenda. AA photo

Yıldırım Demirören will have a meeting with UEFA President Michel Platini this week to present the Turkish Football Federation’s solution to the match-fixing case

Turkish Football Federation (TFF) Chairman Yıldırım Demirören will meet with UEFA President Michel Platini this week to discuss his board’s decisions about how best to tackle the ongoing match-fixing case.

Demirören is expected to fly to UEFA headquarters in Switzerland tomorrow. On April 30, Demirören announced his board’s highly-awaited decision on the match-fixing scandal, which has rocked the national football agenda since it became public in July 2011, with the first wave of detentions following the Istanbul Police Department’s finding that several matches in last season’s Spor Toto Super League championship were allegedly manipulated.

In its first concrete step in the case, the TFF announced earlier this week that the 16 clubs involved in 22 games that were allegedly fixed last season would be called to attend hearings at the Professional Football Disciplinary Committee (PFDK). Demirören, who spoke after receiving a key match-fixing report from the TFF’s Ethics Committee, has said that even if some attempts were made, there were “no traces of match-fixing on the pitch.”

On the same day, the TFF announced a change to the 58th article of its disciplinary code, saying that attempted manipulation of matches could result in point deductions and monetary penalties. Prior to the change, it read, “Teams attempting to manipulate games will be relegated.”

The allegations center around champion Fenerbahçe, runner-up Trabzonspor and cup winner Beşiktaş.
Galatasaray was the only member of the elite “big four” that was untouched by allegations, but the TFF statement called on Galatasaray to attend the hearing as well, much to the Istanbul club’s anger. The club yesterday released an official complaint saying the TFF “would have to compensate any financial and or moral loss, because the club is being wrongfully probed by the PFDK.”

Galatasaray fans will also stage a protest in Istanbul today.

Trabzon demanded to see the Ethics Committee report in its entirety. This demand came after daily Taraf quoted an anonymous committee member as saying, “Demirören misquoted the report,” and “The report actually ruled there were match-fixing attempts.”

Kayserispor and Bursaspor also protested being added to the case, saying they would not defend themselves at the PFDK. (hurriyetdailynews)

Beşiktaş to turn Çarşı into a brand

Beşiktaş aims to to turn ‘Çarşı,’ the name of its passionate fan group, into a profitable brand. Çarşı is known for its politically-engaged and humorous chants and banners.

The Beşiktaş sports club is seeking to purchase the sleeping “Çarşı” brand, which currently belongs to retailer Boyner.

Coincidentally, the brand name is also the name of Beşiktaş’s passionate supporter group, which is known for its politically critical character.

Çarşı, which translates as “the market place,” takes its name from the central Beşiktaş Çarşı in the Istanbul district. The group’s politically-engaged and humorous chants and banners are an important part of Turkish football folklore.

Beşiktaş is willing to use Çarşı as a brand name, Metin Albayrak, head of the club’s Kartal Yuvası chain of stores, confirmed, but no bargain has started with Boyner Group, the official holder of the brand name.

“This is a long range plan,” Albayrak told the Hürriyet Daily News on the phone yesterday, adding that a restructuring process was already ongoing to develop current Kartal Yuvası stores.

The management plans to increase the revenues in these stores by 25 percent in its first year, Albayrak added.

The name Çarşı does not represents a limited group but “the whole Beşiktaş fans,” he said.

Contrary to media stories yesterday, no talks took place with Boyner chair Ümit Boyner, he also said.
The Boyner group also did not confirm yesterday reports about ongoing talks with the club.

Attempt more serious than ever, Çarşı leader says

Alen Markaryan, the leader of the group, confirmed that the idea had been on the table for the last five or six years, but the attempt looked more serious this time.

“This is what we have suggested in a bid to provide benefits for the club,” Markaryan said.

“The club has already been suffering from piracy,” Markaryan told the Daily News in a telephone interview yesterday.

“We are being accused [of benefiting from such things] despite the fact that we have nothing to do with money. We expect such a development would also be good for us.”

Çarşı stores were relaunched last year in May, after a seven years of absence, in a bid to give way to Boyner department stores, the public relations company representing Boyner said yesterday.

Ali Kayalar from Istanbul contributed to this report.

Beşiktaş to take part in key UEFA hearing on unpaid debts

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ISTANBUL

Beşiktaş chairman Fikret Orman confirmed that the Istanbul club is part of a probe by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) on unpaid debts.

The club will be present at a May 1 hearing by the Disciplinary Committee of European football’s governing body due to the club’s “failure to pay its debts,” Orman said at a press conference held yesterday.

“UEFA is concerned that Beşiktaş has not been paying its debts. I will go to represent and defend the club,” he said.

Beşiktaş was previously asked by the UEFA for assurances that the club would pay its debts before playing in the Europa League competition. A failure to clear the debt could be seen as “tricking the UEFA,” said Orman.

If found guilty, Beşiktaş may face a European ban, and may be forced to pay back the eight million euros it received from UEFA for its Europa League participation this season.

(hurriyetdailynews)