Subject : Match fixing case in Turkiye and expectations from the UEFA
Reference :
Your letter to Turkish Football Federation dated 23rd August 2011
Mr. Infantino’s statements during UEFA Congress in İstanbul (March 2012)
Mr. Platini’s statements during UEFA Congress in İstanbul (March 2012)
Dear Sirs,
We are writing this letter to you to give information on the match fixing case in Turkiye and to assess the latest situation in light of the referrals mentioned above.
It’s been over a year since the beginning of the investigation and the court has reached a verdict on Monday the 2nd of July 2012. It has been indicated that Fenerbahce SK President, Vice President, Board Member and even the club’s translator are all involved in match fixing crime. Several players, coaches and managers are also involved in this crime organisation as well as Sivasspor’s President.
This is the up to date situation at the moment. Now let’s remember what UEFA’s intention was during the trials.
The letter sent to Turkish Football Federation (TFF) by UEFA, dated 23rd August 2011 was in all the newspapers with UEFA’s official letterhead on, in English. On this referred letter you mentioned that:
“……. our understanding is that there is now a considerable body of evidence which strongly suggests that the above mentioned club and/or the officials who are responsible for It have been involved in match-fixing. For example, the President of the club and several other senior officials (among them two Executive Committee members) have been in prison since the beginning of July in connection with suspected match-fixing offences and there appears to be a well documented trail of evidence (much of it reported in the news media) leading to the conclusion that the club has been involved in match-fixing. Indeed, the Istanbul Police even issued a press release confirming the arrests were made in connection with match-fixing offences…
We are sure you will understand that this situation is not acceptable to UEFA and not acceptable to the football family generally. Our concerns are all the greater when we see that other clubs have been excluded from UEFA club competitions this season for similar offences.”
During the past 12 months the court also concluded that the evidence is sufficient to accuse the president and the other senior officials that participated/coordinated the match fixing crime. Although TFF’s responsible committees agreed on the match fixing reality and the senior officials’ participation in that crime, as well as some related players, there was no punishment against Fenerbahce SK, which is the centre of this crime organisation.
In addition, UEFA also mentioned on the same letter that TFF must react quickly not to contradict the principle of equal treatment:
“Furthermore, if we do not follow a similar policy approach in relation to matters of such crucial importance this will damage not only the credibility and integrity of UEFA club competitions but will also contradict the principle of equal treatment…
…
For the sake of completeness, we must also advise you that, if the TFF does not deal with this matter now this will also lead to appropriate disciplinary steps being taken against the TFF. As you will understand, UEFA cannot accept, in all these circumstances, that Fenerbahce starts in the UEFA Champions League this season and is then subsequently excluded from the competition because involvement in match-fixing is finally established.”
After this correspondence between UEFA and TFF, TFF Management has changed. The former president of TFF, who was the sponsor and a member of Fenerbahce SK, revealed in a live interview on TV that he did not want to be the president who relegates Fenerbahce after he resigned from his duty.
New TFF president (Mr. Demiroren) was elected with an intention to cover all the illegalities and close the case without punishing the clubs by inventing a solution that the match fixing attempts were not reflected on to the pitches. Therefore the Ethics Committee’s first report has been changed and re-arranged but there still was match fixing crime in the second report. Although the disciplinary committee sentenced some senior officials and players, there was no action taken on clubs involved in match fixing during the 2010-2011 season (the season, all the match fixing actions took place).
A considerable amount of Turkish football fans have great expectations from UEFA, to set an example by forcing TFF to take the right actions against the guilty clubs and bring justice back to Turkish Football. Mr. Infantino’s statements during UEFA’s Executive Committee Meeting in Istanbul was clear and this is why we want you to get involved in order to bring justice for the sake of Fair Play.
“We’re speaking a lot with the Turkish federation but we have to move quickly because it’s a question of sport, we have to find out whether we should be preventing someone from participating or not. This decision must be taken quickly. For (national) league championships to run smoothly, questions must be answered quickly.
In Italy, where there is a special law, in Germany or in Greece the length of time it takes to deal with such affairs is different. Here, we see that it goes on and on but we have to separate the disciplinary part of the affair from the criminal part.”
TFF postponed their decision for a very long time and then due to the resignation of the management board, congress was organised and a new management was elected. This new management of TFF also postponed the verdict for a very long time in order to earn time to find a solution to save the teams those were involved in match fixing and one day the TFF president stated during a press meeting that “Thank God, there was no reflection of match fixing to the field”. However, the disciplinary committee sentenced 2 senior officials of Fenerbahce SK and two players, who took part in match fixing organisation.
At that point we remembered one of Mr. Infantino’s statements during the same meeting:
“Referees being banned for life, not because they helped fix matches but because they accepted being contacted to help fix matches”
On the same meeting Mr. Infantino outlined clearly that the 58th article of Disciplinary Code is the UEFA’s must have code and changing of this code by national federations can not be accepted and will not be allowed by UEFA. However, TFF has changed this code behind closed doors, although the TFF congress objected to change this code just a few months ago.
UEFA Officials’ persistent statements on match fixing cases and UEFA’s zero tolerance policy, created a climate that UEFA will say the last words and build the justice in football.
Now the court reached a final decision and accepted the match fixing reality and a considerable (almost all, except a significant amount of Fenerbahce SK supporters) amount of football fans are desperately waiting for your response and intervention.
We believe in your strong intention fighting against match fixing crime. Therefore we believe that, the justice and fair-play will be preserved by UEFA. We are finishing our words with Mr. Infantino’s statements:
“Once the TFF has made a decision we’ll be keeping a close eye on this affair, whether the right decisions have been taken or not”
We want our championship cup for the season 2010-2011, as well as necessary punishments to the clubs and officials who are involved in match fixing and we want to believe the game is played only on the fields from now on.
Best Regards,
Adınız Soyadanız
Adresler:
info@uefa.com,
contact@uefa.com,
giancarlo.abete@uefa.ch,
gianni.infantino@uefa.ch,
michel.platini@uefa.ch,
contact@fifa.org,
media@fifa.org,
datainfo@fifa.org,
webinfo@fifa.org,
discipline@uefa.ch
alasdair.bell@uefa.ch
