Belated decision to bar Fener boomerangs on TFF

Fenerbahçe was replaced by domestic Spor Toto Super League runner-up Trabzonspor in the Champions League (CL) group stage on the eve of the draw. “The panel considered that the Turkish Football Federation made the right decision to protect the game, fully in line with our zero-tolerance policy against match-fixing,” UEFA Secretary-General Gianni Infantino said.

“The Turkish Football Federation has shown with this decision that it takes its full responsibility in the fight against corruption,” he added.

Trabzonspor had been eliminated by Benfica in Champions League qualifying and entered into a playoff for the Europa League instead. Spanish side Athletic Bilbao, Trabzon’s opponent for the Europa playoffs, whose match against Trabzon in İstanbul has been canceled, will gain direct entry into the competition. The group draw for the 32 clubs in the Champions League was held Thursday in Monaco.

Match-rigging hunter Trabzonspor -- which now stands accused -- will nevertheless be very happy with his decision. But the decision to bring Trabzonspor back to the Champions League is not entirely risk-free since the Black Sea side has also been incriminated in the scandal.

UEFA has stated emphatically that it would oust any team and wipe its results from the record if any match-fixing allegation was proven and that Turkey could lose its place in the competition entirely.

UEFA threat to TFF

The statement said UEFA had written to the TFF on Tuesday saying that Fenerbahçe must withdraw from the Champions League or the federation itself should bar the Yellow Canaries or face a disciplinary investigation.

But Fener wouldn’t withdraw and the absolutely inconsistent federation decided after an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday to announce its decision -- in writing.

“The decision was therefore taken to bar Fenerbahçe from participating in this season’s UEFA Champions League, taking into account that both Fenerbahçe and the Turkish Football Federation could face disciplinary sanctions,” the TFF statement said.

The big question is why couldn’t the TFF make this decision independently and only rushed to judgment after UEFA’s Pierre Cornu came to town on Monday and prodded Mehmet Ali Aydınlar to do so?

Turkish football has lost a lot of prestige and credibility in the eyes of the world as a result of this. This hastily made decision has also publicly exposed the gross incompetence of the TFF -- which has only helped complicate matters, instead of finding practical solutions to them since this scandal erupted on July 3.

“If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground it will but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way,” wrote French author Emile Zola (1840–1902).

And this is exactly what has happened because the TFF had been striving, by hook or by crook, since this rigging saga broke out to sweep things under the rug through systematic inconsistencies.

Failed pledges

TFF President Mehmet Ali Aydınlar, a man with very close ties to Fenerbahçe, said emphatically and confidently back in early July that Fenerbahçe would represent Turkey in the UEFA Champions League proper, that the Turkish Super Cup would take place on July 31 and that the Super League would start on Aug. 5.

The saddest thing, though, is that none of this materialized. The Super Cup was canceled, the start of the league was postponed until Sept. 9 and there are doubts it might even start on that date. And on Wednesday, Fenerbahçe was kicked out of the Champions League. Who on earth would ever believe Aydınlar again?

The so-called “Nyon summit” between TFF officials and their UEFA counterparts early last month was a fiasco because the Turks presented nothing concrete, or nothing at all, in connection with the scandal. And subsequent TFF board meetings were “tea parties,” nothing else.

The TFF had failed the crisis management test woefully by failing to conduct its own investigation and choosing to put the ball in the court of others -- those of the prosecutor’s office and UEFA, to be precise.

And when the prosecutor’s office finally sent 26 binders to the TFF, Aydınlar started looking for other excuses. “The prosecutor’s evidence may be enough for him to act, but it may not be enough for us,” he said after a board meeting last week.

Loads of evidence, over 30 suspects in Metris Prison and several others set free pending further investigation, yet the TFF would not trust the findings of respected Turkish Republican Prosecutor Mehmet Berk. Then conduct your own investigation! But the TFF wouldn’t do that, either.

Time-wasting tactic

This week the TFF adopted a playoff system for the Super League this season, maybe to divert attention from the rigging saga, something that has already opened up a heated debate.

The views of football pundits in this country were not sought nor were those of the top coaches in the land. Galatasaray Chairman Ünal Aysal, Trabzonspor’s Sadri Şener and former Fener Şener have remonstrated against this hastily made, time-wasting decision.

Now, will a team not be eligible to play in the Champions League due to alleged involvement in match fixing be qualified to play in the domestic league?

“UEFA gives the utmost importance to the Champions League, that’s why it has made this decision [to bar Fenerbahçe] in order to protect this brand,” Aydınlar stated on Wednesday. If UEFA gives importance to the Champions League, why shouldn’t the TFF do likewise and protect the image of its domestic league by barring any contaminated team from taking part?

Apart from the general use of the word “match-fixing” the TFF has not said what Fenerbahçe’s crimes are or the level of this team’s involvement in the rigging scandal. Can the TFF state in unequivocal terms why the Super Cup was canceled and why has Fenerbahçe been barred from this season’s Champions League? Waiting for answers, without the slightest doubt, would be equivalent to waiting for Godot.

And tempers are flaring. Trabzonspor has said Turkish football, which has been dragged through the mud, is now at the edge of the abyss. And angry Fenerbahçe official Nihat Özdemir has decided to take bull by the horns: “Relegate us if we are guilty,” he said on Wednesday in a clear challenge to the TFF.

“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible,” said Jonathan Swift. The TFF can hardly see the visible, let alone the invisible.

is Turkish football a two-headed serpent?

Fenerbahçe has been kicked out of the elite UEFA Champions League but still remains the Turkish champion, and Trabzonspor has been invited to play directly in the group stage, meant for champions, but it is the domestic league runner-up. One champion for Turkey and one champion for Europe? This is just comical, to say the least. If Fenerbahçe has been barred from Europe, then the league title should be taken from it and given to Trabzonspor. Nothing could be more realistic. And how long will the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) continue to bury its head in the sand and fail to see what the whole world sees. “You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time,” said Abraham Lincoln. The TFF tried to fool the Turks, but it couldn’t fool UEFA.