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Clubs discuss new president for Turkish Football Federation
The union convened on Tuesday for the first time since the resignation of President Mehmet Ali Aydınlar and two other senior managers last week, a move that sent shockwaves through Turkish football, which has been coping with a match-fixing scandal that was unveiled last summer. “As the Union of Clubs, we want someone new to hold the chair [of the TFF],” said Medical Park Antalyaspor Chairman and Union of Clubs Vice President Hasan Akıncıoğlu to reporters following the meeting.
It had been speculated that former presidents, including current Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Vice President Şenes Erzik, Haluk Ulusoy, Levent Bıçakçı and the recently resigned Aydınlar would run for the top position in Turkish football’s governing body. Aydınlar, who was elected as TFF president on June 29, 2011, had to soon face the match-fixing investigation, which began July 3.
The TFF has been harshly criticized for being unable to manage the situation properly. In August, the federation stripped defending champion Fenerbahçe of its right to take part in the UEFA Champions League. The İstanbul-based club later filed a court case against the TFF and the UEFA at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). The TFF is scheduled to hold a general congress meeting on Feb. 27 to elect a new president.
Representatives of 15 Super League clubs attended Tuesday’s Union of Clubs meeting. However, Akıncıoğlu indicated they did not discuss who should run for the presidency. “We talked about the delicacy of the issue and emphasized that the person who gets the job must work with courage and exercise good sense when dealing with this process [of the match-fixing case],” he said.
He noted that the Union of Clubs wants to see the TFF to move quickly in delivering its verdicts regarding the ongoing match-fixing case and added that it is important and necessary to include the chairmen of the clubs from the Bank Asya League 1 and other lower divisions in the decision-making process for the new TFF president.
Fenerbahçe Chairman Aziz Yıldırım and other senior managers of the club are among the dozens who remain in jail as part of the match-fixing case.
Representatives of football giants Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray quarreled during the meeting. Turkish media outlets reported Wednesday that Fenerbahçe Vice Chairman Nihat Özdemir, club manager Cihan Kamer and Galatasaray Vice Chairman Adnan Öztürk had argued over the ongoing match-fixing case. Öztürk reportedly reacted negatively when Özdemir suggested that if the match-fixing allegations prove to be true, all clubs, including Galatasaray, must have been involved. Öztürk also slammed the Union of Clubs for not paying attention to the fact that Turkish clubs may be excluded from European competitions due to the match-fixing crisis.
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