The talk of the day in Turkey is the ouster of Fenerbahçe football club from the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League over an ongoing match-fixing probe.
It is basically an UEFA action:
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) had previously decided that Fenerbahçe wouldn't be relegated from the Turkish Super League until the criminal investigation would be completed and there would be enough evidence proving the guilt of the club. No evidence is not public yet, as the investigation remains confidential.
However, an UEFA representative visited Istanbul and warned the TFF to send Trabzonspor instead of Fenerbahçe by relying on the media coverage of the match-fixing probe. Although many allegations that were published by the media were already disproved, TFF quickly stepped back and did what UEFA said.
I believe that it is a ridiculous double-standard by UEFA and it is a shameful cowardice by the TFF. There are two reasons:
1) Even if Fenerbahçe is guilty, it is not proven yet. With exactly same conditions in the past, UEFA had let AC Milan and Porto to play in the Champions League, while match-fixing investigations against them were still going on. Moreover, AC Milan won the Champions League in 2002, although it was found guilty in match-fixing scandal and its points in Serie A were taken back in the same year.
2) The second double standard is UEFA's choice to replace Fenerbahçe. It is its rival Trabzonspor, which is also accused in the match-fixing scandal. Moreover, its president is on trial now with a ban on leaving the country. (Update: Abracadabra! A court annulled the ban today, so that he can watch away games, too!)
It seems that UEFA's "zero tolerance" policy against match-fixing is really complicated. They tolerate match-fixing by football giants and football dwarfs, but they can't even wait for an investigation to be concluded when it is a normal football club. The result may be the total collapse of the Turkish football, as Fenerbahçe has just announced that it would apply to be relegated, an action that may lead many Turkish clubs to go bankrupt because of the steep fall in broadcast revenues.
Personal Note: I'm a supporter of Fenerbahçe and I wrote about it in the past, including when I posted about its unique place in Turkish football as more of a republic, than a club.
