Fenerbahce president charged over match-fixing in Turkey

Aziz Yildirim, the president of Turkish league champion Fenerbahce, was charged in court on Sunday over his involvement in an alleged match-fixing scandal that threatens to strip the club of its title.


Thousands of Fenerbahce fans took to the streets of Istanbul in support of Yildirim and other Fenerbahce officials who were also implicated in the scandal. Yildirim was ordered jailed pending his trial along with 25 other suspects, including two other Fenerbahce executives.
The suspects are accused of manipulating games last season, making Turkey the latest country to be affected by a slew of match-fixing and betting scandals around the globe that has also gripped South Korea and Zimbabwe.
In Turkey, investigators obtained evidence of cheating and bribery involving 19 first- and second-division games, the police said.
Fenerbahce won 16 of 17 league matches in the latter part of the season to come from a distant third place and beat Trabzonspor to a record 18th title on goal difference.
Fenerbahce risks losing its league title in the same manner as Italian club Juventus, which was stripped of its 2005 and 2006 Serie A championships over a similar scandal.
The Turkish Football Federation said it aims to decide on what measures, if any, it will take against the Istanbul club by next Friday; the deadline for notifying UEFA of which teams will play in European competitions. Possible sanctions include stripping the club of its title, relegating it to the second division and barring it from competitions.

Source : AP

"DARK SUNDAY" IN TURKISH FOOTBALL....CORRUPTION IN TURKISH LEAGUE!

Actually it was late Saturday night for me,here in the United States, I was outside with friends....came hone and as I was looking at my twits ,I saw a lot of people were talking about early morning arrests, in Turkey on Twitter!(@turkishsoccer )



Early Sunday in Turkey, there was a wide search and arrests about match fixing accusations and so called motivation money giving to other teams......

Under the new law just passed in Turkey ,this became a crime and if found guilty, you could get up 5 t0 12 years in jail!


According to AA news, DHA news, and NTVspor TV, Turkish police on Sunday detained more than 40

people for questioning over allegations of football match-fixing, including the president of

league champion Fenerbahce.


Police were investigating possible fixing of a final week match between Fenerbahce and

Sivasspor, which ended in a 4-3 victory for the Istanbul side and helped it claim the league

title, as well as a match against Eskisehirspor.

Police conducted simultaneous raids at homes and club offices in at least 12 cities, detaining more than 40 people for questioning in an investigation into alleged match-fixing in the Turkish league.


Fenerbahce President Aziz Yıldırım was first to be detained in a probe into match-fixing allegations in the Turkish football league according to Anatolian news agency.


About close to fifty people ere detained in the operation, including Sivasspor President Mecnun Odyakmaz, Giresunspor President Ömer Ulku and former president Olgun Peker, Diyarbakırspor former president Abdurrahman Yakut, Fenerbahçe Vice President Sekip Mosturoğlu, Mersin Idmanyurdu Vice President Besir Acar, and Fenerbahce's new transfers Sezer OztUrk and Emanuel Emenike.

Among the detained was legendary former Fenerbahce player Cemil Turan too...

Police also conducted searches at Besiktas, Trabzonspor, Sivasspor and Diyarbakirspor headquarters and Turkish Football Federation offices early Sunday, according to Dogan News Agency.


Fenerbahce President Aziz Yıldırım's lawyer Rezzan Epozdemir spoke to journalists and said Yıldırım was "upset" about the incident. She said Yıldırım asked for his diabetic medicine, a book, a shirt and a t-shirt.


Fenerbahce High Commission Chairman Yuksel Gunay, on the other hand, said this was an "ugly" incident and an example of a "police state." He said there was no match fixing to be investigated.

So, a lot of people are detained and a lot more will be..

They are talking about close to 200 names...

Lastly, Eskisehirspor president did the best thing and announced they are suspending coach Bulent Uygun and newly sports director Umit Karan's contract for now..

Eskisehir did the correct thing......

As far as Turkish Football Federation, they said they will make an announcement once they get clear information....

TURKISH FOOTBALL FEDERATION (TFF) ELECT A NEW PRESIDENT

TFF's new president, Mehmet Ali Aydinlar.....

The general assembly was in Ankara Sheraton Hotel.Out of 237 delegates ,204 were eligible to vote and Mehmet Ali Aydinlar received 201 of the votes .three votes were empty.


The Board of Directors:

Göksel Gümüşdağ
Lutfi Arıboğan
Hüsnü Güreli
Kemal Olgaç
Erhan Kamışlı
Cüneyt Tanman
Yunus Egemenoğlu
Servet Yardımcı
Mehmet Baykan
Mehmet Akif Üstündağ
Ergün Tekin
Erdal Atalay
Arif Koşar
Hakan Kanık

TURKEY WAS LUCKY AGAINST BELGIUM 1-1

The draw hands the initiative to Turkey, who are one point behind second-placed Belgium in Group A, but who also have a game in hand.

It might have been different had Witsel not blazed over the bar with a 75th-minute penalty kick.


Marwin Ogunjimi had given Belgium an early lead, Turkey answered with Burak Yilmaz in the 22nd minute, to even the score 1-1

Turkey enjoyed a spell of dominance, but poor shooting meant that Simon Mignolet was not tested.

Servet Cetin had a good chance early in the second half, but headed over from a corner.

With the goalkeepers having easily dealt with all that was sent their way, Belgium were handed the chance to make a breakthrough when Arda Turan brought down Dries Mertens in the 73rd minute.

But Witsel went for power over accuracy with his penalty and watched it sail into the stands.

Moments later, Mertens brought a fine save out of Demirel before Chadli wasted a pair of chances and Turkey held out for a point.

Hiddinks's Turkey was missing his top two Real Madrid-bound stars, Nuri Sahin from German champion Borussia Dortmund and Hamit Altintop from Bayern Munich.

After the match Hiddink said "We were lucky that is was missed, We can be happy with the result."

HIDDINK MIGHT LEAVE....

Hiddink was also asked about his futer with Turkish National Team and Chelsea.
He said, "we'll see.There is nothing certain,"

Hiddink insisted only one thing was certain as of next week. He was going on holiday, happy to see how his future would play out.

FENERBAHCE CHAMPIONS OF TURKEY

Fenerbahce clinched their 18th Turkish league title with a 4-3 win over Sivasspor on Sunday.

Trabzonspor, the , won 4-0 away to Karabukspor to also finish on 82 points but Fenerbahce became champions due to a superior record in matches between the two clubs this season.

Playing in Sivas, Andre Santos put Fenerbahce ahead in the sixth minute. Selcuk Sahin restored the lead near the end of the first half after Jakup Navratil had equalized.

Second-half goals from Brazilian captain Alex and Joseph Yobo sealed the victory for the visitors, despite Erman Kilic pulling two goals back.

TURKISH CUP GOES TO BESIKTAS...

Besikas won the Turkish Cup after beating Istanbul Buyuksehir in a dramatic way..

They won the match, after playing more than two hours of soccer on Wendsday night, in Kayseri,Kadir Has stadium.....

IN the normal time the match ended 2-2 and in the two 15 minutes over time period both sides could not score goal and penalty shootout took place..


Besiktas started the match strong and scored the first goal by Ricardo Quaresma in the 33th minute...

In the second half Buyuksehir was attacking and Besiktas player Mehmet Aurelio made a fullish faul and Buyuksehir earned penalty kick!

Former Besiktas player Ibrahim Akin took the PK and scored....

After that Besiktas went in shocking mode and Buyuksehir found them selfs up ...

Former Fenerbahce player Gokhan Unal scored the second goal for Buyuksehir,,,

But Besiktas came back and score the tying second goal...

Tomas Sivok headed the nice pass from Fernandes...

In the over time period there were no goals but a couple of good chances fro both sides...


At the Penalty shootout, The woodwork was Besiktas best friend in the Penalty shootout!

Two of the Buyuksehir's shots hit the woodwork...

Besiktas converted four penalties and two Buyuksehir players missed....

So, Besiktas, after dramatic win , claim the fourth Turkish Cup in the past six years..

And they secured a place in Europa league next season...


After the match Besiktas match BOBO said he will not wear Besiktas uniform next season.

And, as the celebrations were going on, Guti, who was writing notes on his twitter account ,saying " I Love Besiktas" and " I will stay with Besiktas"

After disappointed season in the Turkish Super League winning the Turkish Cup gave Besiktas something to cheer.

WATCH TURKISH CUP FINAL, BETWEEN BESIKTAS AND ISTANBUL BB, LIVE....

Ziraat Turkish Cup final match will be played between Besiktas and Istanbul BB, in Kayseri, tonight at 20;00 local Turkey time(13:00 ET )


Besiktas who had very disappointed season in the Turkish Super League will try to win the Turkish cup tonight.

Star- studded , Besiktas team looks better on the paper, but,we can not forget that Istanbul Buyuksehir is very successful against Besiktas!

Besiktas won the Turkish cup eight time and played in the Turkish Cup final match for six times..

On the other hand Istanbul Buyuksehir never won the Turkish Cup....

Buyuksehir player Filip Holosko, who is on loan from Besiktas, will not be play in this match.

The match will be broadcast by Turkish TRT 1 TV .....

You could watch Ziraat Turkish Cup final match live by clicking the link here...http://www.trt.net.tr/Canli/canli.aspx?kanal=TV1&slv=0