Fener versus Beşiktaş in derby, but how many are aware of it?

But how many people living in this football-crazy country are aware that such a match will be taking place?

Put another way, there is no enthusiasm anymore for football. Match fixing, resignations, finger pointing and name calling are the things that have dominated Turkish football this season, relegating action on the pitch to second place.

And some football pundits are reportedly “watching Real Madrid and Barcelona matches nowadays” to demonstrate their disgust for match fixing that has tarnished the image of Turkish football.

Former Turkish Football Federation (TFF) President Mehmet Ali Aydınlar -- saying “enough is enough” to the rigging scandal -- abdicated the football throne on Tuesday along with two of his top aides. Aydınlar may be gone for good, but the reverberations of his decision continue to rumble across the land.

The Union of Clubs plans to meet on Tuesday to plot the next course of action in the wake of Aydınlar’s departure. Whatever decision they are going to reach is being anxiously awaited but is not expected to change much on the ground.

The buildup to a Fenerbahçe-Beşiktaş encounter -- or any other İstanbul derby -- had hitherto included week-long discussions on radio and television and in articles splashed across the sports pages of local newspapers. That now seems to be a thing of the past.

Sunday’s match, nonetheless, will take place in Kadıköy come what may. Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş have several things in common going into this derby. Both teams lost their matches on Thursday -- Fener going down 3-1 away at Samsun and Beşiktaş bowing 1-0 at home to gutsy Mersin İdman Yurdu -- meaning they cannot afford to drop points in Kadıköy.

The two teams drew 2-2 when they met at Fiyapı İnonü Stadium in week eight on Oct. 27. Fenerbahçe coach Aykut Kocaman will be hoping their fans turn up en masse, as they usually do, to support the team in this important match.

Beşiktaş fans welcome, saith Fenerbahçe

And in a reciprocal goodwill gesture, the Yellow Canaries allocated 2,400 tickets to Beşiktaş because the Eagles allowed their fans into İnönü in the season’s first half, Fenerbahçe’s Acting Chairman Nihat Özdemir said.

“Beşiktaş Chairman Yıldırım Özdemir called me and said he wanted his fans to attend the match in Kadıköy on Sunday just as Fenerbahçe fans had come to İnönü [on Oct. 27],” Özdemir stated.

“I discussed the matter with my aides, and we arrived at the conclusion that Beşiktaş supporters are welcomed at Kadıköy in accordance with the principle of equality. But I told the [Beşiktaş] chairman that his fans should come to cheer their team and should refrain from throwing objects onto the pitch,” he noted.

“We hope the spirit of fair play prevails, and may the better team win,” he added.

The Fener gesture is good, no doubt about it, but there is bound to be a heavy police presence in and around the stadium to maintain the peace.

The Canaries will be missing the services of winger Gökhan Gönül and German-born midfielder Sezer Öztürk, who underwent surgery this week for a groin tear.

But with Fenerbahçe’s Brazilian captain-playmaker Alex de Souza and Slovakia winger Miroslav Stoch in good form, the Canaries do not want to lose -- even if they cannot win.

The Eagles, however, are facing an injury and suspension crisis. Defenders Roberto Hilbert and İsmail Köybaşı suffered knocks in the first half of Thursday’s match, while injury-prone Portugal playmaker Ricardo Quaresma saw red late in the game. The trio will be sidelined on Sunday.

To add salt to the wound, Portugal midfielder Manuel Fernandes, who was sent off at Kayseri in week 23, was handed a two-match suspension by the Professsional Football Disciplinary Committee (PFDK) on Thursday. The on-form Fernandes will be conspicuously absent as the Eagles have been reduced to bare bones ahead the Kadıköy clash.

Slovakia sprinter Filip Holosko is in good shape and is very likely to be included in Carlos Carvalhal’s starting XI because the Portuguese trainer is in dire need of someone who can outpace the Fener defense.

This indeed is a match Beşiktaş does not want to lose and one Fenerbahçe wants to win. It therefore promises to be a thriller.