Turkey get six-game Fifa sanction

Post by **Dazza** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 1:42 pm

Turkey have been ordered by world soccer's governing body Fifa to play their next six home matches at a neutral ground and behind closed doors.
The punishment comes following a fracas after their World Cup qualifier against Switzerland, last June.

Switzerland's Benjamin Huggel has been banned for six matches and will miss the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Turkey players, Alpay Ozalan and Emre Belozoglu, have also been banned for six matches.

Shame

Anglo-Saxon · Post by **Anglo-Saxon** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:36 pm

I don't think that is good enough, they should be banned, as all their bloody teams should be.

Riviera · Post by **Riviera** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:13 pm

to me its still not enough

turkish players and officials have been taking the p*ss for too long, ban them from the next big tournement and see how they like that

TODD66 · Post by **TODD66** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:04 pm

the Turkish Football Federation is ordered to play its next six official home matches behind closed doors in a neutral venue in another country affiliated to UEFA with a minimum distance of 500km to the Turkish border. The Turkish Football Federation is ordered to pay all organisational costs with regard to these six matches.
- a fine in the amount of CHF 200,000 (+ procedural costs of CHF 20,000).

In the individual proceedings against:

a) Alpay Ozalan (Turkey, player)
- a suspension of six official matches of his representative team. This suspension is carried over to the representative team's next official matches.
- a fine of CHF 15,000 (+ procedural costs of CHF 1,000)

b) Emre Belozoglu (Turkey, player)
- a suspension of six official matches of his representative team. This suspension is carried over to the representative team's next official matches.
- a fine of CHF 15,000 (+ procedural costs of CHF 1,000)

c) Serkan Balci (Turkey, player)
- a suspension of two official matches of his representative team. This suspension is carried over to the representative team's next official matches.- a fine of CHF 5,000 (+ procedural costs of CHF 500)

d) Mehmet Ozdilek (Turkey, assistant coach)
- a ban from taking part in any football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other activity), within associations, confederations or FIFA for 12 months as from notification of this decision.
- a fine of CHF 15,000 (+ procedural costs of CHF 1,000)

e) Benjamin Huggel (Switzerland, player)
- a suspension of six official matches of his representative team. This suspension is carried over to the representative team's next official matches.- a fine of CHF 15,000 (+ procedural costs of CHF 500)

f) Stephan Meyer (Switzerland, physiotherapist)
- a suspension of two official matches of his representative team. This suspension is carried over to the representative team's next official matches.- a fine of CHF 6,500 (+ procedural costs of CHF 500)

This will cost the Turkish FA a fortune and could very well put them in a position of going bankrupt - no income from home matches and the pleasure of having to pay for the privaledge.

The players get banned and can't serve the ban using any friendlies - so thats some influencial players out for most of Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Coach gone for 12 months

It might not be an out and out ban, but lets face it, it is the biggest sanction that FIFA have had the balls to give for a very long time and IMHO sends the message - do it again - and you are gone.

monstermunch · Post by **monstermunch** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 4:50 am

Jeez, and what did they actually do? A bit of a scrap in the tunnel? 2 behind closed doors would have been enough tbh. I dread to think what they'd have done to England...

uefacup81 · Post by **uefacup81** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 4:56 am

Fair point there about England, monstermunch. You can bet your bottom dollar that if England had been involved in anything remotely resembling what happened in Switzerland, we'd have been hung from the highest point possible... no EC, no WC, maybe even international sanctions on domestic teams... FIFA and UEFA stink of corruption!

Riviera · Post by **Riviera** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:05 am

monstermunch wrote:Jeez, and what did they actually do? A bit of a scrap in the tunnel? 2 behind closed doors would have been enough tbh. I dread to think what they'd have done to England...

for a 1st offence i might agree with u

but it isnt the 1st offence, they have so many chances over the years and this time fifa finally did the right thing

england fans got done for racism when turkey played here, yet they can show banners saying welcome to hell and make signs at players and fans as if to slit their throats

england didnt even take fans to turkey because it was deemed "unsafe" well to me that says it all, if the turkish FA cant guarentee the safety of away fans then they dont deserve to be involved in international competition

Luke · Post by **Luke** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:24 am

About effing time!! If England had done half of what turks had done recently we would have been kicked out of all comps again!

monstermunch · Post by **monstermunch** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 9:18 am

Riviera, there is a difference between banners saying "Welcome to hell" and singing "I'd rather be a paki than a turk".

Fair enough, "Welcome to hell" isn't exactly nice or anything, but it's all part of the game. Football isn't a nice sport and I'm sure we all wish Portman Road was a bit more intimdating place to visit. Don't forget, no-one really relishes a trip to the Attaturk or the Ali Sam Yen.

Racisim is a different issue, we were lucky to get away with it when we played Turkey. Don't forget that earlier in the qualifiers Slovakia made monkey noises at our players and got a stadium ban. We didn't for the exact same thing.

Riviera · Post by **Riviera** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 9:28 am

monstermunch wrote:Riviera, there is a difference between banners saying "Welcome to hell" and singing "I'd rather be a paki than a turk".

Fair enough, "Welcome to hell" isn't exactly nice or anything, but it's all part of the game. Football isn't a nice sport and I'm sure we all wish Portman Road was a bit more intimdating place to visit. Don't forget, no-one really relishes a trip to the Attaturk or the Ali Sam Yen.

Racisim is a different issue, we were lucky to get away with it when we played Turkey. Don't forget that earlier in the qualifiers Slovakia made monkey noises at our players and got a stadium ban. We didn't for the exact same thing.

the racial abuse we were supposed to of hurled at turkish fans was nothing like as bad as what was thrown at our black players in slovakia or spain, to say it was a small minority would be an understatement, im not saying it should be tolorated for one minute but i really am amazed that u can compare the 2 instances, in fact i and many others didnt even hear any racial abuse when we played turkey, nothing was mentioned on TV or radio until the following day if i remember correctly

this thread was started because of the ban the turkish FA and players have copped, it wasnt for racial abuse or anything like that, it was for fighting in the tunnel, and not for the 1st time, they acted like animals and have been rightly punished, just a shame its taken so long to bring them to book

toby · Post by **toby** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 9:45 am

monstermunch wrote:Jeez, and what did they actually do? A bit of a scrap in the tunnel? 2 behind closed doors would have been enough tbh. I dread to think what they'd have done to England...

Maybe I'm cynical but I don't think they'd have done half as much to us because money talks.

FIFA/UEFA need England in the tournaments for revenue purposes, we are actually one of the biggest draws for TV and advertising around the world, look at how massive Beckham and co were in Japan/South Korea, we were 2nd in popularity only to Brazil (and even that was close).

Post by **Dazza** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 10:38 am

Just to let you all know I've cleaned this thread up a bit... was going off in a totally different direction about racism. Nothing bad was said and no ones in trouble but one thing leads to another...

Lets keep on the topic of this one.

If anyones got any problems give me a shout via PM!

Post by **Dazza** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 10:40 am

toby wrote:we were 2nd in popularity only to Brazil (and even that was close).

How on Earth are Brazil in front of us? I'm guessing their more appealing to other nations? Wouldnt of thought much money is in Brazil footie wise seeing as all their players play in Europe.

the-mole · Post by **the-mole** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:21 am

Dazza wrote:
toby wrote:we were 2nd in popularity only to Brazil (and even that was close).
How on Earth are Brazil in front of us? I'm guessing their more appealing to other nations? Wouldnt of thought much money is in Brazil footie wise seeing as all their players play in Europe.

Hit the nail on the head Dazza - their players play ALL OVER EUROPE - and perhaps the world. Besides that they are the most enjoyable team to watch. So financially they will draw in loads of money from fans all over the world.

England have a massive english following - whereas neutrals want to watch Brazil play footy!!

As for the racism thing - well the turks have proved they actually mean it when they want to hurt and mame people - 2 dead leeds fans are proof of that. Whilst racism has no place in the modern game - it is not as bad an offence as murder!!!

Yes we know the turks are a bit fanatical about their footy - but as someone else pointed out - they need to be responsible for the safety and security of visiting nations. If they cannot do this then NO HOME GAMES should be allowed to take place IMO!

monstermunch · Post by **monstermunch** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 3:25 pm

Look, pinning the Leeds fan murders on Galatasaray or the Turkish FA is so lubicrous I don't even know where to begin. It was the day before the game, nowhere near the stadium. Turkish FA can do nothing to stop knife wielding nutters killing English people for giggles away from a football match ffs.