They remain in the league for now. But Fenerbahce threatens to use teenagers and demands a foreign judge

Club president Ali Koc, other officials and approximately 25,000 fans as members of the club with voting rights at the stadium. Fenerbahce’s extraordinary general meeting on Tuesday was megalomaniacal. Not even when things were being discussed that will affect the near future of the nineteen-time Turkish champion.

The result is four resolutions. The first concerns the Super Cup against Galatasaray, which is scheduled to take place on a neutral ground on Sunday 7 April. But Fenerbahce is playing in the quarter-finals of the Conference League next week. “The match should be postponed to a suitable date and a foreign referee should be appointed. Otherwise, the match will not take place, or the under-19 team will start,” it is written on the club’s website.

And further? “Starting next season, we will not participate in the domestic cup for two years, or we will start with the under-19 team.” These are probably the two basic and most important messages that emerged from Tuesday’s meeting. Furthermore, the club is asking the UEFA and FIFA authorities, among other things, to introduce “necessary measures”.

But the main point should have been the vote to withdraw from the highest Turkish competition. “We create our own destiny. If necessary, we will go down one competition,” announced President Koc in advance. Even though club officials and fans at the stadium repeatedly voted on everything possible, the departure of the elite did not happen. It is said that the players themselves want to stay and the club is afraid that the union will treat them unfairly even in lower competitions. “However, at the end of the current season, we will return to the same proposal and discuss it,” said Koc.

Turkish football has had many problems in recent years. Security, diplomatic, sports. The last straw is the violence from the recent match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce, whose players were attacked right on the field by the home fans after the 3-2 win.

The police detained 13 Trabzonspor supporters after the scandalous conclusion, sent five of them to custody. The general secretary of the home club, Kemal Ertürk, called the action unfair and called for the immediate release of the fans. In addition, two Fenerbahce players were punished for getting involved in fights with fans. Goalkeeper Irfan Can Egribayat and defender Jayden Quinn Oosterwolde received one-match bans and fines. Bright Osayi-Samuel got away without punishment, who, according to the video, punched one of the supporters who ran onto the field with his face covered.

The whole incident was condemned by Turkish officials and politicians, as well as the head of the FIFA World Federation, Gianni Infantino. Trabzonspor footballers then have to play six matches without spectators.

Fenerbahce also feels a grievance from the past. The first dates back to the last round of the 2005/2006 season, when the club wearing the yellow and blue colors lost first place in the table and the title in the last round. Other pains are related to punishments for corruption, but the former head of the club Aziz Yildirim and others were acquitted of the charges. In April 2015, another shot was fired at the team bus near Trabzon airport.

“We die once instead of dying every day. If necessary, we will play in the second league for a year and fight for promotion from it. If you treat us like outcasts, I say this to the state, the Turkish Football Federation, the media: we have to decide our own future. And it’s not about any threats or blackmail,” Koc said earlier. It hasn’t happened yet, but what isn’t, may soon be.