Ali Koç Press Conference: Shocking Claims—Sergen Yalçın’s Comments Raise Questions About Referee Influence in Turkish Football

Ali Koç addressed several topics, including the club’s potential participation in the Ziraat Türkiye Cup, transfer plans, and recent events. Here are his remarks:

“OUR VISION OF BEING THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL SPORTS CLUB CONTINUES”

“In the 2018 elections, we had three goals. There was a period of drought. We hadn’t won the championship in four years, and we were playing in relatively empty stadiums. Our goal was to achieve financial independence as soon as possible and continue the vision of being the world‘s most successful sports club, which Aziz Yıldırım started. Unfortunately, we didn’t achieve the desired results in two out of three goals. Football is the flagship. We didn’t get enough of a return in the other two areas, and we accept that with understanding. We are aware that we disappointed our community.”

“WE MAY HAVE MADE MISTAKES TOO”

“We may have made many mistakes, just like every club. We have never hesitated to make self-criticism. Didn’t the teams that became champions in the last 10 years make mistakes? Didn’t they have management shortcomings? Despite all the mistakes, when we couldn’t win, our opponents were pushed forward. The media didn’t talk about our rivals’ mistakes and crimes as much as they talked about ours. If we don’t count this season, there’s only a 1-point difference in the last 10 years in the standings. We have no championships, while Galatasaray has 5. When it comes to numbers, Turkish football doesn’t reflect the truth. It’s a situation that’s hard to explain.”

“WE’RE IN A STATE THAT WILL EVEN MAKE TADIC A TARGET OF REACTIONS”

“Fenerbahçe’s supporters are the sole source of motivation. Think of the whole season as a match. The team enters the second half 2-0 down, but there’s a whole second half left. Should we go out to support the team or protest? A decade of longing, injustices, and blatant illegalities have made Fenerbahçe fans impatient. We’ve reached such a point that even Tadic will become the target of reactions this season. I also want to express a feeling that words can’t describe. We don’t ask for personal support from our community. We’re all part of a struggle. Say whatever you want to us, but support all our athletes. They should think more about the dosage and timing of their reactions in their consciences.”

“OUR FANS PROTEST THE MANAGEMENT INSTEAD OF PRESSURING THE REFEREE”

“In some sections of the stands, people are collapsing when the referee makes a mistake, but how much reaction are we getting from the stands? The image we’ve been giving recently isn’t it feeding into the hands of our rivals? Don’t you see that some media members within our community are currently guiding some of our fan groups? Look back and see what they’ve written in the past. All our team expects from you is sincere support. Say whatever you want to us, it’s your right. We’ve never engineered the stands. This season, we’ve canceled a total of 62 memberships, 49 due to black market activities.”

“THE FINAL STRAW FOR FENERBAHÇE”

“The lynching attempt in Trabzon on March 17 last season was the final straw for Fenerbahçe, and the decisions made in the April 2 General Assembly are known to all of you. What has happened since then and the changes in Turkish football show how right our community’s decision was. Let’s look at what happened after this date. The Club Union collected signatures for the change in the TFF. Then, the Super Cup match… We took the U19 team out for 2 minutes. A famous shoe factory hosted a meeting. Who was the president who met with the then TFF president in Urfa two hours before the match and strategized for Büyükekşi to continue? Dursun Özbek. He holds such a meeting but accuses me of holding meetings in mansions.”

“PLEASED WITH THE FOREIGN VAR”

“In the elections held on July 18, Büyükekşi was removed from Turkish football. After 18 years, a TFF free of known organization members took office. With the new administration, committees changed, and many referees and observers who appeared suspicious were replaced. The TFF proposed an organization for next season where refereeing duties would be jointly determined by the MHK and the clubs. A single contract type will be implemented. From now on, there will be no deception regarding spending limits. In the second half, foreign VAR will be used, and we are pleased with this. Foreign VAR should be used in every match, and if it’s not, we will withdraw our support for this. It must be in place for all the matches in the second half. Today, there is an article in Fotomaç claiming we wanted foreign referees but Fenerbahçe didn’t. I don’t know if Galatasaray’s secretary really said this, but ‘My fight is to bring fairness to Turkish football,’ says Mr. Dursun. The biggest lie in Turkish sports history. Today’s news in Fotomaç is the same.”

“SERGEN YALÇIN’S STATEMENTS ARE THE EVIDENCE OF MATCH-FIXING”

“Sergen Yalçın made significant statements. He said, ‘Galatasaray is the last community to complain about referees.’ Not everyone can make such a statement. Coach Sergen says, ‘Last season, when I was at Antalyaspor, we lost to Galatasaray due to a referee mistake. Six weeks later, in a match with the same referee, we won, and the referee corrected the mistake from the Galatasaray match.’ Isn’t that shameful? After such a statement, the world would turn upside down if this happened in another country. This is match-fixing! Who is the referee? Abdülkadir Bitigen. Who is Bitigen? The one who, last year during a Zoom training, called for a penalty in VAR that I personally didn’t think was a penalty, just a light touch, and admitted it. The person in VAR said, ‘I don’t know my state of mind, why,’ and what happened? The championship was lost!”

“WE WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE TURKISH CUP”

“We have decided to participate in the Ziraat Turkey Cup with our first team. Not with the U19, but with a squad as envisioned by our coach, we will participate in the Ziraat Turkey Cup.”

“MOURINHO’S PHILOSOPHY”

“Our coach gave us a presentation yesterday and explained his philosophy to us. The coach has a unique playing system. Whether we are here or not, this coach should stay. He should continue in his second year as well. We have three foreign quota spots available. We are thinking of bringing in 2 center-backs and 1 left-back. We also have other pinpoint targets in mind, but that depends on whether the players we currently have leave. We won’t speak about transfers until we see the final signatures. We want to complete our missing pieces during the winter break. Two very important players have been ruled out for the season. Some of the transfers we make might come at a high cost for you.”

“USED TO PRESSURIZING AND ACHIEVING GOALS”

“What was that disgraceful situation? Barış Alper’s… They are so used to pressurizing others to achieve their goals… What did the TFF say? It was a very unfortunate move. No card was given. VAR called for it, still no card. We experienced something we’ve never seen before. The presidents of the TFF and MHK appeared on TV for this situation. The MHK president said, ‘We are going to apply a procedure that has never been applied.’ Again, special treatment for them.”

“OUR PLAYERS NOW KNOW”

“Our players now know that we will participate in the Ziraat Turkey Cup. If the foreign VAR decision hadn’t been made today, we wouldn’t have participated. And it’s not over yet; there are still players to be filtered out. The glass ceiling hasn’t been broken yet. There’s still a long way to go. Breaking the glass ceiling will benefit not just Fenerbahçe, but everyone. We still have a chance for the championship. Did we make it harder? Yes, we made it harder. But we believe we can be champions. We will fight until the end.”

“IF OUR LIVES ALLOW, WE WILL CONTINUE WITH MOURINHO”

“If our lives allow, we will continue with the coach. This issue of stability is very important. The quality of the person we brought is clear. But what has this country done to some people? What did we do to Aragones?”

“GALATASARAY’S EARNINGS FROM ILLEGAL BETTING”

“A team came out and blatantly flaunted it in front of 85 million people, placing this name on their prestigious jersey. We had a meeting with the TFF president and four other presidents. I asked, ‘Didn’t you check Google? We got these messages too.’ They said, ‘Honestly, when money came in bits from Ohio, Indonesia, and Malaysia, we decided to back off.’ The state has to provide us with this answer. On one hand, you punish those promoting illegal betting advertisements, while on the other hand, someone takes money, another says they didn’t take it, and another claims they took part of it and gave it back. Did you take the money? If you did, did it count toward your spending limit? We are told, ‘Why does this concern you?’ There’s a spending limit aspect, and there are taxes involved…”

“Inspectors came to us, and we said, ‘Look into all of our sales, research Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş, and Galatasaray.’ It’s easy to get to the bottom of this. The betting investigation was closed. Spor Toto appealed to a higher court. Nobody is doing anything. What is this immunity? Who, how, and why! Fenerbahçe fans, question this. Let’s move on to incomplete contracts. You give someone 5.5, but they end up with 10. What happens to the 4.5 difference in taxes? How many people was Fuat Avni? There were a lot, right? It’s like an organism, something that can’t be addressed by listing names.”

“DO YOU EVER FEEL OUR JUDICIARY MOVES BASED ON SOCIAL MEDIA?”

“Our judiciary sometimes gets influenced by social media. There’s a probe into Acun Bey over the Exxen matches and banners. Why isn’t the same happening for the well-known team or TRT? Some channels broadcasting these matches face investigations, while others do not. Some people are detained for illegal betting, but some clubs remain untouched.”

“SINGLE STANDARD CONTRACT”

“The single standard contract was discussed in the meeting between the Clubs Association and the TFF, and no club opposed it. Any opposition would be malicious. Creating perceptions and throwing accusations is not in our nature. To me, this isn’t what fanhood is about. Cursing at us and the team is considered a democratic right, and those who respond are labeled as paid to do so. Their reaction is also their democratic right.”

“MHK PRESIDENT FERHAT GÜNDOĞDU”

“You asked if we trust Ferhat Gündoğdu. We are very uncomfortable with the performance shown by the MHK. I look at the person’s intentions. The results are far from desired. The MHK is a 7-person committee. There are heavyweights among them, and there are names we absolutely do not trust. MHKs are changing, but the same people keep showing up. We are thinking about whether we should have one or two foreigners on the Advisory Board. We will ask the clubs about this as well. If the clubs don’t put their hands to the fire this time, they have no right to speak.”

“THE SITUATION ON JULY 3 WAS AGAINST THE NATURAL FLOW OF LIFE”

“On July 3, it was against the natural flow of life for none of the referees to be in the file. I believe all of them should be cleaned up. We should open a new page for the younger generation. If necessary, let’s stop sending referees to Europe for three years.”