Fenerbahce, the prestigious Turkiye team that Kim Min-jae played for in the past, was prepared for relegation and considered withdrawing from the first division.
"Fenerbahce is threatening to withdraw from the Turkiye Schiefer League due to unfair treatment by the league secretariat."
Since its establishment in 1907, Fenerbahce has won 19 championships in the Turkiye Schiefer League, the second-most after Galatasaray (23 wins), and is considered one of Turkiye's three most prestigious (Fenerbahce, Galatasaray, and Besiktas).
He is well known to Korean soccer fans as the first European team led by Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), one of the best defenders in the world. Ahead of the 2021-2022 season, Kim left Guoan in Beijing, China, to join Fenerbahce, making his first step forward in Europe. After playing as a key defender in his team, he moved to Serie A club SSC Napoli in Italy in a year.
Fenerbahce is also competing with Galatasaray for the 2023-24 season. Galatasaray (81-point) is leading the race, with Fenerbahce (79 points) chasing right behind him.
Fenerbahce surprised soccer fans by considering suddenly withdrawing from the first division amid fierce competition for the championship of the Turkiye Schiefer League this season.
Fenerbahce's decision to consider the extreme option of withdrawing from the league was influenced by the situation after the 30th round away match against Travjonspor held on the 18th. At that time, Fenerbahce won 3-2 thanks to Belgian national striker Mickey Bachuay's winning goal in the 42nd minute of the second half.
Fenerbahce scored at the end of the second half and took three points to continue his race for the championship, but the accident occurred after the game when some Travzone Sports home fans jumped on the ground excitedly.
"Hundreds of Travjonspor fans rushed in and attacked Fenerbahce players," said Bild, a leading German newspaper. "It started when a spectator appeared on the ground wearing a mask, and the Nigerian national team Bright Osaei-Samuel, a defender of Fenerbahce, hit him."
Bachuay then kicked a Travzonspor fan, and the audience was so excited that they pulled out a corner flag and tried to hit the Fenerbahce players. Some claimed that Dominic Livakovic, the goalkeeper of the Croatian national team, was beaten.
Eventually, after the security guards strongly restrained them, they were able to remove referees and Fenerbahce players from the stadium, but the incident on this day is likely to be recorded as unacceptable in the soccer world.
However, Fenerbahce considered withdrawing from the league after the incident as no action was taken by the league secretariat. "According to the club source, Fenerbahce is angry that no significant action has been taken in relation to the incident in which his players were at risk of serious harm," Fenerbahce explained.
"The withdrawal from the league is not solely related to this incident. Fenerbahce believes that he has been treated unfairly in various ways over the past few years," he said, adding that the accumulated bad feelings have exploded.
According to the media, after Fenerbahce won the league in the 2010-11 season, former owner Aziz Yıldırım was arrested on charges of match fixing, and Fenerbahce was deprived of his berth in the UEFA Champions League.
However, it turned out that Yıldırım was rigged. In 2021, Turkiye prosecutors sentenced Nazmi Ardz, the former head of the Istanbul Police Agency's organized crime bureau, to October 1,972 for plotting Fenerbachche's involvement in rigging the match.
He also sentenced Hidaet Karaja, a media representative accused of conspiring with Ardz to make up the Fenerbachche match-fixing case, to 1,406 years in prison.
The case is known to be a conspiracy made up by Pethulach Gulen's terrorist organization, FETO, which was accused of being behind the 2016 military coup in Turkiye. The prosecution concluded that Fenerbahce executives used the media and police to remove Peto, judging that it would be an obstacle to his future control of the Turkiye sports world.
In 2015, a dangerous incident occurred when a club bus was shot while traveling to the airport after the game. 스포츠토토
Besides that, Fenerbahce thought they were being treated unfairly by referees recently. According to the media, Fenerbahce President Ali Coach warned that Fenerbahce could take drastic measures, saying, "The adage that Fenerbahce is receiving is not something we can accept."
The club's decision will be tabled at the club's members' meeting scheduled for April 2, and if Fenerbahce announces his exit from the league, the rest of the game will be forfeited and the 2024-25 season will be spent in the second division.
Attention is expected to be focused on whether Fenerbahce, one of Turkiye's prestigious titles that Kim Min-jae played in the past, will make an unprecedented decision to withdraw from the first division.
