Football body clears clubs in fixing case

DHA Photo

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) yesterday cleared all 16 Turkish clubs, including Fenerbahçe, of involvement in an alleged match-fixing scandal, but it has banned players and club officials for manipulating and attempting to manipulate games.

Gaziantepspor midfielder İbrahim Akın, who was with Istanbul BB when accused, was banned for three years for manipulating a Fenerbahçe-Istanbul BB match, while former Gençlerbirliği goalkeeper Serdar Kulbilge was given a two-year ban for attempting to manipulate a Gençlerbirliği-Fenerbahçe match in last season’s Spor Toto Super League.

Two officials from defending champion Fenerbahçe, which was at the center of the allegations, were also banned. Fenerbahçe board member İlhan Ekşioğlu was given a three-year ban for attempting to manipulate the Eskişehirspor-Trabzonspor and Gençlerbirliği-Fenerbahçe games, and Vice Chairman Şekip Mosturoğlu and club official Cemil Turan were each given one-year bans.

No ban for Aziz Yıldırım

Ekşioğlu is still in jail pending charges, while Mosturoğlu and Turan spent seven months in jail before being released. The highest-profile suspect in the case, Fenerbahçe Chairman Aziz Yıldırım, was not found guilty of match-fixing despite still being held in the Metris Prison on match-fixing charges. Yıldırım denied the charges against him and said the case was designed specifically to undermine the 18-time domestic champion club.

Former Eskişehirspor player Ümite Karan was given a two-year ban, while Gençlerbirliği staff members Cengiz Demirel and Mehmet Şen and player agent Yavuz Ağırgöl were also given one-year bans.

The outcome of the TFF’s investigation will be closely analyzed by European football’s ruling body, UEFA, amid previous expectations that clubs found to have been involved in match-fixing could face relegation or exclusion from European competitions. Ahead of the disciplinary board’s decision, the federation had softened the punishment for match-fixing, ruling that clubs caught unsuccessfully trying to fix matches would only face point deductions rather than relegation.

The scandal erupted last July, when police carried out raids against those accused of involvement in rigging 13 matches, including Fenerbahce’s 4-3 victory over Sivasspor that clinched them the league championship on the final day of last season. The indictment named eight clubs, including Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor. The TFF launched its own investigation, and 22 separate Super League games were referred to the disciplinary committee.

Additional reports from AFP and Reuters were used in this story. (Hürriyet)

Turkish football clubs cleared in match-fixing scandal

Fans during protests. AFP Photo

Turkey's football federation has cleared all 16 Turkish teams, including Fenerbahce, of involvement in an alleged match-fixing scandal, but it also has banned two players for up to three years and imposed disciplinary measures on eight players or club officials, according to the federation's website on Monday.

"There is no reason for punishment since the elements of the alleged disciplinary violation have not materialized," the federation said in a statement late Sunday.

Fenerbahce was barred from this season's Champions League as a result of the investigation.

The announcement came a week after the federation said an independent football ethics committee looking into the match-fixing allegations concluded that there was no evidence that alleged attempts to fix games had altered the course of the matches.

A total of 93 officials, players and coaches, including the president of reigning champion Fenerbahce, are on trial, accused of helping fix matches last season. The federation's decision could affect the course of the trial, which was relying in part on the federation's guidance.

The federation banned striker Ibrahim Akin of Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi for three years for allegedly fixing the result of a game when his team lost to Fenerbahce 2-0 on May 1, 2011. It also banned Serdar Kulbilge of Genclerbirligi for two years for allegedly attempting to fix the result of a game that Fenerbahce won 4-2.

It said eight other people, including Fenerbahce officials Mehmet Sekip Mosturoglu, Ilhan Yuksel Eksioglu and Cemil Turhan, received with a disciplinary measure called "depravation of rights" which amounts to barring a person from any administrative or sports activities, including entering the stadiums. That disciplinary measure, however, can be postponed. (ANKARA - The Associated Press)

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)