Turkish football champions Fenerbahce Istanbul, haunted by match fixing scandal probe appealed the club’s barring from this season’s Champions League.

Fenerbahce will be replaced by last season league runners-ups Trabzonspor. The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) took the decision after the UEFA has intervened, which has stirred further chaos in the Turkish football league. The league has been hit by revenue concerns since the match-fixing scandal errupted. Fenerbahce declared its loss of revenues due to the Champions League exclusion will exceed $36 Mil. and Fenerbahce Sports Club Inc. shares tumbled 9% in the markets and Istanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB). However, the money from Uefa upon participating for Champions League will head for Trabzonspor’s coffins and the club from Black Sea shares surged a whopping 10%.

Turkey Match Fixing Scandal the aftermath : Fenerbahce kicked out of Champions League

Fenerbahce appealed the TFF’s Arbitration Board to suspend and annul the decision, which exclude it from the Champions League. A club’s lawyer, spoke to media memberss as he entered the TFF headquarters in Istanbul to submit the official appeal and stated the club will appeal to every other authority in order to annul the ‘unjust’ and ‘atrocious’ decision.

“There is nothing left to say. This decision has nothing to do with the law. We though the federation was autonomous, but we see clearly it is not. They ignored their earlier decision [to wait for the indictment on match-fixing allegations] and took a decision based on a made-up notice from there [UEFA]. It is very absurd. Look at the regulations. The TFF has neither authority nor power to bar exclude a team from the Champions League,” the Fenerbahce lawyer added.

Fenerbahce vice-president Nihat Özdemir resigned

Fenerbahce vice-president Nihat Özdemir, who is considered to be the most influental man after chairman Aziz Yildirim, resigned unexpectedly today, stating that his efforts are not useful anymore for Fenerbahce’s purposes.

 

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