Turkey Stuffed and Basted by FIFA Over Swiss Brawl
February 8, 2006
The punishment was meted out after one of the ugliest scenes in international soccer for some time. After mounting tension in the lead-up to the game and bad tempers on the pitch, the tie was marked after the final whistle by fighting involving players and officials, leaving one Swiss player injured.
Photographs at the time showed Turkey's assistant coach, Mehmet Ozdilek, trying to trip Swiss midfielder Valon Behrami as the visiting team rushed to the dressing rooms.
Ozdilek was then kicked by Switzerland's Benjamin Huggel who went on to hurl himself at defender Alpay Ozalan. The two grappled and fell to the ground as the scene exploded into a free-for-all involving rival players and technical staff that continued in the dressing room tunnels.
There were also allegations of harassment against the Swiss side once they set foot in Turkey.
Turkey won the game 4-2, but failed to qualify for the World Cup on the away-goals rule, having lost the first leg 2-0 in Berne, and Switzerland took the prized slot at the finals.
After a two-day hearing at its Zurich headquarters, world football's governing body on Tuesday ordered the Turks to play their official matches in any other European country, as long as it is within a minimum distance of 500 kilometers (310 miles) of the Turkish border.
The Turkish federation will be obliged to pay all organizational costs tied to the six matches, FIFA said.
FIFA also fined the Turkish federation 200,000 Swiss francs (129,000 euros, $154,000) over the incidents which scarred the match in Istanbul on Nov. 16.
Three Turkish stars and assistant coach heavily fined by FIFA
Three Turkish players were sanctioned for their part in the match-day trouble.
Alpay -- who plays for Germany's FC Cologne -- was suspended for six internationals and fined 15,000 Swiss francs. Midfielder Emre Belozoglu of Newcastle United received the same sentence. Fellow-midfielder Serkan Balci of Istanbul's Fenerbahce was given a two-match ban and a fine of 5,000 Swiss francs.
Assistant coach Ozdilek was banned from taking part in "any football-related activity" for a year and fined 15,000 Swiss francs.
Reaction was mixed in Turkey, with Turkish Sports Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin judging the fate dished out to the national team as excessive. "I have to say that I find this decision unacceptable," Sahin told the NTV news agency.
"It's a decision that confirms what FIFA president Sepp Blatter said immediately after the game, before the reports from (FIFA) observers and the match officials were known."
Blatter, who is Swiss, had appeared to lay the blame for the clash firmly at the door of Turkey.
"From this point of view I think the decision is more political than sporting," added Sahin.
But Senes Erzik, the Turkish vice president of UEFA, European football's governing body, claimed the punishment could have been a lot worse. "Six matches are a lot of course, but after examining this decision we can see that we escaped a ban (from 2010 World Cup qualifiers)," he told the CNN-Turk television channel.
Turkish press incensed by FIFA's "severe" sanctions
Anger and shock filled the country_s press on Wednesday as Turkey's main newspapers blasted FIFA over what many called the "severe" and "unnecessary" sanctions.
"Why not just hang us?" asked the mass-circulation Hürriyet, describing the punishment as the "heaviest in the history" of world football's governing body.
"This is not punishment, it is execution," screamed Aksam. "FIFA has crucified Turkey."
"This is called expulsion," said the mass-circulation Sabah, arguing that FIFA had punished Turkish football fans for no reason by barring them from upcoming internationals.
The left-leaning Cumhüriyet accused Blatter of influencing the proceedings by publicly putting the blame for the incidents on Turkey in remarks he made after the game. "Blatter approved historic punishment," the newspaper said.
In stark contrast to the majority of newspapers, only Vatan argued that Turkey got off lightly. "We made a narrow escape," it said.
The chief of Vatan's sports section wrote that the sanctions provided a good opportunity to evaluate the state of Turkish football, which has been rocked by allegations of mafia involvement. "We Turks do not like self-criticism, but we cannot escape it anymore," he said.
Swiss culprits punished with fines and bans
Swiss midfielder Huggel, of Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt, was suspended for six matches and fined 15,000 Swiss francs for his involvement in the fracas, while the team's physiotherapist Stephan Meyer received a two-match ban and a 6,500 Swiss franc fine.
FIFA said the verdicts can be appealed. If the teams are still unhappy, they can turn to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).