Fenerbahce players leave pitch after three minutes of the rescheduled Turkish Supercup against Galatasaray on Sunday as a protest against alleged unfair treatment.
The weekend came with the most bizarre of events, which saw a game abandoned in the opening minutes just after a goal had been scored and that’s only the less interesting part of the story.
The Turkish Super Cup final against league rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, rescheduled to be held on Sunday after failing to hold earlier in the season over some dispute with the original organizers, was once again abandoned, but this time seconds after the match-opening whistle had gone off.
Fenerbahce players were seen walking off the pitch after one minute of Sunday’s clash against Galatasaray Turkish Super Cup, forcing the game to be abandoned and conceding the trophy.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Fenerbahce had fielded an Under-19 team for the game against their Istanbul rivals but the outcome of that decision had not been good as they were made to pay costly after just three minutes by a goal from Mauro Icardi.
Soon after Galatasaray went ahead through Icardi, the Fenerbahce players then walked off, as Turkish media had reported ahead of the game that they planned to kick off and then forfeit the match.
The media had reported the club requested the game be postponed ahead of their Europa Conference League quarterfinal first leg at Olympiakos Piraeus on Thursday but were turned down.
The Yellow Canaries had also asked that a foreign referee take charge of the game as they believe they are being unfairly treated by the Turkish FA and referee’s committee; however, the request was again rejected.
Fenerbahçe president Yıldırım Ali Koç spoke of a “rebellion” in a statement on the club’s website, where he detailed alleged injustices going back over the years.
“It is time for Turkish football to be reset,” said Fenerbahce president Ali Koc at a press conference before the match.
Two Fenerbahçe players, İrfan Can Eğribayat and Jayden Oosterwolde, were banned for one match by the Turkish soccer federation last week after a Superlig game against Trabzonspor.
It was a game which had seen Trabzonspor fans charge onto the pitch after the final whistle towards the Fenerbahce players. Trabzonspor was ordered to play six games without fans as punishment.
Fenerbahce are chasing their first Turkish title since 2014 and are two points behind champions Galatasaray with seven games to go.
The Supercup was originally scheduled for December 29 in Riyadh but the match was postponed at the last minute after Saudi organisers refused to allow players to wear warm-up shirts bearing the image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, to celebrate the centenary of the Turkish Republic, saying political slogans were banned.
