Something outrageous happened in Turkiye.
“The owner of Turkiye Super Lig club Ankaragüzu stormed onto the pitch and punched a referee in the face after his team drew with Rizespor,” the British publication Daily Mail reported on December 12.
After the final whistle, referee Halil Umut Meller was suddenly confronted by a very angry owner, Faruk Koca, who was caught on camera swinging his fist at the referee in a horrific scene. After falling to the ground, Meller was kicked by at least two people as he tried to protect his face. After being dragged off, Meller was seen with a swollen eye.
A number of players, coaching staff, and security personnel quickly rushed to the scene to stop the attack, and a shaken Meller was eventually able to get to his feet. Turkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerikaya announced that Meller is being treated in a hospital under supervision.
Once his treatment is complete, detention proceedings will take place, Yelikaya said. The Turkiye Football Association decided to hold an extraordinary meeting shortly after the incident, Bein Sports, the official broadcaster of the Super Lig, reported. The league match between Ankara and Rizespor ended 1-1.
According to Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunc, a judicial investigation has been launched into the “persons responsible” for the assault. Tunc said the Ankara Police Department has been tasked with identifying the suspects. ‘We are following up on this sad incident,’ Yerikaya added.
Ankara took the lead in the 14th minute through Olimpiu Morucan after Ali Sowe was sent off. Ligue 1’s Emirhan Topchu was sent off in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, but Adolfo Gaizi scored a dramatic equalizer seven minutes into added time. 헤라카지노
The fistfight was condemned by Youth and Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak. “I strongly condemn the attack on match referee Halil Umut Meller after the end of the MKE Ankara-Güzül-Kaykur Rizezpor match,” Bark wrote on Twitter.
“We don’t want to see these images on the pitch, which are not in keeping with sportsmanship and Turkkiye football,” he said.
Koca, 59, has been president of Ankara since 2021. Fenerbahçe and Turkiye national soccer player Umut Nayr reacted to the punch on his social media accounts, tweeting, “The mentality that thinks they are right no matter what they say to the referee or what they do surrounds us.”